Agenda and minutes

It was moved by Deputy Everett, duly seconded and

RESOLVED – that Alderman Graves takes ‘the chair’ until the election of a Chairman for the 2018/19 year. 

The Committee noted the appointment of 2 further Members (Alderman Mainelli and Jeremy Simons) since the publication of the agenda for its meeting. Apologies for absence had been received from Caroline Addy and Alderman Mainelli.

Judith Barnes, Mark Greenburgh and Dan Large declared non-pecuniary interests in the items relating to Co-opted Members declarations of interest and appointment to the Committee. Deputy Lord declared an disclosable pecuniary interest in the item on dispensation requests insofar as he had submitted a request for determination. 

Order of the Court of Common Council, 19 April 2018, appointing the Committee and approving its terms of reference.

The Committee received as information the Order of the Court of Common Council.

RECEIVED.

To elect a Chairman in accordance with Standing Order No. 29.

The Town Clerk having read the names of those Members eligible to stand for election as Chairman for the ensuing year, and Oliver Lodge being the only Member to put himself forward for election, it was

RESOLVED – That Oliver Lodge be appointed as Chairman of the Committee for the ensuing year.

On taking his seat, the Chairman thanked Members for his election and welcomed Caroline Addy, Alderman Mainelli, Oliver Sells and Jeremy Simons to the Committee. 

To elect a Deputy Chairman in accordance with Standing Order No. 30.

The Town Clerk having read names of those Members eligible to stand for election as Deputy Chairman, Alderman Graves, Mark Greenburgh, Ann Holmes and Michael Hudson put themselves forward for election.

A ballot was held and there was found to be 3 votes for Mark Greenburgh and Ann Holmes, 2 votes for Michael Hudson and 1 vote for Alderman Graves.

A further ballot was then held under the provisions of the Standing Orders and there was found to be 4 votes for Ann Holmes, 3 votes for Mark Greenburgh and 2 votes for Michael Hudson.

A final vote was then held and there was found to be 4 votes for Mark Greenburgh and 5 votes for Ann Holmes.

RESOLVED – That Ann Holmes be duly elected Deputy Chairman for the ensuing year.

On taking her seat, Ann Holmes thanked Members for her election.  

To agree

(a) the public minutes of the meeting held on 6 October 2017; and

(b) the public minutes of the inquorate meeting held on 26 January 2018.

Members had before them the public minutes of the Standards Committee’s meetings on 6 October 2017 and 26 January 2018 (inquorate).

RESOLVED – That the minutes be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Matters Arising

Barbican Residential Committee

The Committee noted that, on 14 December 2017, the Policy & Resources Committee had asked for the governance of the City Corporation’s residential housing to be examined on a more strategic level with the aim of producing proposals which consolidate the governance arrangements of the City Corporation’s residential housing offer. It was also noted that, at its inquorate January 2018 meeting, the Standards Committee had considered a report of the Comptroller and City Solicitor on potential conflicts of interest on the Barbican Residential Committee and had subsequently submitted views to the Policy and Resources Committee, under the urgency provisions of Standing Order No. 41(a), to ensure that these comments could be considered as part of that Committee’s review of the governance of the City Corporation’s residential housing. 

Members were informed that a further report on the matter had not yet come before the Policy and Resources Committee and Members asked that a resolution be forwarded to that Committee for an update on when this matter would be considered.

(Action: TC) 

(a)   To receive the public minutes of Assessments Sub (Standards) Committee meetings on –

(i)            13 March 2018; and

(ii)          22 March 2018

(b)   To receive the public minutes of Dispensation Sub (Standards) Committee  meeting on 13 March 2018  

Members had before them the public minutes of the Assessment Sub (Standards) Committee and Dispensation Sub (Standards) Committee’s recent meetings.

RECEIVED.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered the report of the Town Clerk on outstanding actions. The following matters were raised:-

·         On the Members’ Code of Conduct and associated documents visibility on the Corporation’s website, Members asked that the appropriate committee be notified that its view was that the Code documents should be easy to find and readily accessible (under ‘C’ for Code; ‘M’ for Member, for example). A Member also said that this reminder to the appropriate committee should further request that the details of how the public make a complaint under the Code should also be easy to locate.

(Action: TC)

RECEIVED.

Report of the Town Clerk.

Members had before them the report of the Town Clerk on the outcome of the Standards framework review. The following matters were raised:-

·         Noted that the Town Clerk had delegated authority to determine the start of the new complaints process following training for Standards Appeal Committee members. The Chairman asked that officers ensure that the timing of new process commencement avoids any gaps or duplication of arrangements for appeals to maintain confidence in the system.

(Action: TC / CCS)

·         Noted that complaints now in the system would continue to be dealt with under the current arrangements rather than the revised arrangements.

·         A Co-opted Member made a point about the informal resolution of disputes (paragraph 14 to 17 of the complaints procedure, pages 50-51 of the agenda pack) and her views (detailed below) that this element of the procedure needs to be clearer:

-       paragraph 15 refers to the Chief Commoner/Aldermanic Chairmen being effective in resolving disputes between members. If it is intended that they can also be asked to informally resolve a complaint by a member of the public, this should be explicit.

-       either the complainant or the subject of the complaint can at any time during or after informal resolution withdraw their consent to informal resolution and ask for the complaint to be referred to the Standards Committee. This is an important safeguard and needs to be made explicit. Currently paragraph 17 only refers to the right of a member (presumably the member complained about, though that is not clear) to refer a matter to the Standards Committee if aggrieved by any proposed course of action.

            Another Member put forward the view that paragraph 63 (iv) on page 60 of the agenda pack on sanctions did not make reference to the possible withdrawal of an appointment to an

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered the Town Clerk’s report on the review of terms of reference. The following matters were raised:-

·         On terms of reference of the Standards Committee, the Chairman and other Members suggested amendments be made to the draft wording set out on pages 83 and 84 of the agenda pack as set out below:-

-       Amend (d) and (e) to include reference to committee ownership (Establishment)

-       Amend (g) to read “Monitoring all complaints referred to it and dealing with assessment….”

-       Amend (h) to read “Prepare an annual report on its activity for submission to the Court of Common Council.”

·         Noted that the Comptroller and City Solicitor would offer appropriate training to Committee Members on revised standards arrangements.

(Action: CCS)

·         On terms of reference of the Sub Committees, the Town Clerk confirmed that the listed changes to quorums on pages 85 and 87 reflected decisions taken by the Court on the review at its March meeting. Noted that there would be provision for late substitution of members listed as serving at the meeting on the agenda papers.

RESOLVED – That

(a)  the draft terms of reference of the Committee be approved for submission to the Court of Common Council, as set out below:-

Standards Committee – Draft Terms of Reference

To be responsible for:-

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered the Town Clerk’s paper on Co-opted Members and declarations of interest. The following matters were raised:-

·         Noted that the annual update is underway and that co-optees’ declarations of interest would be published. The Committee expressed frustration at the delays to date in publishing this information and requested that declarations received be published on-line by the end of June.

(Action: TC)

·         Noted that all co-optees (except on consultative committees) would also be obliged to use a City email address from 25 May 2018. A Co-opted Member commented that this needed to be made clearer to co-optees.

RECEIVED. 

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Town Clerk reported on the appointment of Co-opted Members to the Committee.

Mark Greenburgh and Dan Large left the room during Members’ consideration of the paper insofar as it covered their possible reappointment as Co-opted Members of the Committee. It was also

RESOLVED – That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the item of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

After the contents of the report had been discussed, Mark Greenburgh and Dan Large returned to the Committee room.

The meeting returned to public session.

With the agreement of Members, the Chairman drew a name out of the ballot bowl and declared that Dan Large would be recommended to the Court for appointment as a Co-opted Member of the Committee for a 4 year term of office, with Mark Greenburgh to be recommended for a 3 year term of office. 

The Committee then considered the matter of the outstanding vacancy for a Co-opted Member and it was agreed that this vacancy be advertised with an initial term of office of 2 years.

RESOLVED  - That

(a)  the re-appointments of Dan Large and Mark Greenburgh as Co-opted Members of the Standards Committee, for a 4 year and a 3 year term of office respectively, to commence from the expiry of their current terms in December 2018, be recommended to the Court of Common Council for approval at its July meeting.

(b)  The Town Clerk make the necessary arrangements for advertising the outstanding vacancy for a Co-opted Member with an initial term of office of 2 years commencing from the date of appointment by the

Report of the Comptroller and City Solicitor.

The Committee considered the report of the Comptroller and City Solicitor on the general policy on granting dispensations under the Localism Act 2011.

A Co-opted Member put forward the view that some additional relevant information is required by committee members when assessing dispensation requests, such as committee composition, quorum, number of conflicted members, etc if that information was known. He asked that these details be added to the usual dispensations report ‘template’ going forward. The Co-opted Member put forward the view that a dispensation to vote needed to clear a ‘higher hurdle’ than a dispensation for speaking rights only.

It was noted that a number of recent dispensation requests had been approved for speaking only rights and for a specific meeting. A Member commented that a blanket exemption until next ward elections would usually seem less appropriate than one for ‘specific meetings only’ in the vast majority of instances and that although the boxes currently contained on the application form for ‘until next ward election’ should probably be retained, encouragement should be given to using them sparingly.

RESOLVED – That the report be received and contents noted.

Report of the Comptroller and City Solicitor.  TO FOLLOW

The Comptroller and City Solicitor gave an oral update on guidance to Chairmen and explained that guidance to chairmen on committee interests and decision-making required some further research and consideration and that, given the time constraints and priority work commitments, it had not been possible to produce a paper for this meeting.

(Action: CCS)

RECEIVED.   

(Deputy Lord left the meeting at this point).

Joint report of the Town Clerk / Comptroller and City Solicitor.

The Committee considered the joint report of the Comptroller and City Solicitor and the Town Clerk on recently received dispensation requests.

Arising from the Committee’s consideration of these it was:-

RESOLVED - (a) that the following dispensations be agreed:-

Mark Bostock

Partially granted (speaking rights only – voting rights refused)

A dispensation be granted to speak on Ben Jonson, Breton, Thomas More, Benyon and Willoughby Houses, Barbican residential car park at the Barbican Residential Committee on 4 June 2018.

Deputy John Tomlinson

Partially granted (speaking rights only – voting rights refused)

A dispensation be granted to speak at Barbican Residential Committee on 4 June 2018 on (i) car park charges and stores and (ii) concrete repairs.

The request to vote and speak on (iii) (any discussion which may arise on a possible review of the current composition and terms of reference of the Barbican Residential Committee) was refused as no proposal for this currently exists, and therefore it was not possible to know what form any proposal might take.

Deputy David Bradshaw

Partially granted (speaking rights only – voting rights refused)

A dispensation be granted to speak on Baggage stores in the Barbican at the Barbican Residential Committee on 4 June 2018.

(b) That authority be delegated to the Town Clerk to determine the late submitted requests from Alderman Luder and Deputy Lord.

Report of the Comptroller and City Solicitor.  TO FOLLOW

The Committee considered the report of the Comptroller and City Solicitor on the Protocol on Member / Officer relations.

RESOLVED – That the revised Protocol on Member/Officer Relations be approved for endorsement by the Establishment Committee and onward approval by the Court of Common Council.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered the report of the Town Clerk on the annual report of the Committee.

The following matters were raised:-

·         The Chairman asked that the Court report be amended to reflect the current composition of the Committee and with a reference inserted to dispensations. He also asked that some redrafting of the Employee Code of Conduct and gifts and hospitality sections be undertaken and that paragraphs 14 and 15 be omitted. A Member also asked that details of standards training and attendance in the period under review be included.

RESOLVED – That subject to the necessary changes outlined above the annual report be approved for consideration by the Court of Common Council in July.   

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee had before them the Town Clerk’s report on action taken between meetings.

RECEIVED.

There were no questions.

There was no urgent business.

To agree the non-public minutes of the inquorate meeting held on 26 January 2018.

RESOLVED – That the non-public minutes of the inquorate meeting on 26 January 2018 be confirmed and signed as correct.

There were no non-public questions.

There was no non-public urgent business.