Agenda item

For recommendation.

The Standards Committee

(i)            Noted the content of the regulations concerning disclosable pecuniary interests, associated transitional arrangements and covering letter issued by the DCLG,

(ii)           Recommended to Full Council that Council Standing Orders be amended to state that Members with a disclosable pecuniary interest should make the nature of that interest known when such a matter arises at a meeting even where that interest has been included in the register of interests,

(iii)          Recommended to Full Council that Council Standing Orders should be amended to include a provision which requires a Member to withdraw from the room where he or she has a disclosable non-pecuniary interest in a matter provided that the member concerned was able to first make representations, answer questions or give evidence in relation to that interest or time of business before withdrawing,

(iv)         Recommended to full Council as amended at the meeting, the procedural flowchart for the handling of complaints, and

(v)               Noted the contents of the recruitment pack for the appointment of an Independent Person, subject to the amendments made at the meeting

Prior to discussion on this and the following item for consideration, replacements of the SCDC Complaints Procedure Flowchart and Code of Conduct of Cambridgeshire Local Authorities were distributed to all those in attendance at the meeting. It was noted, however, that paragraph 13 - 13.2(d) within the Code of Conduct document had been replaced by the information provided at para 10 – 10.3(c).

The Legal and Democratic Services Officer and Monitoring Officer introduced this item by giving members an overview of various aspects contained in the report. Particular reference was made to the following issues:

·         the requirement for members to declare disclosable pecuniary interests as failure to do so would be a criminal offence, with a penalty of a fine of up to £5,000 and disqualification from office for up to five years

·         members must make their declarations of interest, together with those with whom they live as, spouse or, partner; these details must also be published on the Council’s website

·         it was noted that there had been no consultation process between the Government and Councils prior to publication of the Regulations relating to the registration and disclosure of pecuniary interests

·         that the Council’s Standing Orders should be amended to reflect that members continue to declare relevant interests at the beginning of meetings

·         Explanations were given on the definition of a disclosable non-pecuniary interest and `person with whom you have a close association’

·         It was confirmed that the rules concerning disclosable pecuniary interests applied to Parish Councillors too and that training would be offered to all Parish Councils on the new regime

·         Confirmation was given that Parish Councils would still be able to apply for dispensations in circumstances whereby the majority of councillors had an interest in a particular subject due to be discussed

·         The Committee noted and agreed to recommend to Council that due to the short time frames that would be involved all dispensation requests should be delegated to the Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Independent Person and the Chairman authorised to discharge the Standards functions

·         The transitional provisions allow current independent members of the existing standards committee to become the Council’s `independent person’, however, that would be for a maximum of 12 months only.

The replacement Complaints Procedure Flowchart was considered and the following amendments were agreed for recommendation to Council:

·         Under Preliminary test: replace – incident over 3 months to incident under 3 months

·         Independent Person box: replace – recommendation to Monitoring Officer with recommendation to Monitoring Officer or a Panel (it was noted that if Council accepted this particular recommendation, there would be a requirement for a politically proportionate committee)

It was noted that there were no provisions for appeals as the government considered an appeal route existed by way of a Judicial Review and that any complaints received before 1 July 2012 and not yet completed would be dealt with under the new arrangements to be agreed by Council on 26 July 2012.

The Committee considered the recruitment pack for the appointment of Independent Person. The Legal and Democratic Services Officer and Monitoring Officer informed members that following a recent meeting with monitoring officers from nearby authorities it had been agreed that all those authorities would have the same recruitment pack and financial allowance. A fixed allowance of £1000 for the appointment of an Independent Person and £500 for a Deputy Independent Person had been recommended and this was endorsed by the Committee.

A recruitment process would be required and following discussion, it was agreed that following advertisement, interviews would be carried out by the Chairman of Council and the Monitoring Officer. The outcome of the recruitment process would be presented as a recommendtion to Council on 26 July 2012.

In conclusion, the Standards Committee

(i)            Noted the content of the regulations concerning disclosable pecuniary interests, associated transitional arrangements and covering letter issued by the DCLG,

(ii)           Recommended to Full Council that Council Standing Orders be amended to state that Members with a disclosable pecuniary interest should make the nature of that interest known when such a matter arises at a meeting even where that interest has been included in the register of interests,

(iii)          Recommended to Full Council that Council Standing Orders should be amended to include a provision which requires a Member to withdraw from the room where he or she has a disclosable non-pecuniary interest in a matter provided that the member concerned was able to first make representations, answer questions or give evidence in relation to that interest or time of business before withdrawing,

(iv)         Recommended to full Council as amended at the meeting, the procedural flowchart for the handling of complaints, and

(v)          Noted the contents of the recruitment pack for the appointment of an Independent Person, subject to the amendments made at the meeting