Agenda and minutes
Venue: Committee Room 1, 1st Floor, Town Hall, Mulberry Place, 5 Clove Crescent, London E14 2BG
Contact: Angus Taylor, Democratic Services, Tel: 020 7364 4333 E-mail: angus.taylor@towerhamlets.gov.uk
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ELECTION OF CHAIR FOR THE MUNICIPAL YEAR 2014/15 To elect a co-opted member to serve as Chair of the Standards (Advisory) Committee for the Municipal Year 2014/15.
Minutes:
The clerk sought nominations for the Chair of the Standards (Advisory) Committee (SAC) for the Municipal Year 2014/15.
Mr Eric Pemberton, nominated Mr Matthew William Rowe as Chair of the SAC for the Municipal Year 2014/15. Mr John Pulford MBE seconded the nomination.
There being no other nominations it was: -
Resolved
That Mr Matthew William Rowe be elected to serve as Chair of the Standards (Advisory) Committee for the Municipal Year 2014/15, or until a successor is appointed.
Action by: Angus Taylor (Principal Committee Officer, Democratic Services, LPG)
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MR MATTHEW ROWE (CHAIR) IN THE CHAIR
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ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIR FOR THE MUNICIPAL YEAR 2014/15 To elect a co-opted member to serve as Vice-Chair of the Standards (Advisory) Committee for the Municipal Year 2014/15.
Minutes: The Chair sought nominations for the Vice-Chair of the Standards (Advisory) Committee (SAC) for the Municipal Year 2014/15.
Mr John Pulford MBE nominated Mr Eric Pemberton as Vice-Chair of the SAC for the Municipal Year 2014/15. Ms Salina Bagum seconded the nomination.
There being no other nominations it was: -
Resolved
That Mr Eric Pemberton be elected to serve as Vice-Chair of the Standards (Advisory) Committee for the Municipal Year 2014/15, or until a successor is appointed.
Action by: Angus Taylor (Principal Committee Officer, Democratic Services, LPG)
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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence were received on behalf of: · Councillor Joshua Peck for whom Councillor Marc Francis was deputising. · Councillor Abjol Miah. · Mr Patrick (Barry) O’Connor (Co-opted member of SAC)
Noted
IP and RIP participation
The Chair, referencing self -introductions earlier, commented that since the establishment of the SAC the Interim Independent Person and subsequently the Independent Person and Reserve Independent Person had been invited to SAC meetings in the capacity of observers but had been permitted by the SAC to contribute to discussions. Accordingly the Chair Moved the following motion for the consideration of SAC members, and it was: -
Resolved
That the Independent Person and Reserve Independent Person be permitted to contribute to future discussions of the Standards Advisory Committee.
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DECLARATIONS OF DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTEREST PDF 64 KB To note any declarations of interest made by Members, including those restricting Members from voting on the questions detailed in Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act, 1992. See attached note from the Interim Monitoring Officer. Minutes: No declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or other declarations of interest were made.
The Chair commented that Co-opted Independent SAC members were required to register their interests afresh and requested that the appropriate form be circulated to them.
Action by: Angus Taylor (Principal Committee Officer, Democratic Services, LPG) Meic Sullivan-Gould (Interim Monitoring Officer, LPG)
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MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING(S) PDF 86 KB To confirm as a correct record of the proceedings the minutes of the ordinary meeting of the Standards (Advisory) Committee held on 18th March 2014.
Minutes: Matter arising from minutes of 18th March SAC
The Chair, referencing resolution 2 of the minute pertaining to agenda item 3 [page 2 of minutes page 6 of agenda] commented that he had not yet received the report to be emailed to Chair and all SAC members. Meic Sullivan-Gould, Interim Monitoring Officer (IMO), briefly outlined the matter previously raised, apologised that the Chair and SAC members had not received the report, and undertook to progress chase David Galpin, Service Head Legal Services, on the outstanding action as his further information was required before an update could be provided.
Eric Pemberton, Vice-Chair, referencing: · resolution 1(a) of the minute pertaining to agenda item 3 [page 2 of minutes page 6 of agenda], which noted the importance with which SAC viewed Member timesheets and their timely submission. · the minute pertaining to agenda item 5 “Member Attendance and Timesheets Monitoring” [page 4 of minutes page 8 of agenda], which also noted the above in the context that significant numbers of Members were not submitting timesheets; and also the introduction of electronic timesheets post-election. Commented that he had reviewed the Authority’s website and no Member timesheets were available for the last few months, and re-emphasised the importance with which SAC viewed Member timesheets and their timely submission. The Chair commented that the regular 6 monthly monitoring report on Member attendance and Timesheet Monitoring was due for consideration at the next SAC meeting. Additionally there was an update from the Committee Services Manager to be tabled at Agenda item 6 “Any Other Business”
A discussion followed which focused on the following points:- · Clarification sought as to whether it was a correct understanding that backdated timesheets relating to the period prior to the recent Local Government election would no longer be published due to the roll out of a new system. Comment that this would be extremely frustrating for those Members who had undertaken the time intensive task of completion. Meic Sullivan-Gould, IMO, undertook to respond at the next SAC meeting. · Consideration that there had been a lack of training for new Members regarding timesheet completion and this was a historic problem, and a need to fall back on the help and advice of party colleagues. Similarly with training of new Members on the Members Enquiry process and engaging with the Council and its processes generally. Consideration also that there had been few induction events for new Members and these had been of poor quality; also that several such sessions were held on the same evening with the volume of information very difficult to assimilate as a consequence. Consideration that Member training specific to different committees had been of poor quality. Consequently SAC members proposed and it was agreed that SAC examine induction training generally, but also training specific to different committees delivered in the first few months of the Municipal Year, at the October SAC meeting. The Chair noted that this could be linked to the regular monitoring report on training. · Comment that it ... view the full minutes text for item 4. |
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REPORTS FOR CONSIDERATION |
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To note the SAC Terms of Reference, Membership, Quorum, Dates of future meetings and establish SAC Sub-Committees for the Municipal Year 2014/15.
Additional documents:
Minutes: Mr Angus Taylor, Principal Committee Officer, introduced and summarised key points in the report, which: · Provided the Terms of Reference, Membership, Quorum and Dates of meetings of the SAC for the Municipal Year 2014/15 for the Committee’s information; · Recommended the SAC to establish three sub-committees for the Municipal Year 2014/15.
The Chair sought and was given clarification as to the need for the SAC to consider the housekeeping report every year, he then Moved the recommendations as set out in the report, and it was:-
Resolved
1. That the Standards (Advisory) Committee Terms of Reference, Membership, Quorum, Dates of future meetings and timing thereof, as set out in Appendices 1, 2 and 3 to the report, be noted;
2. That the following sub-committees be established for the Municipal year 2014/15, to be convened as required on an ad hoc basis with membership agreed by the Monitoring Officer/ Interim Monitoring Officer from amongst the members of the Standards (Advisory) Committee, including in each case a minimum of three members, at least two of whom shall be co-opted members in accordance with the arrangements agreed by the Authority:-
· Investigation and Disciplinary Sub-Committee · Hearing Sub-Committee · Dispensations Sub-Committee
Action by: Angus Taylor (Principal Committee Officer, Democratic Services, LPG) Meic Sullivan-Gould (Interim Monitoring Officer, LPG)
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Presentation: Development of SAC priorities To receive an oral presentation from Mr Paul Hoey, Consultant, with a focus on the current environment that SACs are working in and how they are being developed at other local authorities, with a discussion to follow on priorities for the LBTH SAC for the remainder of the municipal year. Minutes: Paul Hoey, Consultant Trainer (Hoey Ainscough Ltd), gave a detailed PowerPoint presentation (slides Tabled, a copy of which would be interleaved with the minutes) which encompassed the current standards environment (current legislative framework, local arrangements, codes of conduct), with a focus on how standards arrangements in LBTH were working/ compared with other local authorities (Las) and where there was scope for review to ensure streamlined and more robust in future. The key headlines of the presentation are summarised below: · Localism Act 2011 – key requirements · Case handling – arrangements & issues · Standards Committees – composition & alternatives · Filtering complaints & related issues - arrangements & issues to consider · Informal resolution - arrangements & issues to consider · Investigation - arrangements & issues to consider · Conduct of hearing - issues to consider · Sanctions - arrangements & issues to consider · Independent Person (IP) – Law, arrangements & issues to consider · Code of Conduct – requirements/ content & alternatives · Interests - arrangements & issues to consider
Mr Hoey highlighted key issues for each area and responded to questions from the SAC summarised as follows: · There was little scope for variety on requirements of the Localism Act and 95% of LAs had similar arrangements to those of LBTH. · Standards committees: o Localism Act abolished requirement on LAs to have a standards committee (SC). With exception of 1 or 2 LAs where standards issues had been delegated to Officers or the former terms of reference were subsumed into those of another committee, most LAs had an SC. o The issues to consider were its composition and related transparency: ØMost LAs treated their SC and sub committees like the others and composition was politically proportional. The LBTH SAC was proportional in terms of voting members, which was sensible in the context of the local political backdrop. The difficulty came where proportional balance led to public perception of skewing and mistrust of process outcomes. ØThe Localism Act had stripped away statutory voting rights for independent members, and as a result of proportionality most LAs did not co-opt independent members onto their SC. However this arrangement at LBTH was very positive, as such members were a symbol that the role of the SC was above politics and this was enhanced by the LBTH requirement for the Chair and Vice Chair to be co-opted independent members. ØPublic SAC meetings and proper recording of these was also positive for transparency as SC meetings in many LAs were held in private. · Filtering complaints & related issues
ØThe requirement for the MO to seek SAC endorsement of “no action” decisions slowed down the process for dealing with complaints. Had the SAC rejected any MO “no action” decisions on controversial cases? Most cases were trivial/ spurious/ not a breach of the Code, so was it ... view the full minutes text for item 5.2 |
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ANY OTHER BUSINESS WHICH THE CHAIR CONSIDERS URGENT To consider any other unrestricted business that the Chair considers to be urgent.
Minutes: Update on Member Information and Member timesheets
The Chair informed SAC members that Matthew Mannion, Committee Services Manager, had Tabled a background briefing note containing an update on the democracy pages on the authority’s website, Member Information, Member timesheets and Member enquiries, a copy of which would be interleaved with the minutes.
The Chair drew the attention of SAC members to the penultimate paragraph of the tabled paper, where it was proposed that the Committee Services Manager and Members Support Manager present a report to the next SAC meeting on recent changes to the Democracy web pages and some proposed further developments as well as the new electronic timesheet system. He commented that it would be important to identify ways to capture and report Member activity in a more transparent way than previously, as current arrangements did not provide for a true reflection of such activity nor communication its importance.
A SAC member requested that all Members be sent a copy of the Member timesheet as new Members were not aware of it and a backlog of uncompleted Member timesheets was likely to be developing.
The Vice-Chair commented that he had recently had occasion to write to the Aman Dalvi, Corporate Director Development and Renewal, and had been surprised by the content of the email response. Accordingly he sought and was given clarification as to whether there were protocols for the drafting of correspondence
Action by: Matthew Mannion (Committee Services Manager) Beverley McKenzie (Member Support Manager)
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EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC In view of the contents of the remaining items on the agenda the Committee is recommended to adopt the following motion:
“That, under the provisions of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985, the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting for the consideration of the Section Two business on the grounds that it contains information defined as Exempt in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972.”
NOTE: EXEMPT/CONFIDENTIAL SECTION (Pink Papers)
The exempt committee papers in the agenda will contain information, which is commercially, legally or personally sensitive and should not be divulged to third parties. If you do not wish to retain these papers after the meeting, please hand them to the Committee Officer present.
Minutes: The agenda circulated contained no exempt/ confidential business and there was therefore no requirement to exclude the press and public to allow for its consideration.
SUMMARY OF EXEMPT PROCEEDINGS
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EXEMPT/CONFIDENTIAL MINUTES Nil items.
Minutes: Nil items
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ANY OTHER EXEMPT/CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS THAT THE CHAIR CONSIDERS URGENT To consider any other exempt/ confidential business that the Chair considers to be urgent.
Minutes: Nil items
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