Agenda item

At the request of the Standards, this joint report of the Town Clerk and the Comptroller & City Solicitor sets out the City Corporation’s current complaints procedure and the governance arrangements in respect of the Sub Committees that are constituted to consider any alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct. The report invites Members of the Standards Committee to consider and comment on the current complaints process.

The Committee considered a joint report of the Town Clerk and the Comptroller & City Solicitor relative to the City Corporation’s current complaints procedure and the governance arrangements in respect of the Sub Committees that are constituted to consider alleged breaches of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

The Chairman suggested that the procedure should make greater reference to the Chief Commoner and the Chairman of the Privileges Committee of Aldermen and the existing internal mechanisms to manage Members’ behaviour.  He further suggested that the procedure should also clarify the opportunities for Members to appeal against the imposition of any sanctions by the Chief Commoner or the Chairman of the Privileges Committee of Aldermen such as the removal of hospitality privileges.   Whilst it was noted that the form should not be too legalistic, it was suggested that the complaints form be revised to invite people to specify which paragraphs of the Code of Conduct had allegedly been breached.   Contact details of those who manage the complaints process should also be included.  Further comments were made in respect of the role of the Independent Person/s and it was suggested that the role should be outlined in the introduction of the procedure (page 32 of the report).  With regard to the complainant type list within the procedure, the Town Clerk and the Comptroller & City Solicitor were requested to review the list and propose suitable revisions.  All Members were invited to examine the procedure further outside of the meeting and feed-back comments to officers.

Resolved:- That the Town Clerk and the Comptroller & City Solicitor review the complaints procedure and the complaints form (alleged breaches of the Members’ Code of Conduct) and submit revised documentation to the next meeting of the Standards Committee for further consideration.