Agenda and minutes

None

None

The minutes of the previous meeting held on the 15^th November 2022 were accepted to be a true and accurate record.

G. Nurton noted that the committee had been supplied with the data on the number of Councillors that had completed the Code of Conduct training and was pleased that there was another training session booked in for the remaining few Councillors. G. Nurton queried if the Democratic and Electoral Services Manager could provide information on the induction training and what it included by the next meeting.

Cllr Cockeram noted that many of the Members are new and may require training on the purpose and role of Standards committee and noted that the Chair and Vice chair attend one of the planned seminars.

The Vice Chair asked whether there had been any updates in regard to the Councillors that had not completed the training. The Democratic and Electoral Services Manager stated that there was another code of conduct training session due and after that a report about the training would be brought back to committee.

G. Nurton asked whether there had been any feedback from the National Standards Committee. The Chair informed the committee that this had been rescheduled for January and added that he would provide feedback from it at the next meeting.

The Chair noted that an important part of having the Leaders attend the next meeting is to be able to challenge them so that it can be certain that 100% of the Cllrs have completed the Code of Conduct training. The Chair queried what is being done by the Leaders if their Cllrs are not attending the training.

The Vice Chair reiterated that it was important to know which of the Cllrs had not completed the training and queried what the next step was if the Cllrs are not attending the two formats (in person and online) available to them.

The Head of Law and Standards stated that all they can ask is for the Leaders to put pressure on them and noted that a self-led module that they could complete in their own time had been raised and added that they could make it more interactive or have a quiz that could be marked for the few that fail to complete the training.

Cllr Cockeram expressed that his preference would be for the Cllrs to complete it in person rather than virtual as many online are multiple choice and so answers can just be guessed. Cllr Hussain added that on MS Teams was ok however agreed that they should not have one that could be completed in their own time. Cllr Hussain added that if they were to complete it in their own time, they would not be able to raise any questions or comments they may have. The Chair agreed and stated that the problem with e-learning is that there is no one to answer questions that may come to mind and there is an absence of sharing knowledge and experiences. The Chair noted that the committee would have to be careful in not imposing their will unnecessarily on the Cllrs and asked for guidance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To receive any announcements the Chair wishes to make.

There were no announcements that the Chair wished to make.

The Monitoring Officer will report on any complaints received since the last meeting.

The Head of Law and Standards provided an update on one complaint that had not been upheld by the PSOW due to their being no evidence of a code of conduct breach by the Councillor concerned. The Head of Law and Standards added that the PSOW had commented that whilst the conduct did not amount to a breach, the behaviour complained of was discourteous and was rather about incompetency the incompetency of the member to fulfil their role, which was a matter for the ballot box. 

The Chair noted that the handbook had been added to the Agenda for information purposes but opened it out for any questions or comments from the committee.

P. Worthington noted that the handbook contained a large amount of content regarding health but noted that one of the key messages was issues in communication. P. Worthington stated that issues with communications is often at the heart of complaints and although it relates to specific circumstances it contains a good lesson.

The Chair introduced the item. Cllr Cockeram asked for clarification on the table and how the numbers correlated. The Democratic and Electoral Services Manager explained that during the complaints procedure there were three stages with the third being contacting the Ombudsman. The Head of Law and Standards stated that the numbers are slightly different due to some cases that are from previous years being closed.

Thursday 12 April 5.30pm – 7pm

Committee Room 1

13^th April 2023 – 5.30pm

Committee Room 1

G. Nurton questioned whether an agenda item could be added to the next meeting about a forward work programme. G. Nurton noted that there was one in the annual report but that it was not up to date. G. Nurton noted that the committee could look at the ethical standards audit and ethnicity of new Councillors under the Ethical Standards area.

G. Nurton added that the committee had decided previously to look at a review of Community Councils and suggested that the committee could attend a Community Council meeting to see how they operate. The Democratic and Electoral Services Manager also noted that the Community Councils had requested more information regarding the Standards committee.

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