Agenda item

To agree the public minutes of the meeting held on 19^th May 2017.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 19 May 2017 be approved as a correct record, subject to amendments to the final paragraph of page 1 to refer to ‘Item 6 (Minutes of the Previous Meeting)’ and to Item 4 on page 2 to include ‘Nigel Challis’ in the list of Members thanked by the Chairman that were stepping down from the Committee.

Matters Arising

Minute 7 – Standards Regime Review Working Party

·         The Comptroller and City Solicitor informed the Committee that the Working Party had met this week for the final scheduled time and that officers were now re-drafting the relevant documents based on the proposed recommendations. He indicated that the recommendations were not radically different from those suggested by Mr Bourne, although the Working Party favoured the introduction of an independent committee comprised of senior Members to consider appeals, and considered that a complainant should also have a right to appeal. The Comptroller and City Solicitor said that it was the intention of the Chairman of the Working Party that briefing sessions be convened for all Members prior to the recommendations going before the Court of Common Council in December.

Discussion took place on the most appropriate way forward for the Standards Committee to further engage with the drafting process during which a Member made the point that, should the Working Party’s views be different to that of the independent adviser engaged by the Corporation and be considered unreasonable by Members, then amendments to the recommendations may be moved at the Court of Common Council when the matter is discussed there. The Committee also noted the tight timescale for further engagement.

At the conclusion of debate, the Chairman undertook to contact the Chairman of the Working Party regarding the possibility of the Committee hearing about the Working Party’s proposals at a special meeting, to help ensure that any significant debate should be identified well before the formal Court of Common Council deliberation on the matter.

Minute 8 – Code of Conduct / Protocol Training

·         It was noted that the Comptroller and City Solicitor had confirmed that he could arrange additional Code of Conduct training sessions and the Chairman said that he would write to all recently elected Members that had not so far attended a training session.

Minute 10 – Requests for Dispensation

·         A Co-opted Member said that he felt more information was needed when considering requests for dispensations. The Chairman noted that officers had already undertaken to provide covering reports for such requests going forwards, as recorded in the minutes of the previous meeting. The Co-opted Member also raised again the issue of Barbican residents that were Members of the Barbican Residential Committee and the potential for conflicts of interest.

After further discussion on this and related issues, the Chairman asked that the Comptroller and City Solicitor provide a report to a future meeting in relation to the Barbican Residential Committee, with the Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee to be advised of this course of action in relation to the Standards Committee’s concerns regarding potential for conflicts of interest of Members who have an interest in property on the Barbican Estate and who serve on the Barbican Residential Committee.