(b)Declarations of Interest by all Members present of
any personal interests in matters on the agenda, the nature of any
interest and whether the Members regard the interest as prejudicial
under the terms of the Code of Conduct.
(c)Exclusion of Press and Public - To consider whether,
in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, or the
nature of the proceedings, the press and public should be excluded
from the meeting when any of the following items are under
consideration.
NOTE: Any
item appearing in Part 2 of the Agenda states in its heading the
category under which the information disclosed in the report is
exempt from disclosure and therefore not available to the
public.
A list and description of the exempt
categories is available for public inspection at Brighton and Hove
Town Halls.
Minutes:
1A.
Declarations of
Substitutes
1.1
There
were none.
1B.
Declarations of
Interest
1.2
There
were none.
1C.
Exclusion of Press and
Public
1.3
The
Committee considered whether the press and public should be
excluded from the meeting during the consideration of any items
contained in the agenda, having regard to the nature of the
business to be transacted and the nature of the proceedings and the
likelihood as to whether, if members of the press and public were
present, there would be disclosure to them of confidential or
exempt information as defined in Schedule 12A, Part 5A, Section
100A(4) or 100 1 of the Local Government Act 1972 (as
amended).
1.4
RESOLVED- That the press and public be not
excluded from the meeting.
Minutes of the meeting held on 18 March 2008
(copy attached).
Minutes:
2.1
RESOLVED– That the minutes of the
meeting held on 18 March 2008 be approved and signed by the
Chairman.
3.
Chairman's Communications
Minutes:
3.1
The Chairman welcomed Councillors Fallon- Khan
and Steedman to their first meeting
of the new municipal
year.
4.
Public Questions
(The closing date for receipt of public
questions is 12 noon on 5 June)
Minutes:
4.1
There
were none.
5.
Written Questions from Councillors
No written questions have been received.
Minutes:
5.1
There were none.
6.
Future Chairing Arrangements
Item for discussion and
determination by the Committee.
Decision:
RESOLVED
–That the position
of Deputy
Chairman remain vacant at present, one of the
Independents to Deputise in the event of the
Chairman being unavailable. Councillors
Drake and Lepper to
continue to
be invited
to attend
Chairman’s
pre-meetings.
Minutes:
6.1
The
Principal Solicitor advised the
Committee that the effect of
the Local
Government & Improvement
in Health
Act 2007 and the
standards Committee (England)
Regulations 2008 was that
the Committee and its
Sub Committees should
always be chaired by one of the independent
persons. Consequently it no longer
would be
appropriate to appoint
a member of the council as Deputy
Chairman.
6.2
The Chairman explained that
notwithstanding that the new legislation effectively required that if
appointed a
Deputy Chairman should be an
independent Member he was of the view that it
would not
be appropriate to appoint one
formally at the present time.
In the
event that he was unable to attend arrangements
could be put into place for one of the
Independent Members to Chair
the meeting
in hissted. He
welcomed the additional
and different dimension and
perspective that elected Council Members were able to give and
considered that it was vital to work proactively with the Council
. This
had worked
well in
the past
and it
was his
intention to continue
in that manner.
6.3
The
Chairman stated that it was his
intention to continue to invite
Councillor Drake, representing
the majority Group on the Council
and CouncillorLepper (OS)
to Chairman’s meetings. Both
were past Deputy Chairmen and as
such were
able to
give a valuable insight into
the workings of the Council
6.4
RESOLVED– (1) That the
position of
Deputy Chairman remain
vacant for
the present, with one of the
independent Members deputising
in the
event of
the Chairman being unavailable.
(2)Councillors
Drake and Lepper as a majority group
member and
(OS) respectively continue to be invited to attend
Chairman’s pre - meetings
.
Report of
the Director of Strategy and Governance (copy
attached).
Decision:
RESOLVED- That the contents of the report be noted.
Minutes:
7.1
The Committee
considered a report of the
Director of
Strategy and Governance setting
out for
the information
,particularly of those who were not Members of
the Council details of the new
constitution and the provisions
in it
relating to the standards
Committee. The new constitution had
taken effect at the Council’s Annual
General Meeting (AGM) of
15 May 2008
(for copy
see minute
book).
7.2
RESOLVED -That the contents of the report be
noted.
Report of
the Director of Strategy and Governance (copy
attached).
Decision:
RESOLVED- That the contents of the report be
noted.
Minutes:
8.1
The Committee
considered a report of the Director
of Strategy
and Governance advising
relative to
actions taken to revise the
Local Code
of Conduct for Members which
had been introduced in
September 2007 , in order to meet the
requirements for executive arrangements
(for copy
see minute
book) .
8.2
RESOLVED-That the contents of the report be
noted.
Report of
the Director of Strategy and Governance (copy
attached).
Decision:
RESOLVED
-That the following be
agreed:
(1)
The additional training initiatives
proposed for 2008 / 09 be agreed and noted ;
(2) The Committee engage
with the
Member Development Working Group to provide seminars that
all elected
members and co-opted members
with voting rights should attend which
will focus
on developing their
awareness of current
equalities legislation and good
practice ;
(3)Further training
be offered
to all
members of
Standards Committee on the process of Local
Assessment of Complaints. An
event to
be organised along
similar lines to that held
in March 2008 ;
(4)
The officers and members
who have expressed interest
in training
aimed at
developing awareness of Mediation should
attend the
seminar being organised forACSeS South East
Members ; and
(5)
It was
noted that the Chairman ,
Dr M B
M Wilkinson, CouncillorSteedman and
the Standards and
Complaints Manager would be attending
the seventh
Annual Assembly of
Standards Committees on 13 - 14 October
2008.
Minutes:
9.1
The Committee
considered a report of the
Director of Strategy and Governance
updating Members on
training proposals for the forthcoming
municipal year and seeking their approval of them
(for copy
see minute
book).
9.2
Councillor Watkins
sought confirmation regarding whether the
proposed training would be
made available to co-optees and others besides elected
Members . The Standards and Complaints
Manager explained that training
would available to all
co-opted Members and Members ofRottingdean Parish Council in
appropriate cases .
9.3
RESOLVED –(1) That the training initiatives
proposed for 2008 /09
be agreed
and noted ;
(2)
That the Committee engage with the Member
Development Working Group to provide
seminars to be made available
to all
elected members and co-opted
members with voting
rights, these to focus on developing
their awareness of current equalities
legislation and good practice ;
(3)
That further training be offered to
all Members of Standards Committee
on the
process of
Local Assessment of Complaints .
(An event
to be
organised along similar lines
to that held in March 2008) ;
(4)
That officers and Members who
had expressed an interest in
training aimed at developing awareness of Mediation be
invited to
attend seminars being organised forACeS South East Members ;
(5) That the
Chairman, Dr M B M Wilkinson, CouncillorSteedman and
the Standards and Complaints Manager
would be
attending the Seventh
Annual Assembly of standards
Committee on 13 - 14 October 2008
.
Report of
the Director of Strategy and Governance (copy
attached).
Decision:
RESOLVED- That the content of the
report be noted.
Minutes:
10.1
The
Committee considered a report of the Director of Strategy
and Governance summarising information
on complaints about Member conduct
administered under (a) the new arrangements as
defined by
the Standards Committee (England)
Regulations 2008 which had
come into
effect with
effect from
8 May
2008 and (b) the previous
arrangements which had
existed prior to that date
.
10.2
Members
referred to
the inordinate amount of time taken
by the
Standards Board in determining Case SBE
15053.06. The Principal Solicitor
explained that in that case he believed
delays had
arisen as a result of the Standards Board awaiting the
outcome of
due legal
process and the subsequent appeal
. The Chairman
stated that issues relative
to unacceptable delays had been raised
with the
Board in
the past and with
the imposition of the local arrangements
the emphasis would be on a measured
approach, but one which
facilitated a decision
being made
and did not
give rise
to undue delays .
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