REPORT OF THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE AND MONITORING OFFICER
PART I

1. The Standards Committee at its meeting on 29 October 2001 recommended that further changes, mostly of a technical nature, be made to the Constitution. A brief analysis of the changes recommended is contained in this report. The report considered by the Standards Committee is in the Members' Room.


2. In addition to these suggested changes to the Constitution, the Government has also made the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) Regulations 2001, which came into force on 7 November 2001. The effect of these Regulations is that further mandatory changes need to be made to the Council's Constitution. These changes must be made by the County Council as soon as reasonably practicable after 7 November 2001. In these circumstances it has been considered necessary to bring these changes straight to the County Council for approval, rather than the more usual step of them being considered firstly by the Standards Committee.


Changes to the Constitution recommended by the Standards Committee


3. The changes to the Constitution recommended by the Standards Committee at their meeting on 29 October 2001 fall into the following categories:


Pension Fund Panel

4. Confirmation that the Pension Fund Panel is responsible for undertaking all relevant functions under their previous Terms of Reference and that references in the Constitution to Regulatory Committee B undertaking this role be deleted.


Access to Information and call-in

5. An amendment to the Access to Information Protocol clarifies that call-in wil

not delay an effective decision being made if that decision is made in

accordance with policy and budget.


Policy Review

6. This amendment confirms that co-opted members of Policy Review

Committees are non-voting.

Nomenclature

7. This small amendment promotes the term "Recreation and Heritage" for

references to the Executive Member and Policy Review Committee rather than

the previous title of Recreation, Heritage and Culture.

8. Protocol for Member/Officer Relations

The Standards Committee has agreed a significant change to this Protocol

which has the effect of substantially tightening up the policy on the use by

members and officers of personal computers supplied to them by the County

Council. It is recommended that paragraph 3.2 of the Protocol, which is to be

found at Part 4:3 of the Constitution, should be amended by including the

following paragraph:-

"Any such equipment provided by the Council, such as personal computers,

must however only be used in accordance with any Council policy which

applies at the time. Furthermore, the member will be fully responsible for the

use or misuse of the equipment, including any use or misuse by anyone to whom the member has given access to the equipment."


Area Based Committees and Panels

9. This adds to the list of statutory joint committees "In and Around North Hampshire" which promotes tourism within North East Hampshire in collaboration with Hart and Rushmoor Councils.


Appointments to Committees, Sub-Committees and Panels


10. The Standards Committee were of the view that changes were needed to enable

a more prompt and flexible means of responding to political groups' wishes to

vary their representation on committees where proportionality rules apply,

rather than await the formal approval of full Council. The Committee

therefore recommends that the Chief Executive be authorised to approve

changes in committee membership where proportionality rules apply. The

Committee also considered and agreed with a verbal comment of the

Monitoring Officer that to avoid any ambiguity, appointments to outside

bodies not on a proportional basis should be made by the relevant Executive

Member in consultation with the minority parties. Regional, national and

international appointments will continue to be made by the full Council in line

with existing policy.


River Hamble

11. The changes being promoted to the Constitution so far as the River Hamble

are concerned are that the functions of the Council as Harbour Authority are the responsibility of the Executive acting collectively or individually, with the

Executive Member for Environment taking prime responsibility. The

Standards Committee are also recommending the establishment of the re-

named "River Hamble Harbour Management Committee" and an Advisory

Committee acting within Terms of Reference approved by the Standards

Committee.

Changes to the Constitution necessitated by the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) Regulations 2001


12. By virtue of these Regulations the Council is required to modify its Standing Orders so far as is necessary to conform with their provisions. In some instances there is only a need for small amendments to existing provisions contained within the Constitution, although in relation to the proceedings and business of the Council there is a need for quite significant changes being effected.

Standing Orders relating to Staff

13. The Regulations require the appointment, dismissal and the taking of

disciplinary action against staff, except for certain specified senior posts, to be

discharged by the Head of Paid Service, i.e. the Chief Executive.

14. The County Council currently makes provision for the appointment of senior

staff at page 70 of the Constitution under Standing Order 41. This Standing

Order sets out the procedure for the appointment of staff, but it does not relate
either to the dismissal of such staff or what happens with regard to disciplinary action that may be taken against them. The existing Standing Order would therefore need to be substantially amended to refer to dismissal and disciplinary action in addition to appointments. Furthermore, the range of officers affected by the mandatory Standing Order contained within the Regulations is also extended. Thus the range of officers included within this will now extend to the Chief Executive, all chief officers and to all other officers who are or who substantially are accountable to the Chief Executive and to those other officers who, in respect of all or most of their duties, also report to such officers.


15. In respect of this level of senior officers the implication is that for

appointments, dismissals and disciplinary action the responsibility would be

taken by members through an appointments or dismissal panel and which must

include at least one Executive Member. Therefore the principle of how this

would work would not be far different from what exists at the present time.


16. However, there is one further significant change in the proposals. This is that

for the appointment or dismissal of this range of senior officers the Executive,

individually or collectively, would be given a right of objection. Thus the

panel making the decision must inform the proper officer, i.e. the Chief

Executive, of the name of the person in respect of whom the appointment or

dismissal is to be made and supply other relevant information.


17. The Chief Executive must then notify every member of the Executive, again

supplying all necessary details, and must also indicate a period within which

any objection to the making of the offer of appointment or the notice of

dismissal is to be made by the Executive to the Chief Executive. Neither the

appointment nor the dismissal can take effect until either


(i) the Leader has within the period specified notified the appointing or

dismissing panel that neither he nor any other member of the Executive

has any objection to the proposal;

(ii) the Chief Executive has notified the appointing or dismissing panel that no objection was received by him within the relevant period from the Leader; or


(iii) the appointor or dismissor is satisfied that any objection which has

been received from the Leader within the relevant period is not

material or well founded. The appointing or dismissing panel must

then take any such objection into account in coming to a final decision,

but it needs to be clarified that the Executive does not have a veto.


18. It also needs to be noted that in respect of the Chief Executive, an appointment or dismissal will require a final decision by the full Council.


19. In respect of the Head of Paid Service (Chief Executive), Chief Finance Officer (County Treasurer) and Monitoring Officer (Head of Corporate and Legal Services), if the Council wishes to investigate any allegations of serious misconduct or incompetence which might lead to dismissal, the Council has to appoint an independent person agreed with the officer concerned, or nominated by the Secretary of State in default of agreement, and that independent person must then be involved in the disciplinary process effectively as a co-opted member of the dismissal panel. There are current provisions in the Constitution which have this effect, although in respect of the Chief Finance Officer and Monitoring Officer they have only now been backed by Regulations. This is contained in the Council's Standing Order 44 at page 71 of the Constitution.


20. It is therefore recommended that the existing provisions to be found in Standing Order 41 at page 70 of the Constitution be amended by inclusion of the model form of Standing Order referred to in the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) Regulations 2001 which are to be found at Appendix 1 of this report.


21. The existing Standing Order 41 (1), (2) and (3) without the words in brackets at the end of 41(3) be re-numbered Standing Order 41(8), (9) and (10) and amended to refer to the list of senior officers given at Standing Order 41(3) referred to in Appendix 1.


22. Furthermore, existing Standing Order 44 at page 71 of the Constitution be deleted in its entirety and replaced by the model form of Standing Order to be found at Appendix 2 of this report.

Standing Orders regulating the proceedings and business of the Council

23. These provisions introduce a detailed mechanism whereby the plans or strategies of the County Council are agreed in consultation with the Executive. This therefore applies to all those plans and strategies identified in Part 1 Chapter 4 of the Constitution headed "The Role of the County Council". It includes all those plans and strategies which must be determined by the County Council and also those which the County Council has itself decided should be determined by the County Council.


24. In addition, the definition of plan or strategy also specifically includes "a plan or strategy for the control of a relevant authority's borrowing or capital expenditure". This should therefore be added to the list of plans and strategies already agreed to be determined by the County Council in paragraph 4.01 of the Constitution.


25. So far as the position is concerned with plans or strategies other than the budget, the Standing Order will require that if the Council proposes to do anything other than simply approve the draft plan or strategy without amendment it must first advise the Leader of any objections which it has to the draft plan or strategy and require him/her to secure that the Executive reconsider the draft plan or strategy in the light of those objections. This must be done within a specified period, being no less than five working days. Within that period the Executive can either revise the draft plan or strategy or set out reasons why the Executive wishes to maintain or amend its existing proposals. Council then considers the draft plan or strategy (as amended or not) and can adopt or amend the plan or strategy or submit it to the Secretary of State for approval with or without amendments by a simple majority.


26. The position with regard to budgets is similar, but there are significant differences. Again, the position is that the Executive will submit proposals to the Council and, if the Council wishes to depart from the figures submitted, it will remit to the Executive for a period of not less than five working days for the Executive to decide whether to maintain or amend its original proposals. The Council would then reconsider and have the authority by a simple majority to adopt the budget and set a precept on any basis.


27. However, the significantly different feature in respect of the dispute resolution procedure for budgets is that this requirement to go back to the Executive and consider their views only applies where the Executive has submitted its budget proposals to the Council before 8 February in any financial year. It must be remembered that the County Council, as a precepting authority, must set its precept before 1 March in each year. It is no doubt for this reason that the watershed date of 8 February has been established.


28. As these dispute resolution procedures do not exist within the Council's existing Constitution it is suggested that the model form of Standing Order as contained in Appendix 3 to this report should be adopted and included within the Constitution as amendments to Standing Order 6. Appendix 3 gives details of the additional paragraphs required. As a result of these additional paragraphs the existing paragraph 6.1 of the Standing Orders would require to be re-numbered as Standing Order 6.12.


Conclusion


29. This report summarises those amendments to the Constitution recommended by the Standards Committee at its meeting on 29 October 2001 and also suggests other changes to the Constitution which are required to be made as a result of the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) Regulations 2001.

RECOMMENDATION

That the County Council agrees to the changes to the Constitution referred to in this report and instructs the Head of Corporate and Legal Services to make all necessary consequential amendments to the Constitution.

P. A. PIERCE

Chairman

J. A. PATTISON

Monitoring Officer

APPENDIX 1

1 Replacement Standing Order 41

41. Appointment, Dismissal and Disciplinary action in respect of Senior Officers

41.1 In this Part -

"the 1989 Act" means the Local Government and Housing Act 1989;

"the 2000 Act" means the Local Government Act 2000;

"disciplinary action" has the same meaning as in the Local Authorities (Standing

Orders) (England) Regulations 2001;

"executive" and "executive leader" have the same meaning as in Part II of the 2000

Act;

"member of staff" means a person appointed to or holding a paid office or

employment under the authority; and

"proper officer" means an officer appointed by the authority for the purposes of the

provisions in this Part.

41.2 Subject to paragraphs 3 and 7, the function of appointment and dismissal of, and taking disciplinary action against, a member of staff of the authority must be discharged, on behalf of the authority, by the officer designated under section 4(1) of the 1989 Act (designation and reports of head of paid service) as the head of the authority's paid service or by an officer nominated by him.

41.3 Paragraph 2 shall not apply to the appointment or dismissal of, or disciplinary action against -

(a) the officer designated as the head of the authority's paid service;
(b) a statutory chief officer within the meaning of section 2(6) of the 1989
Act (politically restricted posts);
(c) a non-statutory chief officer within the meaning of section 2(7) of the
1989 Act;
(d) a deputy chief officer within the meaning of section 2(8) of the 1989
Act; or
(e) a person appointed in pursuance of section 9 of the 1989 Act

(assistants for political groups).

41.4 (1) Where a committee, sub-committee or officer is discharging, on behalf of the authority, the function of the appointment or dismissal of an officer designated as the head of the authority's paid service, the authority must approve that appointment before an offer of appointment is made to him/her or, as the case may be, must approve that dismissal before notice of dismissal is given to him/her.

(2) Where a committee or a sub-committee of the authority is discharging, on behalf of the authority, the function of the appointment or dismissal of any officer referred to in sub-paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d) of paragraph 3, at least one member of the executive must be a member of that committee or sub-committee.

41.5 (1) In this paragraph, "appointor" means, in relation to the appointment of

a person as an officer of the authority, the authority or, where a committee, sub-committee or officer is discharging the function of appointment on behalf of the authority, that committee, sub-committee or officer, as the case may be.

(2) An offer of an appointment as an officer referred to in sub-paragraph
(a), (b), (c) or (d) of paragraph 3 must not be made by the appointor

until


(a) the appointor has notified the proper officer of the name of the person to
whom the appointor wishes to make the offer and any other particulars
which the appointor considers are relevant to the appointment;

(b) the proper officer has notified every member of the executive of the
authority of -

(i) the name of the person to whom the appointor wishes to make the
offer;
(ii) any other particulars relevant to the appointment which the
appointor has notified to the proper officer; and
(iii) the period within which any objection to the making of the offer
is to be made by the executive leader on behalf of the executive to the
proper officer; and

(c) either -

(i) the executive leader has, within the period specified in the notice
under sub-paragraph (b)(iii), notified the appointor that neither he/she nor
any other member of the executive has any objection to the making of the
offer;
(ii) the proper officer has notified the appointor that no objection was
received by him/her within that period from the executive leader; or
(iii) the appointor is satisfied that any objection received from the
executive leader within that period is not material or is not well-founded.

41.6 (1) In this paragraph, "dismissor" means, in relation to the dismissal of an officer of the authority, the authority or, where a committee, sub-committee or other officer is discharging the function of dismissal on behalf of the authority, that committee, sub-committee or other officer, as the case may be.

(2) Notice of the dismissal of an officer referred to in sub-paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d) of paragraph 3 must not be given by the dismissor until -

(a) the dismissor has notified the proper officer of the name of the person who the
dismissor wishes to dismiss and any other particulars which the dismissor
considers are relevant to the dismissal;

(b) the proper officer has notified every member of the executive of the
authority of -

(i) the name of the person who the dismissor wishes to dismiss;
(ii) any other particulars relevant to the dismissal which the dismissor
has notified to the proper officer; and
(iii) the period within which any objection to the dismissal is to be made
by the executive leader on behalf of the executive to the proper officer;
and
(c) either -

(i) the executive leader has, within the period specified in the notice
under sub-paragraph (b)(iii), notified the dismissor that neither he/she

nor any other member of the executive has any objection to the

dismissal;

(ii) the proper officer has notified the dismissor that no objection was
received by him/her within that period from the executive leader; or
(iii) the dismissor is satisfied that any objection received from the

executive leader within that period is not material or is not well-founded.

41.7 Nothing in paragraph 2 shall prevent a person from serving as a member of any committee or sub-committee established by the authority to consider an appeal
by -

(a) another person against any decision relating to the appointment of that other
person as a member of staff of the authority; or

(b) a member of staff of the authority against any decision relating to the
dismissal of, or taking disciplinary action against, that member of staff.

APPENDIX 2

Replacement Standing Order 44

44. Head of Paid Service, Chief Finance Officer, Monitoring Officer - disciplinary action

44.1 In paragraph 2, "chief finance officer", "council manager", "disciplinary action", "head of the authority's paid service" and "monitoring officer", have the same meaning as in Regulation 2 of the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) Regulations 2001 and "designated independent person" has the same meaning as in Regulation 7 of those Regulations.

44.2 No disciplinary action in respect of the head of the authority's paid service (unless he/she is also a council manager of the authority), its monitoring officer or its chief finance officer, except action described in paragraph 3, may be taken by the authority, or by a committee, a sub-committee, a joint committee on which the authority is represented or any other person acting on behalf of the authority, other than in accordance with a recommendation in a report made by a designated independent person under Regulation 7 of the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) Regulations 2001 (investigation of alleged misconduct).

44.3 The action mentioned in paragraph 2 is suspension of the officer for the purpose of investigating the alleged misconduct occasioning the action; and any such suspension must be on full pay and terminate no later than the expiry of two months beginning on the day on which the suspension takes effect.

APPENDIX 3



Additional Standing Orders relating to proceedings and business

6.2 Where the executive of the authority has submitted a draft plan or strategy to the authority for its consideration and, following consideration of that draft plan or strategy, the authority has any objections to it, the authority must take the action set out in paragraph 3.

6.3 Before the authority -

(a) amends the draft plan or strategy;
(b) approves, for the purpose of its submission to the Secretary of State or any
Minister of the Crown for his/her approval, any plan or strategy (whether or
not in the form of a draft) of which any part is required to be so submitted;
or
(c) adopts (with or without modification) the plan or strategy,

it must inform the executive leader of any objections which it has to the draft plan or strategy and must give to him/her instructions requiring the executive to reconsider, in the light of those objections, the draft plan or strategy submitted to it.

6.4 Where the authority gives instructions in accordance with paragraph 3, it must specify a period of at least five working days beginning on the day after the date on which the executive leader receives the instructions on behalf of the executive within which the executive leader may -

(a) submit a revision of the draft plan or strategy as amended by the executive
(the "revised draft plan or strategy"), with the executive's reasons for any
amendments made to the draft plan or strategy, to the authority for the
authority's consideration; or
(b) inform the authority of any disagreement that the executive has with any of
the authority's objections and the executive's reasons for any such
disagreement.

6.5 When the period specified by the authority, referred to in paragraph 5, has expired,
the authority must, when -

(a) amending the draft plan or strategy or, if there is one, the revised draft
plan or strategy;
(b) approving, for the purpose of its submission to the Secretary of State or any
Minister of the Crown for his/her approval, any plan or strategy (whether or
not in the form of a draft or revised draft) of which any part is required to be
so submitted; or
(c) adopting (with or without modification) the plan or strategy,

take into account any amendments made to the draft plan or strategy that are included in any revised draft plan or strategy, the executive's reasons for those amendments, any disagreement that the executive has with any of the authority's objections and the executive's reasons for that disagreement, which the executive leader submitted to the authority, or informed the authority of, within the period specified.

6.6 Subject to paragraph 10, where, before 8 February in any financial year, the authority's executive submits to the authority for its consideration in relation to the following financial year -

(a) estimates of the amounts to be aggregated in making a calculation
(whether originally or by way of substitute) in accordance with any of
sections 32 to 37 or 43 to 49, of the Local Government Finance Act 1992;
(b) estimates of other amounts to be used for the purposes of such a calculation;
(c) estimates of such a calculation; or
(d) amounts required to be stated in a precept under Chapter IV of Part 1 of the
Local Government Finance Act 1992,

and following consideration of those estimates or amounts the authority has any objections to them, it must take the action set out in paragraph 7.

6.7 Before the authority makes a calculation (whether originally or by way of substitute) in accordance with any of the sections referred to in paragraph 6.6(a), or issues a precept under Chapter IV of Part I of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, it must inform the executive leader of any objections which it has to the executive's estimates or amounts and must give to him instructions requiring the executive to reconsider, in the light of those objections, those estimates and amounts in accordance with the authority's requirements.

6.8 Where the authority gives instructions in accordance with paragraph 6.7, it must specify a period of at least five working days beginning on the day after the date on which the executive leader receives the instructions on behalf of the executive within which the executive leader may -

(a) submit a revision of the estimates or amounts as amended by the executive
("revised estimates or amounts"), which have been reconsidered in
accordance with the authority's requirements, with the executive's reasons
for any amendments made to the estimates or amounts, to the authority for
the authority's consideration; or
(b) inform the authority of any disagreement that the executive has with any of
the authority's objections and the executive's reasons for any such
disagreement.

6.9 When the period specified by the authority, referred to in paragraph 6.8, has expired, the authority must, when making calculations (whether originally or by way of substitute) in accordance with the sections referred to in paragraph 6.6(a), or issuing a precept under Chapter IV of Part I of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, take into account -

(a) any amendments to the estimates or amounts that are included in any
revised estimates or amounts;
(b) the executive's reasons for those amendments;
(c) any disagreement that the executive has with any of the authority's
objections; and
(d) the executive's reasons for that disagreement,

which the executive leader submitted to the authority, or informed the authority of, within the period specified.

6.10 Paragraphs 6.6 to 6.9 shall not apply in relation to -

(a) calculations or substitute calculations which an authority is required to
make in accordance with section 52I, 52J, 52T or 52U of the Local
Government Finance Act 1992; and
(b) amounts stated in a precept issued to give effect to calculations or
substitute calculations made in accordance with section 52J or 52U
of that Act.

6.11 In this Standing Order

"executive" and "executive leader" have the same meaning as in Part II of the
Local Government Act 2000; and

"plan or strategy" and "working day" have the same meaning as in the Local
Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) Regulations 2001.

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