Agenda item

The Committee is asked to review their terms of reference, and those of its Sub Committees, ahead of the reappointment of Committees by the Court of Common Council in May 2014.

The terms of reference of the Standards Committee and the Sub Committees are attached at Appendix 1.

The Committee considered, as part of the annual review process ahead of the new municipal year, its terms of reference as attached at appendix 1 to the report.  Members noted that any proposed revisions to the Committee’s terms of reference would be submitted to the Policy & Resources Committee ahead of submission of the “White paper” (incorporating the terms of reference and composition of all of the Court of Common Council’s committees) in May 2014. 

The Deputy Chairman queried the relevance of retaining paragraph (c) of the Committee’s terms of reference (Employee Code of Conduct) given the earlier discussions and clarification regarding the Establishment and Standards Committees’ respective remits for the Employee Code of Conduct.  Whilst noting that the Committee was not responsible for formulating the Employee Code of Conduct, there was some agreement amongst Members that the Committee performed an important role in monitoring and considering changes to the Code on an annual basis.  The Chairman referred to the Member/Officer Protocol and, subject to clarification regarding ownership of the Protocol, it was suggested that this should in some way be referenced within the Committee’s terms of reference.  

The Committee was advised that paragraph (g) of the terms of reference (politically restricted posts) before Members was no longer relevant as this requirement had been removed by statute.  Consequently, the future terms of reference would not include this paragraph.

With regards to the terms of reference of the Committee’s Sub Committees, it was noted that paragraph (c) – Hearing Sub (Standards) Committee should be revised to remove reference to “...sanctions that are available, as set out below.”

Taking into account the comments made by Members the Committee agreed that delegated authority should be granted to the Town Clerk, in consultation with the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Standards Committee, to finalise the wording of the revised terms of reference ahead of submission to the Policy & Resources Committee.

In concluding the discussion on this item, the Chairman referred to the current composition of the Committee (5 Common Councilmen, 1 Alderman, 4 Co-opted Members [and 3 Independent Persons]) and suggested that the Common Councilman membership be increased to ensure that quorate sub-committees could be formed while avoiding potential conflicts of interest amongst Members when considering complaints and dispensation requests.  Whilst acknowledging that an enlargement of the Committee could make it cumbersome, following some discussion the Committee agreed that a revision to the Committee’s composition would be beneficial.

RESOLVED:- That –

(i)      delegated authority be granted to the Town Clerk, in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Standards Committee, to approve the final wording of the revised terms of reference of the Standards Committee ahead of submission to the Policy & Resources Committee; and

(ii)        the Standards Committee recommend to the Policy & Resources Committee that the

Committee’s membership be increased to include two additional Common Councilmen, as follows: 7 Common Councilmen, 1 Alderman, 4 Co-opted Members

           [and 3 Independent Persons].