Agenda and minutes

The Monitoring Officer presented the report.

On a motion from Councillor Michelle O’Doherty, seconded by Councillor Toby Simon it was

RESOLVED that

1)  Dr Axel Palmer be appointed as Independent Co-Chair of the Standards Committee in compliance with the Terms of Reference for the Standards Committee set out at clause 2.28.3 of the Constitution; and

2)  Councillor Toby Simon be appointed as Statutory Co-Chair of the Standards Committee in accordance with the political proportionality rules as determined by Council at the 2023 May AGM.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. 

He informed the meeting that Parish Councillor Richard Robertson had recently died.  There were now 2 parish councillor vacancies on the committee and replacements would be sought.

He thanked the previous Committee members – Sally Davis, Duncan Hounsell, Paul Crossley and June Player – for their work on the Committee.

The Democratic Services Officer read out the emergency evacuation procedure as set out on the agenda.

Apologies were received from Councillor Alex Beaumont.

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

(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 4.4 Appendix 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 Officer or a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There were none.

There was no urgent business.

There was a statement from Mr Alex Hansen on public declarations of councillor interests.  It has become apparent that individuals who have previously served as a B&NES Councillor, but not in the directly preceding term, do not have their previous declarations automatically reinstated and this was an anomaly.  Mr Hansen wanted these public declarations re-instated.

The Monitoring Officer informed the meeting that he had been in correspondence with Mr Hansen on this issue and suggested that the Committee needed to be fully informed on this issue via a report, before making any decision.

RESOLVED that the Monitoring Officer submit a report on public declarations of councillor interests to the next Standards Committee in October 2023.

There were none.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting on 12^th July 2022 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Legal Services Manager presented the report and explained that it was good practice to produce the report which would then go to full Council.

He highlighted dates for training:

Half day training sessions, to be held jointly with Avon Fire Authority, on the Local Government Association Model Code of Conduct for Members (adopted by BANES in 2021) have been arranged for:

• 30 October 2023 between 10:00 -12:30 in person at Keynsham Civic Centre

• 10 November 2023 between 14:00 – 16:30 in person at Avonmouth

• 15 November 2023 between 17:00 – 19:30 online via Zoom/Teams

The Monitoring Officer reminded members of the importance of keeping their register of interests up-to-date and confirmed there was nearly 100% compliance.

In the report there was a new table of complaints by type.

RESOLVED that the work of the Standards Committee, as set out in the Annual Report, be noted.

RESOLVED that the Report on the Assessment of Complaints be noted.

The Monitoring Officer presented the workplan and explained that some ‘horizon scanning’ had been done against other local authorities.  He explained that there was a need for hearing training with the new members to understand the process, this could take place in person or via Teams.

Other issues raised at the meeting were as follows:

·  Lessons-learned or good practice reports from other local authorities

·  Many authorities only met when there were investigations

·  Some Standards Committees were joined with Corporate Audit

·  Councillors’ ability to withdraw details from the register if harassed by the public to protect their home address and safeguards for sensitive information

Further research would be done on these issues by the Monitoring Officer and Legal Services Manager.

RESOLVED to note the workplan and update with future meeting dates.

The Monitoring Officer presented the training session using the powerpoint slides.