Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - Guildhall, Bath. View directions

Contact: Enfys Hughes  01225 394410

Items
No. Item

11.

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Jeff Wring (Audit Services) to the meeting.

12.

EMERGENCY EVACUATION PROCEDURE

The Chair will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out on the Agenda.

Minutes:

The Chair invited the Clerk to announce the emergency evacuation procedure.

13.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTION

Minutes:

Apologies had been submitted from Cyril Davies and Nigel Roberts.

14.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

15.

TO ANNOUNCE ANY URGENT BUSINESS AGREED BY THE CHAIR

The Chair will announce any items of urgent business accepted since the agenda was prepared under the Access to Information provisions.

Minutes:

Training session

 

The Monitoring Officer asked the Chair if a short training session might be possible at the end of the meeting.  Having sought the views of those present, who were in agreement, the Chair announced that there would be a training session.

 

Complaints procedure

 

The Monitoring Officer explained that as requested by the Standards Committee, the criteria for considering complaints had been amended to state:

 

If appropriate, the Monitoring Officer will then go on to apply the following criteria in deciding whether a complaint should be investigated, dealt with informally or rejected:

 

·  Whether the complaint is about something that happened over 6 months ago as those involved are not likely to remember it clearly enough to provide credible evidence, or where the lapse of time means there would be little benefit or point in taking action now.

 

RESOLVED all to note.

16.

ITEMS FROM THE PUBLIC - TO RECEIVE DEPUTATIONS, STATEMENTS, PETITIONS OR QUESTIONS (COMPLAINTS MUST GO THROUGH THE STANDARDS COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE)

Minutes:

There were no items from the public.

17.

ITEMS FROM COUNCILLORS AND CO-OPTED AND ADDED MEMBERS RELATING TO THE GENERAL BUSINESS OF THE COMMITTEE

Minutes:

There were no items from Councillors.

18.

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF 19TH JULY 2018 pdf icon PDF 52 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the minutes of 19th July 2018 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

 

The Monitoring Officer explained in respect of the procedure when dealing with a complaint at a meeting, that unless there was a disagreement about the facts of the case, it was not necessary for the Committee to adjourn provided the meeting clearly minuted the facts they had found in respect of the complaint.

 

It was agreed that the exempt minutes of 19th July 2018 be submitted to the next meeting.

19.

ANNUAL REPORT ON COMMISSION FOR LOCAL ADMINISTRATION IN ENGLAND (LOCAL GOVERNMENT & SOCIAL CARE OMBUDSMAN) COMPLAINTS pdf icon PDF 64 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Monitoring Officer presented the report and explained there were no clear trends.  It was noted that there were more complaints upheld in adult social care and education and children but these areas would be anticipated to generate more serious complaints

 

RESOLVED that the Annual Review and determinations made by the Ombudsman be noted.

20.

REPORT ON THE ASSESSMENT OF COMPLAINTS pdf icon PDF 67 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the report from the Monitoring Officer.  They noted her comments in respect of gifts and hospitality and declaring an interest.

 

RESOLVED that the report on the assessment of complaints be noted.

21.

WORKPLAN FOR THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE pdf icon PDF 99 KB

Minutes:

It was suggested that the date of the May 2019 meeting be changed due to the elections.  The Democratic Services Officer would liaise with the Chair and Monitoring Officer and look for a date in June.

 

RESOLVED to note the workplan.

22.

TRAINING SESSION - CODE OF CONDUCT

Minutes:

The Code of Conduct scenarios had been circulated to members to consider.  The meeting discussed the answers to the scenarios, the issues raised and relevant recent case law.

 

The scenarios and answers would be circulated to members of the Committee.