Agenda item

(B) Annual Report – to receive the revised annual report providing a summary of the Committee’s activities over the past year.

For Information

(B) </AI17>

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Annual Report

At the 23 June 2016 Court of Common Council meeting, concerns had been expressed about the Standards Committee’s annual report, principally around the identification in the report of the respondent of a particular complaint. This led to the Court referring the annual report back for further consideration.

The Standards Committee, having duly reconsidered its annual report in the light of comments made, now re-submitted the report for information in an amended form, without including the name of the Member who was the subject of the complaint in question.

Whilst noting that training concerning the Member/Officer Protocol had been offered to all Members and co-opted Members, it was asked whether thought had been given to offering any similar training to officers. The Chairman of the Establishment Committee thanked the Member for the suggestion and confirmed that this would be considered accordingly.

In response to a query concerning the public nature of the complaints process referred to in the report and the potential exemption of certain information in accordance with Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, the Chairman observed that he was not intimately acquainted with the specifics of the legislation but that officers’ professional recommendations would have been applied.

In discussing the findings of the Appeal Sub (Standards) Committee, referred to within the annual report, Members suggested that it should be made clear that the Sub-Committee had confirmed that no Member had received any pecuniary advantage in respect of the upheld complaint referred to within the report.

Motion – That the minutes record that the Appeals Sub (Standards) Committee had found that no pecuniary advantage had been afforded to any Member in respect of the upheld complaint referred to within the Standards Committee’s annual report.

Upon the Motion being put, the Lord Mayor declared it to be carried.

Resolved – That the report be received and that the findings of the Appeals Sub (Standards) Committee, in relation to the absence of any pecuniary advantage obtained in the case set out in the annual report, be noted.