Agenda item - STANDARD MATTERS REPORT

REPORT OF THE SERVICE DIRECTOR – LEGAL & COMMUNITY/ MONITORING OFFICER

To update the Committee on standards issues.

RESOLVED: That the Committee

(1) Noted the content of the report and made suggestions on future actions.

(2) Delegated to the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Chair, Vice Chair any appropriate amendments to the Complaints Handling Procedure – following the publication of the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman Code (as detailed in 8.3-8.5).

(3) Recommended that any Parish, Town and Community Councillors who have been newly elected/ or not undertaken training on the Code of Conduct during the last 12 months, undertakes Code of Conduct training, as supplied by the Council / or LGA within 2 months of their election or co-options, whichever is the later date.

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL:That all District Councillors should undertake post, all-out election training on the Code of Conduct within 2 months of their election (or availability of the training) whichever is the later date.

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

Audio recording: 20 minutes 17 seconds

The Chair invited the Deputy Monitoring Officer to present the report entitled ‘Standard Matters Report’ including that:

· The recommendations contained in this report were in place to ensure good governance within the Local Authority.

· The complaints received since the last meeting were summarised at 8.1 and 8.2 of the report.

· The Complaint Handling Procedure was detailed at 8.3 of the report and related to recommendation 2.2.

· The Complaint Handling Procedure was largely consistent with the Code published at the end of February 2024 however, work was ongoing to incorporate any appropriate amendments.

· The details concerning recommendations 2.3 and 2.4 were highlighted at 8.7 to 8.9 of the report and related to the compulsory training for District Councillors after the May 2024 election, and where appropriate, training for Town and Parish Councillors.

· Councillor, Officer working arrangements were detailed in paragraphs 8.11and 8.12 of the report.

· Paragraph 8.12 summarised, the recommendations from the report of the Association for Public Service Excellence.

The following Members took part in debate:

· Councillor Ralph Muncer

· Councillor Ruth Brown

· Councillor Ian Albert

· Councillor Richard Thake

· Councillor Dominic Griffiths

Points raised in debate included:

· The Member-Officer Protocol should be continually reviewed.

· Members and Officers were two distinct roles but with the aim to deliver vital services to residents in North Herts and it was important that the distinction between the two was recognised.

· The Member-Officer Protocol was very important and training would be provided after the election which would be beneficial to Members in understanding the relationship to maximise benefits to residents.

· Mr Cook gave a valuable and informative presentation, consideration should be given to his suggestions.

· There was always room for improvements.

· The details of the formal and informal channels stated in paragraph 8.12 was unclear.

· Online training did not allow Members to ask points of clarification.

· Interactions during face-to-face training increased learning.

· Questions could be sent to Officers and new Members could buddy up with existing Members.

· GrowZone logged when training had been completed and required questions to be completed before moving to the next training section.

In response to points raised in debate, the Deputy Monitoring Officer advised that:

· There was a full link in the report that expanded on the summary at paragraph 8.12 of the report.

· The Code of Conduct training would be interactive and would explain the salient parts of the constitution.

In response to points raised in debate, the Monitoring Officer advised that recommendation 2.3 required Members to confirm and approve that, 2 months was viable for the completion of the 1-hour training course for Councillors.