Agenda item

Any Other Business that the Chairman considers urgent

Minutes:

PETITION OF RESIDENTS OF THE CITY OF LONDON REGARDING THE CITY CORPORATION’S CURRENT “STANDARDS” POLICY AND PRACTICE

The Committee considered a separately circulated report of the Town Clerk asking that Members consider the petition referred to them by the Court of Common Council.

 

Mary Durcan and Barbara Newman wished to place on record that they were signatories of the petition.

 

The Chairman stated that, given the petition was based on criticism of current policy, her main concern was around how much detail on the current policy signatories were actually given. A Member commented that he had been personally informed by a resident who was approached to sign that signatories were provided with no information and when this was questioned, details were refused.

 

The Chairman stated that the recommendation of the Town Clerk was that this matter should now be referred back to Officers to report back on to the Standards Committee. Further discussions could then be had at this point. The Chairman suggested it might be useful, meanwhile, for her to send a short letter to signatories, which sought to address some apparent confusion regarding policy. Since the vast majority of signatories were residents from the Barbican or Golden Lane Estates, this could be done easily by using their own communication channels; only a few dozen residents would need to be written to individually. It was hoped that this may provide some clarity going forward and help to underline that a major external review of the City Corporation’s Standards Regime had only recently taken place and that the new Dispensations regime had only been in operation for 2 months and would be subject to an annual review.

 

The Committee unanimously supported this suggestion and suggested that the letter be drafted by the Chairman in consultation with the Deputy Chairman and the Comptroller and City Solicitor and Director of Communications. It was felt that the letter should also signpost where recipients might find more detailed information on the City Corporation’s Standards regime as a whole.

 

The Chairman also undertook to circulate the letter to all Members of the Court and all Co-opted Members of the Standards Committee for information.

 

The Comptroller and City Solicitor confirmed that he was proposing to append the details of all signatories to the report concerning the petition as a non-public document. Members would then need to decide whether to consider this in open or closed session.

 

RESOLVED – That the petition be referred to Officers to produce a report for further consideration by the Standards Committee at their next meeting.

 

 

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