Meeting documents

Standards Committee
Wednesday, 15th September, 2010 7.30 pm

Date:
Wednesday, 15th September, 2010
Time:
7:30 pm
Place:
Front Committee Room, Town Hall, Reigate
 

Attendance Details

Present:
Councillors S.A. Kulka, and R.C. Newstead.

Mr. R. Bethell
Horley Town Council

Mr. P. Allen
Independent member

Mrs. A. Armstrong
Independent member

Mrs. H. Burr
Independent member

Dr. C. Vaughan
Independent member

Min NoDescriptionResolution
Part I
14 MINUTES
 RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 4th August 2010 be approved as a correct record and signed.
15 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS
 Councillors Mrs. J.S. Bray, M.A. Brunt (substitute Member), Mrs. F.D.M. Dixon and Mrs. R.S. Turner; Mrs. J.A. Cook (Salfords and Sidlow Parish Council) and Mr. J. Broadbent (Independent Member).
16 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
 None.
17 MEMBER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME 2010/11
Minute for Minute Number 17
RESOLVED to note the arrangements in place to enable the Committee to comply with its responsibilities on Member training/development under its terms of reference in the Constitution.
18 LOCAL GOVERNMENT OMBUDSMAN'S ANNUAL REPORT 2009/2010
Minute for Minute Number 18
RESOLVED that the Local Government Ombudsman's annual review letter for 2009/10 be received and noted.
19 ANNUAL REVIEW OF CODE OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Minute for Minute Number 19
RESOLVED that the annual statement of corporate governance be noted.
20 REVIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION
Minute for Minute Number 20
RESOLVED that the report be noted.
21 HEARING RELATING TO A BREACH OF THE MEMBER CODE OF CONDUCT BY A BOROUGH COUNCILLOR
Minute for Minute Number 21
RESOLVED that the subject Member be given a short extension of time in which to submit the required information after which the Hearing be arranged.
22 WORK PROGRAMME 2010/11
Minute for Minute Number 22
RESOLVED that the work programme 2010/11 (with the above amendments) be noted.
23 ANY OTHER URGENT BUSINESS
 None.

The Chairman did, however, remind the Committee that it was intended to hold the next but one meeting of the Association of Independent Standards Committee Members at the Town Hall, Reigate. It was agreed that 22nd March 2011 was a suitable date to offer. In terms of training/development the independent members were also reminded that it was open to them to attend formal meetings of the Council, its committees and the Executive.
The meeting closed at 8.25 p.m.

Minute

Min NoMinute
17A report was submitted with information on the arrangements in place on Member Development during 2010/2011 so that the Committee could be satisfied that it was complying with its responsibilities under its terms of reference in the constitution.

The report set out relevant statutory powers and, in relation to the Committee's responsibilities under the constitution, provided information on access by Members to training; the promotion of that training and Member development events that had been provided so far during 2010/11 through in-house provision and the Surrey Improvement Partnership initiative.
The report made reference to corporate priorities, consultation, and legal, financial and equality issues associated with the matter under consideration.

It was noted that a monitoring report on all Member training activities during 2010/11, including attendance details by individual Councillors and as a percentage of the overall membership of the Council, would be brought to the Committee in April 2011.

Independent members of the Standards Committee would now be supplied with the weekly Members Bulletin which detailed forthcoming training events. Furthermore, it had been agreed in discussion with the Executive Member for Personnel and Organisational Change (Councillor R.C. Newstead) that the independent members should be able to attend events, when appropriate.

In relation to training for the independent members, it was agreed that a presentation/briefing at a future meeting on planning procedures etc by the Head of Building and Development Services would be useful - see Minute 22 below.
18The Committee received the Local Government Ombudsman's annual review for 2009/10. The review was split into two sections. The first concerned complaints about the Council and the second provided a general update on LGO developments.

For 2009/10, there had been 11 enquiries and complaints against the Council compared with 12 for the previous year. Of the 11, five had been deemed premature (because the Council had not first been given the opportunity to deal with the complaint itself) and advice had been given on one occasion. Five complaints had been investigated by the Ombudsman and decisions made on four of these. There had been no findings of maladministration but one local settlement had been agreed; details on this were set out. The response time to one particular complaint was discussed.

The 11 complaints fell into the following service categories

Planning/Building Control:6
Benefits:1
Transport and Highways:1
Environmental Health:2
Land:1

19The Committee received a report on the requirement for the Council to publish an annual statement on its corporate governance arrangements as part of the annual statement of accounts. The report set out relevant statutory powers, background information/issues and had appended to it the annual statement. This had already been approved by the Executive and was now before the Committee for information.

It was noted that a report on the annual review of the code of corporate governance would be submitted to the next meeting of the Committee on 17th November 2010. Prior to this members of the Committee would be supplied with the Council's top identified "risks" for their information.
20The Council, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, would be changing its decision making arrangements to a new style Leader and cabinet model from May 2011.

This change had necessitated a review of the Council' constitution and the Committee was updated on progress being made with this task. The aim was to submit a revised constitution to Council in February 2011. Prior to this a schedule detailing the main changes would be submitted to the Standards Committee.
21The Head of Legal and Property Services (and Monitoring Officer) updated the Committee on progress being made with arrangements for the required Hearing into a breach of the Members' Code of Conduct by a Borough Councillor. Required information had not yet been returned by the subject Member and the reasons for this were outlined. The complainant had been informed of the situation.
22The Committee received its 2010/11 work programme. It was agreed that the annual review of the code of corporate governance should be added to the November meeting and a presentation/briefing on planning procedures etc (see Minute 17 above) to the February 2011 meeting.