Agenda item

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk setting out its Draft Annual Report for onward submission to the Court of Common Council.

A Member referred to the strong views expressed by the wider Court of Common Council around the work of the Standards Committee as well as it’s constitution and the tenure of some of those appointed. He questioned whether this needed to be reflected in some way within the report or its submission delayed.

Another Member stated that he felt that this was unnecessary and emphasised that the report was intended as an update on the work of the Committee over the past 12 months. He recognised that the Committee were continuing to address a number of issues but was of the view that this should not allowed to hold up the submission of the annual report in any way given that the Committee were obliged to produce this each year.

A Member accepted that the report should be submitted to the Court of Common Council in July 2019 as was customary but underlined the need to add some text to recognise the issues that had been raised by the Court and the work being undertaken to address these. Members were supportive of this approach and the inclusion of a paragraph to recognise that there continued to be a degree of dispute on a number of matters that would inform the work of the Committee going forward and around which there were ongoing discussions.

The Town Clerk clarified that the annual report was intended to be backwards looking and suggested that any ongoing discussions/work around the issues raised by the Court of Common Council in recent months could be highlighted by the Chairman orally in her introduction to provide Members with the necessary assurances. The Co-opted Members were supportive of this approach.

After much debate, the Committee were of the view that it would be preferable to include a reference to the fact some issues in the report were ongoing.Two Co-opted Members wished for it to be noted that they disagreed with this approach.  

The Committee were content to delegate the final wording to the Town Clerk in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman.

A Co-opted Member noted that, in accordance with the report from the Committee on Standards in Public Life to be considered later on the agenda, future annual reports would need to provide more detail on code of conduct complaints going forward.

RESOLVED – That, the Committee:-

(a)  Delegate to the Town Clerk, in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman, the inclusion of some additional wording within the written report to reflect that ongoing discussions regarding the Committee’s work continue;

(b)  Subject to the addition of this wording, approve the contents of the annual report;

(c)   In accordance with the Committee’s terms of reference, refer the annual report to the Court of Common Council for information.