Agenda and minutes

There were no substitutions.  Mr Forbes and Dr Harvie sent their apologies.

There were no declarations of interests made at the meeting.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of this committeeheld on 17 March 2021, having been printed and circulated amongst the members, be taken as read and correctly recorded and be signed by the chairman.

The Director: Governance & Partnerships submitted the draft Annual Report of the Standards Committee, under the council’s standards regime and the Localism Act, covering the period 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021.

In the draft Annual Report the Monitoring Officer referred to the number of complaints in 2020/21, and described which complaints were considered by an Assessment Panel, and which were determined by the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Independent Person.

In the report, the Monitoring Officer informed the Standards Committee that, further to the training in previous years, an additional online training session had been hosted on 4 March 2021 for newly elected/co-opted councillors and newly-employed clerks of Town and Parish Councils. This session had been well-attended, and annual training would continue to be provided, including online or virtual sessions.

The Annual Report confirmed that the Monitoring Officer continued to meet regularly with his counterpart at North East Lincolnshire Council, the East Riding and Northern Lincolnshire Local Councils Association (ERNLLCA), and the Independent Persons, to review existing practice and keep abreast of national and regional developments.

The council continued to be a member of the Standards Exchange, a specialist website set up by practitioners as a platform to share good practice and to keep updated on national standards related developments.

Resolved – (a) That the 2020/21 Annual Report be approved, (b) that the Annual Report be circulated to all Town and Parish Councils in the North Lincolnshire area, (c) that the Annual Report be submitted to council, in accordance with the Annual Governance Statement; and (d) that the Independent Persons and the co-opted member of the Standards Committee be thanked for their time, hard work, and commitment to supporting and advising the Standards Committee. 

The Director: Governance & Partnerships submitted a report updating the Standards Committee on progress made on all outstanding complaints and any relevant issues related to the Complaints Schedule.

Resolved - That the report be noted.