Agenda and minutes

There were no substitutions.  Mr Johnson and Dr Harvie submitted their apologies.

There were no declarations of interests made at the meeting.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of this committeeheld on 20 January 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 a report updating the Standards Committee on the Local Government Association (LGA) Model Councillor Code of Conduct and subsequent guidance and consultation responses, and to request that the Committee consider its next steps.

The LGA published the Model Code of Conduct in December 2020, and proposed preparing and publishing a number of guidance documents, and also a summary of the consultation responses.  The Director confirmed that these documents would be important in understanding and interpreting the implications of the new Code. This work is still underway by the LGA.

The Monitoring Officer informed the Standards Committee that he had benchmarked with other councils and specialists through existing networks in order to gain the views of others.  As the associated guidance remains outstanding, the great majority appear not yet to have recommended changes to their local arrangements.   

As the accompanying guidance related to the published LGA Model Councillor Code of Conduct remained outstanding, the Monitoring Officer suggested that the Standards Committee defer consideration of this item until the next meeting, where a more detailed report could be submitted.

Resolved:  That consideration of the Local Government Association (LGA) Model Councillor Code of Conduct and subsequent guidance and consultation responses be deferred until the Committee’s next meeting.

The Monitoring Officer updated the Committee on the scheduled virtual training session for Town and Parish Councils held on 19 January 2021.  It was confirmed that the meeting had been recorded and a link to the recording circulated to all clerks.  The session was opened by Cllr Poole, Chairman, and had been well-received, with over 50 attendees.  Feedback had been universally positive.

Resolved – (a) that the success of the training session be noted; and (b) that the session’s online and on-demand methodology be considered for future training events.

The Director: Governance and Partnerships submitted a report updating the Committee on progress made with complaints received.

The Director updated members on the complaints schedule, confirming that a number of investigations were ongoing, and a small number of complaints were in the process of being assessed.

Resolved - That the report be noted.