Agenda and minutes

The Chair (Dr Axel Palmer) welcomed everyone to the meeting by explaining that this meeting is being held under The Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020.  The Council has agreed a protocol to cover virtual meetings and this meeting will operate in line with that protocol.  The meeting has the same status and validity as a meeting held in the Guildhall.

Councillor June Player and Deborah Russell (Independent Member) had sent their apologies for this meeting.  Cyril Davies arrived for the last item on the agenda.

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.

There were none.

The Chair informed the meeting that he has agreed to bring a report on a complaint received from a member of the public as urgent item. The Chair confirmed that all Members of the Committee have received the papers on this matter in advance of the meeting.

The Chair suggested that this item should be considered in exempt session as it dealt with personal information in relation to several officers and the complainant after the last item on the agenda. The Committee agreed with Chair’s suggestion.

EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC NOTICE

The Committee unanimously AGREED with the following resolution;

 That, having been satisfied that the public interest test would be better served by not disclosing relevant information, and in accordance with the provisions of Section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business because of the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Scheduled 12A for the Act as amended.

Note:  The Information Governance Manager has issued a certificate of exemption (attached as Appendix 1) in accordance to Access to Information Arrangements - Exclusion of access by the public to Council meetings.

There were none.

There were none.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 9^th July 2020 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Maria Lucas (Monitoring Officer) introduced the report.

It was RESOLVED to note the assessment of complaints.

Maria Lucas took the Committee through the report, as printed.

Councillor Michelle O’Doherty said that the Council had been doing quite well in complaints department and asked how the Council would monitor outcomes from the recommendations received through Ombudsman’s feedback.

Maria Lucas responded that the Council’s Complaints Officer, who was employed by Audit West, monitored the Local Government complaints to Ombudsman.  Appendix 2 of the report set out information on whether the Council complied with those complaints, which were analysed by the Complaints Officer.  Maria Lucas also added that she met regularly with the Complaints Officer, to review complaints on a quarterly basis.

Councillor Jess David said that she welcomed the report.  With regard to the last upheld complaint, which was about a parent complaining about the child's access to education, whilst they were unable to attend school, Councillor David thought that some of the remedies that were suggested there were quite interesting and she asked whether this could be forwarded to the relevant Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel (Children) for inclusion in their forward plan.

The Committee welcomed this proposal from Councillor Jess David and would inform the Chair of this suggestion.

It was RESOLVED to note the Annual Review and note the determinations made by the Ombudsman.

This item is for noting only and reported for the Committee’s attention.

On 14th August 2020, the Monitoring Officer made a delegated officer decision to permit the addition of the words “other than important items raised by a single parish or a small number of parishes that are agreed by the Parish Liaison agenda setting group will be included on the agenda” to the end of the first bullet point in paragraph 5.3 of the Parish Liaison meeting Terms of Reference.

Paragraph 5.3 reads as below;

“Items that are not relevant for Parish Liaison will be those:

• That relate to a single, or small number of parishes

• For which other, effective channels of communication exist

• That are day to day operational issues

• That need to be addressed immediately.”

This recommendation arose at the Avon Local Council's Association (ALCA) Annual General Meeting held in June, and was supported by the Parish Liaison Meeting on 16th July 2020.

[Constitution Part 2, Article 15 permits the Monitoring Officer to agree minor changes to the Constitution.]

The full officer decision can be viewed here; https://democracy.bathnes.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=1431

Maria Lucas informed the Committee that under the Constitution she has the authority, to make minor amendments to the Constitution and then to bring those amendments to the attention of the Standards Committee. All other amendments must be agreed by Council.

This amendment was requested by the Parish Liaison Committee, and it was agreed by Maria Lucas in her capacity of the Monitoring Officer of the Council under these constitutional arrangements. 

The Standards Committee noted the amendment as presented in the agenda.

Maria Lucas took the Committee through the Workplan for Standards Committee.

The Committee agreed that the Annual Report of the Standards Committee should be considered at 19^th November 2020, rather than 19^th January 2021 meeting.

It was AGREED to have the Annual Report of the Standards Committee for 19^th November 2020 (subject to its readiness).

The Chair invited Maria Lucas to take the Committee through the report.

The Committee decided that having considered the terms of reference of the Standards Committee it was outside the remit of Standards Committee to investigate this matter.

On a motion from Councillor Michelle O’Doherty, seconded by Councillor Duncan Hounsell, it was AGREED (unanimously) to decline the investigation of the complaint.