Agenda item

The Chairman of the Standards Regime Review Working Party (Emma Edhem) to brief the Committee on the approach being taken by the Working Party with regard to the progression of the recommendations within Mr Bourne’s Independent Review Report.

The Chairman introduced Emma Edhem, the Chairman of the Standards Regime Review Working Party and thanked her for her attendance. The Chairman explained that Ms Edhem had been invited to today’s meeting to brief the Standards Committee on the work of the Working Party in general. He added that the Committee’s general views on Mr Bourne’s recommendations were well documented in the minutes of the last meeting.

Ms Edhem provided the Committee with an overview of the Working Party’s constitution and work to date as well as their work-plan going forward. She explained that, as well as the formal meetings of the Working Party, a lot of work and research was being carried out between meetings. Ms Edhem’s presentation went on to cover the following points:

·        The Working Party had already come across some recommendations within the report that they were not in agreement with;

·        The Working Party had begun by scrutinising all 36 of the recommendations within Mr Bourne’s report and identifying those that were obvious/’quick wins’ in terms of implementation;

·        The Working Party had then identified six clear ‘blocks’ that would require further clarification/investigation and these were - Assessment of Complaints, Investigation of Complaints, Complaints Hearings, Sanctions, Appeals against Complaints and the Role of the Independent Person. These would be covered over five meetings, two of which had already taken place to date;

·        The Standards Committee’s three Independent Persons had been invited to address the Working Party informally earlier this month ahead of their formal consideration of those recommendations relating to the role of the Independent Person going forward;

·        It was hoped that the Working Party would be in a position to present their full recommendations to the Standards Committee by October as opposed to a piecemeal approach. The Working Party were very keen to engage the Standards Committee as it was recognised that this was the body who would be tasked with ultimately implementing the various recommendations put forward.

A Co-opted Member encouraged the Chairman of the Working Party to remember an external perspective on this and the City of London’s Standards Culture as a whole. He added that Mr Bourne’s report was very much from a legal perspective and that Co-opted Members of the Standards Committee tended to have wider experience of Local Authority in general and were therefore more able to challenge the existing culture.

The Chairman of the Working Party reiterated that they were very aware of this. She added that it was also, however, important to maintain the independence of the Standards Committee’s Independent Persons who played a very different role to its Co-opted Members – something that needed to be very clearly defined going forward.

The Chairman of the Working Party concluded that it was the expectation that the group would be in a position to inform the Standards Committee of their full, draft recommendations by mid-October 2017. She undertook to notify the Standards Committee of any ‘slip’ in this proposed timetable. The Chairman of the Standards Committee underlined that his Committee were very keen to expedite the process and went on to question whether the Working Party had also considered wider consultation such as with the Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee. The Chairman of the Working Party underlined that she was very keen not to rush this important process. She questioned the merit in consulting the Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee specifically and reported that this was not currently considered necessary.

The Chairman of the Standards Committee referred to an Informal Members Meeting at which Mr Bourne had presented his initial findings to all ahead of the submission of his formal Court report. He questioned whether the Working Party might consider a similar informal meeting of Members allowing them to comment and express any strong views ahead of presenting their final report to the Court of Common Council. The Chairman of the Working Party welcomed this suggestion and stated that she saw no reason why the group could not consult more widely once they had a final draft of their recommendations in place.

A Member commented that he was delighted to hear that the Working Party had sought the views of the Independent Persons in this process. He went on to suggest that they might also do similar with the Standards Committee’s Co-opted Members who would also be a very useful resource in terms of providing an external perspective.

Finally, a Member suggested that it might be useful for the Committee to receive the minutes of the Working Party in order to follow the work that was being undertaken. The Chairman of the Working Party stated that the only caveat she would add here was that certain ‘decisions’ made at each meeting might well be revisited as the process progressed. The Town Clerk undertook to ascertain eligibility in terms of access to the minutes of the Working Party going forward.