Governance Committee report to Council Part 1

Standards Committee - Terms of Reference

1. Members will recall from the previous meeting of the County Council 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 that Members have failed to comply with the Code of Conduct, made from 8 May 2008, must be made to the Standards Committee of the Member's local authority.

2. Since the previous meeting of the Council, statutory guidance has been received from the Standards Board which the County Council must follow such that the Standards Committee, if it receives a relevant complaint, must now establish four, rather than two, sub-committees as follows:-

i) Standards Assessment Sub-Committee - to receive allegations that a Member
of the Authority has failed to comply with the Authority's Code of Conduct

ii) Standards Review Sub-Committee - review an allegation, at the request of the
person who has made the allegation, in terms of failure to comply with the
Members Code of Conduct

iii) Standards Consideration Sub-Committee - responsible for determining whether it accepts the Monitoring Officer's findings and whether the matter should be referred for consideration at a hearing by the Standards Hearings Sub-Committee or that the matter be referred to the Adjudication Panel for England for determination

iv) Standards Hearings Sub-Committee - responsible for holding a hearing pursuant to Regulation 18 of the Standards Committee (England) Regulations 2008

3. The changes give rise to the need for the County Council to amend the Standards Committee's terms of reference and the Standards Committee recommends accordingly. The report considered by the Committee can be found on Hantsweb at:

http://www.hants.gov.uk/decisions/decisions-docs/081103-govctt-R1028092306.html

RECOMMENDATION:

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")