Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Members.

Apologies were received from Councillor Stribley and Ian Sibley.

To receive information on any changes in the membership of the Committee.

Note – When a member of a Committee is unable to attend a meeting of a Committee or Sub-Committee, the relevant Political Group Leader (or their nominated representative) may, by notice to the Monitoring Officer (or their nominated representative) prior to the meeting, appoint a substitute member from within the same Political Group. The contact details on the front of this agenda should be used for notifications.

Councillor Williams substituted for Councillor Stribley.

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest received on this occasion.

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Meeting held on 5 October 2021.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Meeting held on 5 October 2021, having previously been circulated, be taken as read and confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution, which is available to view at the following link:-

https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeID=151&Info=1&bcr=1

The deadline for the submission of public questions is 4 clear working days before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a public statement is midday the working day before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a petition is 10 working days before the meeting.

No public issues had been received on this occasion.

The Committee is asked to agree that its next meeting be held on 18 January 2022 at 7 pm.

Note – with the support of the Chairman of the Committee the date of full Council has been rescheduled to 11 January 2022 at 7 pm.  This was the scheduled date for the Standards Committee and therefore it is proposed that the Committee now be held on 18 January 2022 at 7 pm.

The Chairman advised that this item would be considered next on the Agenda before potentially going in to exempt session.

The Chairman advised that the proposed date of the next meeting would be Tuesday 1 February 2022.

There was some discussion over the start time of the Committee, and it was clarified that historically Standards Committee had commenced at 6pm. 

RESOLVED that the next the next Standards Committee be held on Tuesday 1 February 2022 at 6pm.

In relation to the items of business appearing below and having due regard to the advisory note of the Independent Investigator as set out in the submitted report, the Committee is asked to consider whether to pass the following resolution and exclude the press and public from the meeting: -

‘That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 1 in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act and that the public interest in withholding the information outweighs such interest in disclosing the information.’

The Monitoring Officer introduced the item and recommended that the Standards Committee go into exempt session.

RESOLVED that under Section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1 and 2 in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act and that the public interest in withholding the information outweighs such interest in disclosing the information.

Voting – For – Unanimous.

Exempt Information – Category 1 (Personal information relating to any individual)

This report provides the Standards Committee with the conclusions of the investigation following a complaint made about Councillor of BCP Council under reference BCP-039. The investigator’s report is attached at Appendix 1. The investigator concludes that there are two grounds with sufficient evidence to uphold the complaint.

The Committee is asked to consider the investigator’s report.

The Independent Investigator presented their report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and was appended to the covering report, a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The report provided the Standards Committee with the conclusions of the investigation following a complaint made about a Councillor of BCP Council under reference BCP-039. The Investigator’s report was attached at Appendix 1. The Investigator concluded that there were two grounds with sufficient evidence to uphold the complaint.

The Committee was asked to consider the Investigator’s report.  Committee Members questioned the Investigator regarding points of clarification and accuracy.

In response to a concern raised, the Committee was advised of the reasons why the Investigator did not feel it was appropriate or necessary to have a meeting with the complainant.

The Independent Investigator left the meeting whilst the Committee considered the Recommendations.

The Committee considered the Recommendations and discussed possible sanctions for non-compliance.  There was some discussion over the timescales for the commencement of the 14 day period and it was felt appropriate to start it on the first working day of 2022.

RESOLVED that:

(a)    the findings of the independent investigator that the subject councillor breached the Council’s Code of Conduct on the grounds of failing to show respect and bullying the complainant be accepted;

(b)    the subject councillor be requested to furnish the complainant with a letter of apology;

(c)    should the subject councillor fail to provide a suitable letter of apology referred to in (b) above within 14 days from 4 January 2022, then a report of non-compliance be presented to full council.

Vote: For - Unanimous.

Exempt Information – Category 1 (Personal information relating to any individual)

This report provides the Standards Committee with the conclusions of the investigation following a complaint made about Councillor of BCP Council under reference BCP-040. The investigator’s report is attached at Appendix 1. The investigator concludes that there is insufficient evidence to support the allegations.

The Committee is asked to consider the investigator’s report.

The Independent Investigator presented their report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and was appended to the covering report, a copy of which appears as Appendix 'B' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The report provided the Standards Committee with the conclusions of the investigation following a complaint made about a Councillor of BCP Council under reference BCP-040. The investigator’s report was attached at Appendix 1. The investigator concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support the allegations.

Committee Members questioned the Investigator regarding points of clarification.

In response to a concern raised, the Committee was again advised of the reasons why the Investigator did not feel it was appropriate or necessary to have a meeting with the complainant.

The Independent Investigator left the meeting whilst the Committee considered the Recommendations.

The Committee discussed the recommendations and considered the second recommendation first, detailed  below:

The Committee consider whether to instruct the investigator to further report on the complaint of “failing to treat others with respect”.

Following advice of the Independent Investigator and not wishing to undermine the decisions of the previous Chairman of Standards Committee, the Committee felt it was not appropriate to instruct the investigator to further report on the complaint of “failing to treat others with respect”.

RESOLVED that the findings and recommendations of the independent investigator be accepted.

Voting: For - Unanimous