AT A MEETING of the STANDARDS COMMITTEE of HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL held at The Castle, Winchester on 22 June 2004.

PRESENT:

Councillors: C.R.H. Davidovitz (Chairman); Mrs S.E. Allbright; Mrs C.A. Leversha; A.R. Ludlow; A.W. Rice, TD; W.H. Wheeler.

Independent Members: Mr J. Chester; Dr. B. Spender.

96. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should, normally at the time of debate declare their interest, and having regards to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed. No such interests were declared on this occasion.

97. MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 27 January 2004 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Arising thereon:

Minute 90 - Ombudsman's Report On His Investigation Of A Complaint

Members accepted that, in reaching his verdict, the Ombudsman had intended to establish a principle, however a number of them felt that his recommendations had been unduly severe.

98. CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

There were no Chairman's Communications

99. DEPUTATIONS

There were no deputations.

100. PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE CONSTITUTION

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Corporate and Legal Services and Monitoring Officer (item 5 in the Minute Book) relating to various proposed changes to the Constitution.

Although there was general approval of the report and its recommendations the Committee raised the following salient points:

(i) Members felt that altering the constitution to allow for `up to' (rather than `not less than') six meetings of the Council per year would be very beneficial. However as this could potentially result in no meeting being held in September it was considered prudent to alter the constitution (Part 1 Chapter 6 at 6.5 e)) to ensure that Policy Review Committees and the Policy and Resources Scrutiny and Select Committee submit their annual reports to Council at a `mid-term', rather than September, meeting;

(ii) in relation to recommended changes to Part 1 Chapter 10 of the constitution there was some discussion as to the exclusion of the word `Service' from the title of the Youth Service Panel. Further research would be undertaken by the Head of Corporate and Legal Services and Monitoring Officer to determine the definitive title of the Panel.

(iii) while the reasoning behind the current policy of allowing an individual to make only one deputation on an issue within any six month period was understood, it was noted that this could in some cases lead to accusations of partiality. The Committee were advised that members of the public needed to consider very carefully which meeting to make their deputation to and that ultimately committee Chairmen had the power, where necessary, to be flexible with the deputation procedure;

(iv) the need to include the proposed paragraph concerning the predetermination of planning applications within the local Planning Probity Code was accepted, however the Committee raised concerns regarding the effect that this would have on their advocacy role. The Head of Corporate and Legal Services advised that although Councillors were perfectly entitled to express a preliminary view, they would need to make it clear that they could only give a final view once all the relevant evidence and arguments had been heard at Committee.

(v) the Committee expressed support for the establishment of a Governance Committee

At the conclusion of the debate the Chairman thanked the Head of Corporate and Legal Services and Monitoring Officer on behalf of the Committee for the work that had been undertaken in reviewing the constitution.

RESOLVED:

That it be a RECOMMENDATION to the County Council:

(i) That the proposed changes to the constitution as set out in the appendix to the report be approved.

(ii) That a Governance Committee be established with terms of reference suggested in the appendix to the report and a composition to be agreed by the Council.

(iii) That the Head of Corporate and Legal Services and Monitoring Officer be authorised to make any minor changes to the Constitution of a `tidying up' nature.

(iv) That paragraph 4.2 of the local Code of Conduct for Councillors and officers dealing with planning matters as set out in the report be approved.

101. INTERNAL AUDIT STRATEGY 2004/05 TO 2006/07

The Committee considered the report of the County Treasurer (item 6 in the Minute Book) outlining the proposed internal audit strategy for 2004/05 to 2006/07.

The County Treasurer outlined the salient points in the report, paying particular attention to the redeployment of resources and the focus on the evaluation of procedures and systems rather than on sections and departments.

Discussion focused on the role of Members in Internal Audit. It was noted that although the Risk Management Board was an officer group, the results of Internal Audit reviews were reported annually to the Standards Committee, and potentially in future to the Governance Committee, for scrutiny. In addition to the annual report more detailed departmental reports were also produced and these were made available to the appropriate Executive Member.

RESOLVED:

That the internal audit strategy for 2004/05 to 2006/07 be approved.

102. DATE OF NEXT MEETING

The Committee agreed to hold its next meeting on Friday 16 July at 10.15 a.m.

The Chairman informed the Committee that this would be his last meeting, and that as of 1 July 2004 he would be appointed Executive Member for Communications. Members thanked the Chairman for the work that he had done for the Committee.

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