Archived decisions

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Decision Report :

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1) Summary of Decision Area:

Members will recall that, by a combination of provisions in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 and the Standards Committee (England) Regulations 2008, all complaints against Members made from 8 May 2008 must be made to the Standards Committee of the Member's local authority. The changes give rise to the need for the County Council to amend this Committee's terms of reference

2) Issues Covered in Report:

The reason why the Committee's terms of reference should be revised.

3) Recommendation:

That it be a recommendation to the Governance Committee, the Cabinet and the County Council that the terms of reference of the Standards Committee set out in Part I: Chapter 9 of the Constitution be revised by the replacement of paragraph 9.3(g) with the following:

To establish sub-committees to take such action as is necessary to assess, review, investigate, determine and impose appropriate sanctions in respect of, any written allegation that a Member has failed to comply with the Authority's Code of Conduct.

(replaces "To deal with any reports from the National Standards Board for England or a Case Tribunal on complaints against members or officers of the Authority").

MAIN REPORT

1) Purpose of the Report:

1.1. To explain why the County Council should revise the terms of reference of this Committee.

2) Contextual Information:

2.1. At its previous meeting the Standards Committee established two sub-committees with defined memberships to act within prescribed timescales, one to carry out the initial assessment as to whether or not an allegation appears to disclose a failure by a Member to comply with the Code of Conduct and the other to undertake any review that might be required. The membership of the two sub-committees must be entirely separate. Since the meeting, further guidance has been received from the Standards Board which requires additional sub-committees to be established, known as the Standards Consideration Sub-Committee and the Standards Hearings Sub-Committee, to progress determination of a complaint further if necessary following consideration by the Assessment and Review Sub-Committees. These are dealt with in the following item on this agenda in the context of the procedures which are required to be published and followed.

2.2. In response to these new arrangements, an amendment to the terms of reference for the Standards Committee is proposed and a recommendation is made to revise the Constitution accordingly. Paragraph 9.3(g) [`To deal with any reports from a case tribunal or interim case tribunal, and any report from the Monitoring Officer on any matter which is referred by an Ethical Standards Officer to the Monitoring Officer.'] is no longer appropriate and it is proposed that the wording in the recommendation be substituted for it..

3) Outline of Options:

3.1. Option 1:

a) Not to recommend revision of the Committee's terms of reference;

3.2. Option 2:

a) To recommend revision of the Committee's terms of reference so that they are accurate and up to date.

4) Option Analysis / Comparison.

4.1. Best practice demands that the Committee's terms of reference are accurate and up to date.

5) Summary Recommendation:

That it be a recommendation to the Governance Committee, the Cabinet and the County Council that the terms of reference of the Standards Committee set out in Part I: Chapter 9 of the Constitution be revised by the replacement of paragraph 9.3(g) with the following:

To establish sub-committees to take such action as is necessary to assess, review, investigate, determine and impose appropriate sanctions in respect of any written allegation that a Member has failed to comply with the Authority's Code of Conduct.

CORPORATE OR LEGAL INFORMATION: