Agenda item

To submit the report of the Propriety and Elections Manager.

To approve the Annual Report of the Standards Committee for 2023-24 to be submitted to the full Council on 11 July 2024, subject to making the complaint of breaching the code of conduct unknown.

Submitted - the report of the Propriety and Elections Manager enclosing a draft of the committee's annual report for 2023/24.  The committee's observations and approval of the document were invited.  

The Propriety and Elections Manager noted that the Chair and the Monitoring Officer's forewords would follow and the information on the Group Leaders' Duty would be incorporated in the report. ⁠Committee members were invited to check the section on Committee member details in the report and asked to contact the officers if anything needed to be amended. It was reported that the annual report would be submitted to the Full Council in July.

Gratitude was expressed for the work of preparing the annual report and it was asked whether there were any comments on the report. It was suggested that the section reporting on cases that had been before the Standards Committee should be made anonymous. Attention was drawn to a part of the report which covered the Ombudsman's decisions reiterating that this section was anonymous and did not name Town/Community Councils. It was believed that the section of the report covering the work of the Standards Committee during 2023-24 should also be anonymous and refer to the person as Cyngor Gwynedd Councillor rather than naming the individual.

In response, it was noted that it was possible to change the report and make it anonymous as the name of the Member had already been noted during the public hearing. It was agreed that this should be done, especially given that the individual had already been penalised. An enquiry was made regarding matters involving Declaring an Interest during Full Council meetings. It was noted that Members were not usually advised to declare an interest when submitting the Annual Report item as it was a factual report. Nevertheless, it was noted if there was a discussion on a specific complaint the Member would be required to withdraw from the meeting at that time, but such a discussion was not anticipated. 

It was noted there was no reason not to name individuals under Other Complaints in the report as this was consistent with the complaints element and that the matter related to obtaining permission to participate in a Committee discussion despite there being a prejudicial interest. It was added that these items were already public, and that the situation differed to cases that had been before the Committee.

It was reiterated that it was the duty of the Standards Committee to assess and monitor the work of Political Group Leaders. It was agreed with the assessment that had been included that there had been a positive start to this work. It was believed that it would assist the Standards Committee to have this duty in place. 

Reference was made to the English version of the report on page 31, case number 202303259 and 202303399 which referred to a Member as "his" and then "her". It was noted that this would be corrected in the English version.

RESOLVED to approve the Annual Report of the Standards Committee for 2023-24 to be submitted to the full Council on 11 July 2024, subject to making the reference to the complaint of breaching the code of conduct anonymous.⁠