Agenda for Standards Committee on Wednesday, 17th June, 2009, 5.00pm

skip navigation and tools

Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1, Hove Town Hall. View directions

Contact: Jane Clarke, Democratic Services Officer 

Items
No. Item

1.

Procedural Business

    (a)  Declaration of Substitutes - Where Councillors are unable to attend a meeting, a substitute Member from the same Political Group may attend, speak and vote in their place for that meeting.

     

    (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 Substitute Members

     

    1.1       There were none.

     

    1b       Declarations of Interests

     

    1.2       There were none.

     

    1c        Exclusion of the Press and Public

     

    1.3       In accordance with section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 (‘the Act’), the Standards Committee considered whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during an item of business on the grounds that it was likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the press or public were present during that item, there would be disclosure to them of confidential information (as defined in section 100A(3) of the Act) or exempt information (as defined in section 100I(1) of the Act).

     

    1.4       RESOLVED – That the press and public be not excluded.

2.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 67 KB

    Minutes of the meeting held on 3 March 2009 (copy attached).

    Minutes:

    2.1       RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 3 March 2009 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

3.

Chairman's Communications

    Minutes:

    3.1       The Chairman noted that he and the Monitoring Officer had held a series of meetings with the Leaders of each political party within Brighton & Hove City Council.

4.

Public Questions

    (The closing date for receipt of public questions is 12 noon on 10 June 2009).

     

    No public questions received by date of publication.

    Minutes:

    4.1       There were none.

5.

Standards Complaints Update pdf icon PDF 103 KB

    Report of the Monitoring Officer (copy attached).

    Decision:

    5.1       RESOLVED – That the contents of the report is noted.

    Minutes:

    5.1       The Committee considered a report from the Monitoring Officer regarding the Standards Complaint Update [for copy see minute book].

     

    5.2       The Standards & Complaints Manager addressed the Committee and stated that the report gave a brief update to members on the situation of standards complaints currently being dealt with in the Council.

     

    5.3       Councillor Lepper asked if the figures regarding complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman could be broken down by service or department and the Standards & Complaints Manager agreed that this report provided a top-level overview of the situation, but a more detailed report was submitted regularly to DMT. He stated that the Standards Committee could receive a more detailed report, but felt that this might provide too much information for the general purposes of the Committee.

     

    5.4       Councillor Watkins was concerned that this information was not being disseminated to all members, and stated that under the old governance system it would have been. He asked for more explanation on the two withdrawn complaints. The Standards & Complaints Manager explained that a complainant had withdrawn their complaints after they had been heard at an Assessment Panel, and this was believed to be down to personal reasons. There were non indications that pressure had been placed on the complainant to withdraw the matter.

     

    5.5       Councillor Watkins asked if it was correct for the Council to end the complaints process simply because the original complaint was withdrawn and the Monitoring Officer stated that if a complaint was submitted to the Standards Board for England for investigation it was no longer a civil complaint and could not be withdrawn by the complainant. He was unsure if this provision was contained within the local provisions for standards complaints, but agreed to confirm the situation.

     

    The Standards & Complaints Manager noted that it would have been more correct to consult with the Panel members and ask if they were happy for the complaint to be withdrawn. The Senior Solicitor stated that there were set circumstances in which a withdrawal was allowable and these were contained within the adopted standards of the Council.

     

    The Standards & Complaints Manager noted that two of the complainants had each brought an identical set of two complaints. It had therefore seemed prudent to allow a withdrawal of one of the sets of complaints.

     

    Ms Carter did not feel it should be the prerogative of the complainant to withdraw a complaint once it had been submitted, as it could be in the interests of the authority to investigate, regardless of whether the original complainant wanted to pursue the complaint or not. The Monitoring Officer agreed to confirm the position of the Council in this regard and update Standards Committee Members via email.

     

    5.6       RESOLVED – That the contents of the report is noted.

 


Brighton & Hove City Council | Hove Town Hall | Hove | BN3 3BQ | Tel: (01273) 290000 | Mail: info@brighton-hove.gov.uk | how to find us | comments & complaints