Meeting documents

Standards Committee
Tuesday, 11th September, 2012

Commenced: 4.00pm Time Terminated: 5.00pm

Coat of ArmsPresent:

Mrs Valerie Bracken (Chair)
Councillors Bell and Kitchen, Mr Berry and Town Councillors Carter and Milne.

Also in attendance:

Sandra Stewart (Borough Solicitor/Monitoring Officer) and Ben Jay (Deputy Borough Treasurer).

Apologies for Absence:

Councillor S. Quinn, Reverend Thomas and Steven Pleasant, Chief Executive.

1. Declarations Of Interest

There were no declarations of interest submitted by members of the Standards Committee.

2. Minutes

The Minutes of the proceedings of the Standards Committee held on 24 April 2012, having been circulated, were taken as read and signed by the Chair as a correct record, subject to minor amendments.

3. Local Government: General Principles Of Conduct For Members And The Consequences Of A Breach Of Conduct

The Standards Committee at previous meetings had considered reports of the Borough Solicitor outlining the major changes made by the Localism Act 2011. The Borough Solicitor submitted a further report setting out the principles governing the conduct of local government members to reflect the different measures in the Localism Act 2011, which came into force on 1 July 2012, and which applied to the standards regime in England.

Members were reminded that the Government accepted that it was important to have safeguards in place to prevent the abuse of power and misuse of public money, given that those who elected members to office had the right to expect the highest standards of behaviour. However, the Government considered that the standards regime under the Local Government Act 2000, under which all local authorities by law had to adopt a national code of conduct and a standards committee to oversee the behaviour of members and receive complaints, regulated by Standards for England, was ineffective, bureaucratic and encouraged petty complaints or harmful accusations. It was therefore proposed that, through the Localism Act 2011, local authorities would draw up their own local codes of conduct and it would become a criminal offence for members to deliberately withhold or misrepresent a financial interest.

The Borough Solicitor highlighted specific points to note in respect of the following:

  • Duty to promote and maintain high standards of conduct;
  • Code of Conduct;
  • Role of the Independent Person;
  • Sanctions for Breach of Code of Conduct
  • Register of Members’ and Co-opted Members’ Interests
  • Disclosure of Pecuniary Interests on Taking Office;
  • Criminal Offences; and
  • Common Law Criminal Offence of Misconduct in Public Office: England and Wales.

Resolved

That the report be noted.

4. Localism Act 2011 – New Code Of Conduct For Members And Arrangements To Deal With Complaints

The Borough Solicitor submitted a report which summarised the changes made by the Localism Act 2011 and contained recommendations to Standards Committee in relation to the actions required for the Council to implement the new standards regime.

As previously discussed by the Committee, on the 6 June 2012 the Government had made a Commencement Order that brought into force new arrangements for standards under the Localism Act as from the 1 July 2012. Under the Localism Act, the function of “adopting, revising or replacing a code of conduct” could only be discharged by the Council and could not be delegated. In order to ensure that the Council complied with its obligations under the Localism Act in relation to the new standards regime as soon as possible, the report contained proposals in relation to the following issues:

  • A draft Code of Conduct for Members;
  • Draft local Arrangements for dealing with Complaints and Members;
  • Future arrangements in relation to the Council’s Standards Committee;
  • Draft delegations to the Council’s Standards Committee;
  • Draft delegations to the Council’s Monitoring Officer;
  • The need for consequential amendments to be made to the Council’s Procedural

Rules in order to give effect to the requirements of the Council’s Draft Code of Conduct for Members in relation to disclosure and withdrawal from a Council meeting where a Member has either a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or a Prejudicial Interest.

Under the Localism Act, the Council retained a statutory duty to “promote and maintain high standards of conduct” for its Members and Co-opted Members. However, from 1 July 2012, the current ten General Principles of the Code of Conduct would be repealed and Members would no longer have to give an undertaking to comply with the Council’s Code of Conduct. Instead, the Localism Act provided that the Council must adopt a new Code of Conduct for Members that was consistent with the seven Nolan principles. The only other express requirement of the Localism Act was that the New Code included the provision that Council considers appropriate in respect of registration in the Council’s Register of Members’ interests and disclosure of:

  • pecuniary interests, and
  • interests other than pecuniary interests.

At previous meetings the Committee had expressed the desire for a framework and New Code of Conduct which would uphold the Council’s excellent record of high standards and preserve the positive aspects of the standards regime. Appended to the report was a draft new Code of Conduct which had been produced as a result of collaboration with colleagues in other AGMA authorities with a view to developing an agreed ‘AGMA Code’ that all the AGMA authorities would adopt as their New Code and which the Greater Manchester Combined Authority had already adopted at its meeting of the 27 July 2012.

Members discussed the requirements regarding abolition of the concepts of Personal and Prejudicial Interest, replacing them with Disclosable Pecuniary Interests. These were broadly equivalent to the current prejudicial interests, however, the Act stated that failure to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest would constitute a criminal offence. It was noted that the Regulations also extended the requirement for registration to cover not just the members own interests but those of the members’ spouse/civil partner.

The draft New Code also stated that any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Personal Interests notified to the Monitoring Officer would be included in the Register of Members’ Interests and that, in accordance with the requirements of the Localism Act, a copy of the Register would be available for public inspection and published on the Council’s website.

The Chair reminded the Committee that at its meeting on 24 April 2012 Members had approved a revised format for the publication of Members’ Interests on the Council’s website making the information more readily accessible, assisting with transparency and supporting the ethical framework and corporate governance of the Authority.

Consideration was given to the Borough Solicitor’s draft proposals for the Council’s arrangements for dealing with complaints under the Council’s New Code which delegated to the Council’s Monitoring Officer to carry out an initial “filter” of any complaints against a Council Member and in consultation with the Independent Person, to determine whether the complaint should be rejected, investigated or resolved formally. Where it was decided that the complaint merited formal investigation, the Monitoring Officer would appoint an Investigating Officer who would carry out an investigation in accordance with guidance to be issued by the Monitoring Officer which would follow the principles of proportionality and the cost effective use of Council resources.

The Borough Solicitor stated that the Localism Act required the Council to appoint at least one Independent Person. Given the number of roles that the Independent Person may undertake, this created the potential for conflict issues and the Monitoring Officer therefore advised that the Standards Committee should recommend that the Council appoint at least two Independent Persons.

Consideration was given to the proposal that the Council should retain a Standards Committee and that the Council’s Standards Committee should be comprised of at least 4 Elected Members of Tameside Borough Council or substitutes and should be politically balanced. The Borough Solicitor advised that on the basis of the political proportionality rules, this would mean that there would be 7 Labour Members and 1 Conservative Member (with one substitute). It was also proposed that 1 member of Mossley Town Parish Council (with one substitute) and three Independent Persons with one acting as the Chair, should be co-opted onto the Council’s Standards Committee without voting rights. This would recognise the value that independent co-opted members bring to the ethical framework and the wider governance structures of the Council and ensure the experience of the existing Independent Members could be utilised.

Members requested that thanks be extended to the Reverend Dennis Thomas for his service and contribution to the Standards Committee during his 10 year membership of the Standards Committee.

The Borough Solicitor stated that she would be making contact with the Clerk of Mossley Town Parish Council to discuss implications of the new arrangements for the Town Council.

In conclusion, Members of the Standards Committee supported the proposals in relation to the actions required for the Council to implement the new standards regime.

Recommended

That the Council:

  1. Adopts with or without modifications the Draft Code of Conduct for Members;
  2. Adopts with or without modifications the Draft Arrangements for dealing with complaints about Members under the Code of Conduct for Members;
  3. Should establish a Standards Committee, under the new Ethical Framework, which should be politically balanced and chaired by the Lead Independent Person (Val Bracken) and consist of up to 7 Labour members, one Conservative Elected Member (and substitute), one Elected Member of Mossley Town Council and substitute, the 3 Independent Persons and where the substitutes would be entitled to attend the meetings and the Independent Persons would not have a right to vote;
  4. should delegate to Standards Committee the powers set out in the appendix to the report;
  5. Should delegate to the Council’s Monitoring Officer the powers set out in the appendix to the report;
  6. Should request the Council’s Monitoring Officer to make amendments to the Council’s Constitution in order to give effect to the requirements of the Council’s Draft Code of Conduct for Members in relation to the notification and disclosure of interests and withdrawal from a Council meeting where a Member has either a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or a Prejudicial Interest.
  7. That formal thanks be extended to the Reverend Dennis Thomas for his service and contribution to the Standards Committee during his 10 year tenure of the Standards Committee.

5. Understanding The New Local Standards Framework – A Workshop For Independent Persons

The Borough Solicitor advised the Committee of a training opportunity being offered by Hoey Ainscough Associated Ltd designed to be an in-depth exploration of the new role and the requirements of the Localism Act 2011 as well as a chance for the Independent Persons and those who work with them to exchange ideas and build networks with their colleagues in the region. The training would be led by Paul Hoey, Co-Director who was for 10 years from its inception the director in charge of strategy and stakeholder relations at Standards for England. Acknowledged as the national expert on the local government standards framework for the last decade, he had worked with individual authorities and groupings of authorities on implementation and development of local standards arrangements as well as advising Standards for England, the Government and key national regulators and representative bodies on standards issues.

Basingstoke - 27 September 2012
Lincoln - 18 October 2012
Burnley - 23 October 2012
Norwich - 26 October 2012
Warwick - 6 November 2012

The cost for a place at all these events would be £95 + VAT and further details could be found at http://www.hoeyainscough.co.uk/Events.html. Those Members wishing to take advantage of this opportunity could either book a place through the Borough Solicitor’s office or by contacting the Democratic Services Officer.

Resolved

That the opportunity for Independent Persons to access training on the new requirements of the Localism Act be noted.

6. Urgent Items

The Chair advised that there were no urgent items for consideration at this meeting.

7. Dates Of Future Meetings

It was noted that the Standards Committee would meet on the following dates during the Municipal Year 2012/13:

Tuesday 11 December 2012
Tuesday 12 March 2013

Chair