Return to Agenda

ITEM ST3

STANDARDS COMMITTEE – 20 APRIL 2006

MINUTES of the meeting held on 20 April 2006 commencing at 10.00am and finishing at 12.10 pm.

Present:

The Committee considered the matters, reports and recommendations contained or referred to in the agenda for the meeting, and decided as set out below. Except insofar as otherwise specified, the reasons for the decisions are contained in the agenda and reports, copies of which are attached to the signed Minutes.

5/06. ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN FOR THE CURRENT COUNCIL YEAR

RESOLVED: that Mr Robert Elmore be elected as Chairman for the current Council Year.

6/06. ELECTION OF DEPUTY CHAIRMAN FOR THE CURRENT COUNCIL YEAR

RESOLVED: that Mr Roger Coudrey be elected as Deputy Chairman for the current Council Year.

7/06. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND TEMPORARY APPOINTMENTS

Apologies for absence were received as follows:

Apology from	Temporary Appointments
Councillor Keith Stone	-

8/06. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Councillor Roaf declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 8 on the grounds that he was a member of the IDeA.

9/06. MINUTES

The Minutes of the meetings of the Committee held on 16 November 2005 and 25 January 2006 were approved and signed.

10/06. ANNUAL MONITORING REPORT

• The Committee needed to be careful when dealing with complaints from outside of the Authority – clear guidelines should be issued from the Standards Board, otherwise there was a risk of putting the Monitoring Officer in a difficult position.
• The need for the Council to publicise widely that there were further steps and that the Standards Committee were not judge and jury.
• The Monitoring Officer and Standards Committee needed to have clear and robust processes in place and give clear reasons when they rejected to carry out an investigation.
• People needed to have the right to go further if necessary.
• The need to ensure that the Standards Committee reported back to media on outcome.

1. to note the report; and
2. to adopt the proposals set out in the report as the basis for its work programme for 2006/07.

11/06. IDEA: ETHICAL TOOLKIT

(Agenda Item 6)

The Committee had before them a report which considered the need for the Ethical Governance Toolkit which had been designed by the Audit Commission and the Improvement & Development Agency (IDeA) to help authorities to assess how well they were meeting the ethical agenda.

The Toolkit provided a range of options, from a comprehensive, in-depth survey to a more light-touch assessment. The report outlined the Toolkit options and costs and asked the Committee for a view on whether, and at what level, the Council should undertake an assessment of its ethical standards arrangements using the Toolkit.

The Chairman and Deputy Chairman spoke in support of the full Audit, on the basis that it would allow the Standards Committee to set their own work programme for the next few years in a non-threatening way.

RESOLVED: to carry out a full Audit by the Audit Commission to access how well the Council were meeting the ethical agenda.

12/06. COMPLAINTS AND INVESTIGATIONS: CASE SUMMARIES

(Agenda item 7)

At its last meeting the Committee had reviewed its training and development programme over the last six months and agreed to look in detail at a number of case studies to gain experience and to keep abreast of current issues.

The Monitoring Officer presented a number of recent case examples from the Standards Board at this meeting for general discussion and consideration of possible implications for members in Oxfordshire.

Members were also asked to consider whether they would wish to receive "The Case Alert" to be launched by the Standards Board in May 2006, which would provide regular bulletins to keep members informed of noteworthy decisions by standards committees, the Adjudication Panel for England and the High Court, particularly where they shed new light on understanding of the Code of Conduct.

Members of the Committee then undertook a workshop session to work through case studies based on several problematic/topical areas of the code of conduct, applying the code to make a decision on the matter under investigation.

Each group then reported back on their findings, discussing what conclusions they had reached and the penalties awarded. Following the workshops the Committee RESOLVED to:

1. undertake a similar training exercise annually; and
2. receive a summary of the "Case Alerts" at their next meeting.
   
   

13/06. OUTCOME OF STANDARDS BOARDS COMPLAINT

1. note the outcome of the case outlined on the Agenda; and
2. include advice and guidance in the next "Councillors information" publication in relation to the member/officer Code of Conduct.

14/06. ANNUAL REPORT 2005/2006

in the Chair

Date of signing 2006

Return to TOP