Minutes:
The Director of Legal, Democratic and Development Services submitted for consideration Consultation Papers issued by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Standards Board for England on respectively draft regulations on the local investigation of allegations of misconduct and proposed guidance to Monitoring Officers on local investigations. Both documents related to the investigation and determination of complaints about alleged breaches by Members of the Local Code of Conduct for Members where such investigations were carried out by the Monitoring Officer or a person nominated by him.
The deadline for responses to both documents was 18th May, 2004.
The Committee was reminded that at present matters could only be referred down for local determination after a Standards Board for England’s Ethical Standards Officer had completed an investigation and concluded that there had been a breach of the Code and that the matter was of a level of gravity which could be dealt with appropriately within the Standard Committees’ maximum sanction of three months’ suspension. The effect of the proposed regulations and guidance was that the Standards Board for England would refer for local investigation the majority of cases which appeared to be of a gravity appropriate for local determination. The Standards Committee would need to adopt a procedure for such local investigations and the Standards Board for England intended to publish further guidance on the conduct of local investigations which, when available, would be reported to the Committee.
The Standards Board for England draft guidance recognised that Monitoring Officers would have four main roles in relation to the local code of conduct namely:-
(a) To provide advice to the Standards Committee.
(b) To advise Members who were the subject of an allegation and the person making the allegation.
(c) To investigate alleged breaches of the Code that an Ethical Standards Officer had referred for local determination.
(d) To advise Members about conduct issues before any alleged misconduct took place e.g. declarations of interest.
The Director of Legal, Democratic and Development Services pointed out the potential conflict of interests which might occur and cited as an example the situation where a Monitoring Officer was asked to investigate an allegation against a Member to whom he/she had previously given advice on the same issue. In view of this he recommended that the primary role of the Monitoring Officer should be as the chief legal adviser to the Standards Committee and that Members of the Council should seek advice on conduct issues generally from senior staff within Legal Services and Committee and Member Services. This would reduce the chances of the Monitoring Officer having a conflict of interest. He indicated that, as a general rule, the Monitoring Officer should delegate his investigatory functions to the Deputy Monitoring Officer/Senior Solicitor or use the services of an external adviser.
The key issues arising from both Consultation Papers had been identified and the proposed responses thereto which had been drawn up by the Director of Legal, Democratic and Development Services in consultation with the Chair of the Committee were submitted for consideration and approval.
Resolved -
(a) That the proposed regulations and guidance issued in respect of the local investigation and determination of complaints be noted.
(b) That the Monitoring Officer’s primary role within the Council should be that of chief legal adviser to the Standards Committee.
(c) That in the light of (b) above Members should seek advice on issues relating to the Local Code of Conduct for Members from appropriate Legal and Committee and Member Services staff who service the Cabinet, Committee and Sub-Committee meetings.
(d) That, in the revised Members’ Handbook to be issued in June, written guidance be included on who Members should consult on the Local Code of Conduct for Members.
(e) That the proposed responses to the Consultation Papers now submitted be approved for submission to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Standards Board for England.