Issue - meetings

The Standards Committee is asked to commence a review of the Procedure for the handling of complaints received under the Code of Conduct.

The Monitoring Officer presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'C' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The Standards Committee was asked to commence a review of the Procedure for the handling of complaints received under the Code of Conduct.

The Monitoring Officer highlighted examples at Paragraph 5 of the Report of other Local Authorities complaints procedures.  The Committee was advised that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) had consulted widely on Standards Framework with the possibility of a Standards Complaints Procedure being formalised nationally however there was no indication of when that may happen, and in the interim, the Committee was requested to consider whether BCP’s procedure for the handling of complaints was still fit for purpose.

The Chair advised she was conscious of not duplicating any work but felt an interim change could be to publicly name Councillors who had been found in breach of the Code of Conduct, which would hopefully increase compliance to any sanctions.

The Committee discussed potential tweaks to the BCP code of conduct and were advised that, although the MHCLG consultation had ended in February, there had been no further information about the outcome and any proposed changes to date.

The Chair concluded by advising that an informal meeting of the Standards Committee to undertake that review could be arranged, with the proposals coming back to the next meeting.  It was confirmed by the Monitoring Officer that any proposed changes could then be directed to full Council for consideration.

The Independent Person was consulted and confirmed he was happy with the proposal.

RESOLVED that:

(a)    The Committee undertakes a review of the Complaints Handling Procedure;

(b)    The Committee will report on the outcome of its review at a future meeting.

Voting: For - Unanimous