Agenda, decisions and minutes

Members are required to notify any substitutions by midday on the day of the meeting.

Late substitutions will not be accepted and Members attending as a substitute without having given the due notice will not be able to take part in the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Alistair Willoughby, Gerald Morris, Raj Bhakar, Cathy Brownjohn, Juan Cowell and Richard Thake.

Having given due notice Councillor David Levett substituted for Councillor Thake, Councillor Faye Frost substituted for Councillor Morris and Councillor Amy Allen substituted for Councillor Willoughby.

Audio recording – 1 minute 23 seconds

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Alistair Willoughby, Gerald Morris, Raj Bhakar, Cathy Brownjohn, Juan Cowell and Richard Thake.

Having given due notice Councillor David Levett substituted for Councillor Thake, Councillor Faye Frost substituted for Councillor Morris and Councillor Amy Allen substituted for Councillor Willoughby.

Councillor Clare Billing was absent.

To take as read and approve as a true record the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on the 22 March 2023.

RESOLVED:That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 22 March 2023 be approved as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chair.

Audio Recording – 2 minutes 8 seconds

Councillor Ruth Brown, as Chair, proposed and Councillor Ralph Muncer seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED:That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 22 March 2023 be approved as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chair.

Members should notify the Chair of other business which they wish to be discussed at the end of either Part I or Part II business set out in the agenda. They must state the circumstances which they consider justify the business being considered as a matter of urgency.

The Chair will decide whether any item(s) raised will be considered.

There was no other business notified.

Audio recording – 2 minutes 49 seconds

There was no other business notified.

Members are reminded that any declarations of interest in respect of any business set out in the agenda, should be declared as either a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or Declarable Interest and are required to notify the Chair of the nature of any interest declared at the commencement of the relevant item on the agenda. 

Members declaring a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest must withdraw from the meeting for the duration of the item. Members declaring a Declarable Interest, wishing to exercise a ‘Councillor Speaking Right’, must declare this at the same time as the interest, move to the public area before speaking to the item and then must leave the room before the debate and vote.

(1)   The Chair advised that, in accordance with Council policy this meeting would be audio recorded.

(2)   The Chair drew attention to the item on the agenda front pages regarding Declarations of Interest and reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question.

(3)   The Chair advised for the purpose of clarification Clause 4.8.23(a) of the Constitution does not apply to this meeting.

Audio recording – 2 minutes 52 seconds

(1)        The Chair advised that, in accordance with Council policy this meeting would be audio recorded.

(2)        The Chair drew attention to the item on the agenda front pages regarding Declarations of Interest and reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question.

(3)        The Chair advised for the purpose of clarification Clause 4.8.23(a) of the Constitution does not apply to this meeting.

To receive petitions, comments and questions from the public.

There was no public participation.

Audio recording – 3 minutes 39 seconds

There was no public participation at this meeting.

The report updates Members of the Committee on standards issues locally and nationally. It contains a summary of the complaints received since the last report was presented, as well as any other relevant issues that have arisen between Committee meetings on national standards issues and training.

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the contents of the report and made suggestions on future actions.

REASON FOR DECISION: To ensure good governance within the Council.

Audio recording –3 minutes 43 seconds

The Monitoring Officer presented the report entitled ‘Standards Matters’ and highlighted that:

·       There had been ten complaints received so far this year, two of these complaints were open and the remaining eight had been completed.

·       There was a link at 8.2 of the report to review previously completed complaints.

·       The complaint handling procedure was reviewed at the March 23 meeting, no changes were currently being proposed.

·       The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman had launched a consultation of the Code of Practice under the Social Housing Regulation Act 2023 and a link to this consultation was at 8.4 of the report. The results of the consultation if relevant would be brought to the Committee in 2024.

·       Virtual Code of Conduct training was provided to new District Councillors and extended to Parish Councillors, with training slides distributed.

·       The training for May 2024 was being reviewed with the aim to make it more interactive and accessible.

·       A review was scheduled for section 8 of the Constitution and the Planning Code of Good Conduct, however the Lawyers in Local Government were currently reviewing this matter to initiate a national model. When this matter had been revised the proposal would be considered by the Committee for adoption at Full Council.

The following Members asked questions:

·       Councillor David Levett

·       Councillor Ruth Brown

·       Councillor Dominic Griffiths

·       Councillor Ralph Muncer

In response to questions the Monitoring Officer stated that:

·       If a Councillor had already undertaken safeguarding training and had a valid certificate, this could be submitted as evidence and considered for the safeguarding audit.

·       Hertfordshire County Council had different parameters for their Code of Conduct, and all North Hertfordshire District Councillors were required to complete the NHDC Code of Conduct training which followed the LGA model.

·       After the election in May 2024 there would be various training modules for Councillors to complete. Work was ongoing to schedule these and make them more interactive.

·       If mandatory training was not completed a Councillor would initially be contacted by the Monitoring Officer, or their PA, to resolve the issue. Ultimately, failure to comply with mandatory training was a Code of Conduct breach and therefore, if it could not be resolved, action could be taken. However, this had not been required in recent years.

Councillor Ruth Brown, as Chair, proposed and Councillor Ian Albert seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the contents of the report and made suggestions on future actions.

REASON FOR DECISION: To ensure good governance within the Council.