Agenda item

Standards Committee is invited to consider submitting a response to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) consultation launched on 18 December 2024, “Strengthening the standards and conduct framework for local authorities in England”.  The closing date for responses is 26 February 2025.

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

The Committee was invited to consider submitting a response to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) consultation launched on 18 December 2024, “Strengthening the standards and conduct framework for local authorities in England”.  It was noted that MHCLG had been considering for some time how to address the inconsistent approach to the standards regime, in terms of how each council operated and the lack of any robust and enforceable sanctions available. The specific proposals being consulted upon for legislative change were summarised in paragraph 3 of the report with the full consultation document attached at appendix 1.

As the closing date for responses was 26 February 2025 it was considered timely to bring this item to the Committee. Members may wish to provide feedback on each question one by one. Options for responding to the consultation included submitting a response as the Standards Committee, encouraging all BCP councillors and town and parish councillors to respond individually and/or requesting that the Monitoring Officer and Deputy Monitoring Officer respond on behalf of the Council based on the feedback. It was noted that all responses were anonymised.

As the closing date was not until 26 February the Vice Chair suggested that full consideration of the consultation be undertaken when the Chair was able to attend, whether at the next formal meeting which was prior to the deadline or by way of an informal session.

Members agreed it would still be helpful to make some initial comments at this stage and highlight what they each considered would be key issues, including the points raised in the public statements, as follows:

• Publishing committee decisions, reviewing the code of conduct and sanctions
• Strengthening the consequences of non-compliance
• Consideration of sanctions when members hold particular positions or are repeat offenders
• Balancing the need to have sufficient measures to ensure the standards regime is taken seriously against the risk of potential bias (for example, where a future council has a different political composition)
• The value of independent persons and coopted members and the potential for them to have voting rights.
• That the current committee operates in a non-political manner. One of the consultation questions asks if full council should issue sanctions. This had the potential to make things more politicised.
• That the ultimate sanction may lie with the voting public at the ballot box, in which case publication of decisions has an important role

Members were surprised at the different approaches taken by councils to their codes of conduct. The Monitoring Officer advised that there was currently no legal requirement for councils to have a standards committee although it was considered best practice. She explained a range of ways in which other councils dealt with code of conduct complaints and the publishing of decisions based on her previous experience. She also referred to the benefits of standards committees having at least two independent persons.

The Monitoring Officer took the opportunity to clarify the remit of the Investigatory and Disciplinary Committee (IDC) and the professional support provided to IDC members in their role, as the IDC had been mentioned in the member of the public’s statement and by members in the discussion.

The Committee agreed to bring the consultation back for full consideration either at the next formal committee meeting or at the next informal meeting.