Agenda item

A report of the Monitoring Officer to enable the Committee to review the Constitution.

Considered a report of the Monitoring Officer enabling the Committee to review the parts of the Constitution that relate to its roles (item 6 on the agenda filed with these minutes).

Summary of discussion regarding amendments to Section 18:

·         Section 18.4 – reserves were permitted for the initial consideration of complaints by panels of the Member Conduct Committee and would be trained as required in accordance with Section 5.5 of the Constitution

·         Section 18.5 – the appointment of a suitable person was thought to be an improvement on the original wording as the Monitoring Officer considered that it would not be appropriate for him to carry out any investigation when his role was to advise the Panel at a hearing.  The person would be appointed depending on the complexity of the complaint, a number of private consultants or neighbouring local authority Monitoring Officers could be used.  If the complaint was a concise and isolated matter an internal officer with the requisite experience and knowledge could be appointed and it was confirmed that they would receive coaching.  These examples could be included in the Constitution but it was determined that the appointment criteria should not be restricted.

·         Section 18.10, the procedure for non-Code of Conduct complaints had been deleted as this was a duplication of Section 18.8.  it was important that this was made clear in the Constitution.

·         Access to exempt information –  it was important for the rules of access to be made clear.  All councillors could access exempt information that related to executive matters but as member conduct was covered under council matters it was not always appropriate for exempt information to be accessible.  This was clarified in section 13 of the Constitution.

Summary of discussion regarding conflicts of members interests:

·         if conflicts of members interest during a meeting were identified by the Monitoring Officer / legal team whether there were options for the councillor in question to appeal the judgement or see evidence.  It was preferrable for a councillor to review the meeting agenda prior to the meeting and to discuss with the Monitoring Officer if they had any concerns regarding a potential conflict of interest.  It was the duty of members to have due regard to any such advice given and to consider it fully even if they chose not to follow that advice.  With reference to a particular example it was noted that the previous Members’ Code of Conduct would have applied.

·         with reference to planning applications if a councillor represented a particular Ward and was attending a meeting where an application in that Ward was discussed whether this meant that the councillor had an automatic conflict of interest.  Councillors could consider planning applications in their ward but it was important for the councillor to determine if they had an open mind and had not been involved with the application in such a way as to prejudice them.  Section 7.1 (role of Ward members) of the Planning Code of Good Practice clarified that a councillor’s duty whilst sitting on the Plans Committee  was to the whole community and not just to the people in their Ward area.

·         it could be challenging to advise and accept advice during a meeting due to the complexities of the Code of Conduct for both officers and councillors.  A councillor could, if they wished, seek a short adjournment to a meeting to consider any advice given regarding conflicts of members interests.

·         it could be beneficial to emphasise the responsibilities of councillors in relation to conflicts of members’ interests and as Ward members in future training, with particular reference to member induction training after the local elections in 2023.

Cllr Draycott requested that it be recorded in the minutes that she was of the view that the original wording for Section 18.5 (a) was preferred.

The Democratic Services Officer agreed to share with the Committee, the webpage links to the relevant sections of the Constitution mentioned during the discussion.

RESOLVED

1.    that the Committee notes the report and the content of the current sections of the Constitution relating to member conduct and the handling of member conduct complaints;

2.    that the Committee recommends conflicts of members’ interests is emphasised in future member training and that the Head of Planning and Growth be notified of this recommendation.

Reasons

1.    To enable the Committee’s views to form part of the annual review of the Council’s Constitution.

2.    To ensure that councillors are aware of their duties with respect to handling matters where a conflict of interest may arise.