Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Deputy Keith Bottomley and Deputy Christopher Hayward.

There were no declarations.

To agree the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 15^th September 2023.

The Sub-Committee considered the public minutes and non-public summary of their last meeting held on 15 September 2023 and approved them as a correct record.

Joint report of the Town Clerk and Comptroller and City Solicitor.

The Sub-Committee considered a joint report of the Town Clerk and the Comptroller and City Solicitor presenting a draft Members’ Code of Conduct for further consideration and review ahead of any wider consultation.

The Comptroller and City Solicitor introduced the report highlighting that the City Corporation were obligated to promote and maintain high standards of conduct amongst its elected and Co-opted Members in its capacity as a Local Authority and Police Authority. Under the Localism Act 2011, it was also necessary for it to adopt a Code of Conduct, consistent with the seven principles of public life and containing appropriate arrangements as to the registration and disclosure of pecuniary and other interests. It was underlined that there was no prescribed form of wording for such a Code which could be agreed locally. It was highlighted that there was nothing defective about the City Corporation’s current Code of Conduct but it was best practice to review this on a regular basis. It was reported that the Committee on Standards in Public Life recommended that the Local Government Association (LGA) create an updated model Code of Conduct following a consultation exercise. This had now been adopted by a number of local authorities but by no means universally.

The Civic Affairs Sub-Committee who had previously held responsibility for oversight of this area of work had agreed upon a hybrid Code for the City Corporation – adopting much of the model Code whilst also retaining some elements of the Corporation’s current Code around certain City-specific elements. The culmination of this was as set out within Appendix 1 of the report and was now presented for this Sub-Committee to comment on and approve ahead of any wider consultation involving all elected and Co-opted Members (including Independent Persons) prior to adoption. The Sub-Committee could also consider

Report of the Town Clerk and Chief Executive.

The Sub-Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk around various options in terms of mandatory Code of Conduct training implementation and delivery.

The Town Clerk introduced the report stating that the draft Code of Conduct that the Sub-Committee had just approved for wider consultation at the previous item contained a statement which read ‘I undertake Code of Conduct training provided by the Corporation’ – in practice, this would mean that, when the Code was formally adopted, any Member failing to undertake such training would be in breach of it. By implication, Code of Conduct training would therefore become mandatory with the introduction of this new Code. Given this, this report therefore asked Members to consider how best such training could be implemented and delivered as well as any other additional measures that they might wish to consider introducing such as a dedicated Standing Order reinforcing this requirement within the Code and setting out that those failing to undertake the training would not be eligible for appointment to any Committee.

A Member queried to whom the new Code would apply and therefore for whom the mandatory training would apply. They also stated that they were of the view that a public record of Code of Conduct training completed and the date on which it was last completed should be introduced for full transparency.

Officers clarified that the Corporation’s Code of Conduct was already applied to any member of the Corporation and any member of a committee or sub-committee of the Corporation (voting or non-voting), it was proposed that this continue and so the proposed mandatory training element would therefore apply to all.

The Chair commented that her view was that existing Members should continue to be offered training and be encouraged to view the recordings of the Code of Conduct

Comptroller and City Solicitor to be heard.

The Town Clerk reported that the three new Independent Persons successfully appointed in the Autumn had now attended an initial induction with the Deputy Town Clerk, Comptroller and City Solicitor, Chief Commoner and Principal Governance and Member Services Officer.

It was reported that there were currently no live complaints. The Chief Commoner reported that she was hopeful that the recently introduced Pre-Complaints Protocol was working well.

It was also hoped that all twelve Independent Persons would meet at the Guildhall in early 2024 for a training and introduction session allowing the full Panel to meet for the first time.

RECEIVED.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Sub-Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk reviewing the Member Development offerings from the last quarter in terms of feedback and attendance figures. It also sought endorsement for sessions planned for the next quarter and provided a forward-look at the quarter beyond this. It was hoped that always looking two quarters ahead would help to effectively address recent criticism as to lack of notice around training offerings. It was reported that the Member Portal appeared to be a successful tool to date, however, it was noted that viewing figures of training recordings were not as high as hoped to date. Finally, it was highlighted that this report sought endorsement of the process by which individual Members could submit requests for external training.

The Chair commented that the more recent training events had been advertised in good time with regular reminders also sent to all. Despite this, attendance had still been disappointing. Different timings and formats had also been explored this quarter with little impact upon overall take up. Going forward, it was felt that consideration could therefore be given to mandating certain training around Chairmanship and Safeguarding for example.

A Member commented favourably on the training sessions they had attended to date but queried whether sessions that were shorter – 90 minutes as opposed to two hours - might appear more attractive. In terms of feedback, they added that the current Microsoft Form format used was often difficult to access on certain devices.  They therefore queried whether a training session on Microsoft Tools and other relevant IT skills might be of use to all in the next quarter.

Another Member suggested that Outlook calendar invites be sent to all Members for forthcoming sessions with all encouraged to either accept or decline in order to give those facilitating the

That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

To agree the non-public minutes of the previous meeting held on 15^th September  2023.

The Sub-Committee considered the non-public minutes of their last meeting held on 15 September 2023 and approved them as a correct record.

Report of the Comptroller and City Solicitor.

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Comptroller and City Solicitor

relative to how the Members’ Code of Conduct deals with confidential and related information.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Sub-Committee considered a late, separately circulated report of the Town Clerk presenting the draft findings of a recent Independent Review and asked that they consider these and provide any feedback ahead of proposed wider consultation.

There were no questions in the non-public session.

There were no additional, urgent items of business for consideration in the non-public session.