Minutes:
The Officers submitted for consideration the proposed work programme for the Standards Committee for 2006/07.
During consideration of the work programme, there was a call for the Committee to address the current problem of Members’ poor behaviour and conduct. Members expressed regret that some Councillors appeared not to be able to accept each others’ political differences and to treat each other with respect and courtesy. The Director of Law and Corporate Governance reported that, arising from a recent incident at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 8th June, 2006, the four Group Leaders had met that day to address the issue of Members’ behaviour and he indicated that he was hopeful that some positive results would come out of the Meeting.
General disappointment was expressed about the effectiveness of the Standards Board for England in addressing Members’ poor behaviour and its failure to take action when complaints regarding this matter were reported to them. The Chair of the Committee reported that he had been asked to speak at the Annual Assembly for Standards Committees in September and that he would be interested to receive copies of correspondence between Members and the Standards Board for England which demonstrated their failure to act against bad behaviour and he undertook to raise this issue in his address to the Annual Assembly.
The Director of Law and Corporate Governance indicated that there were current proposals to remove the “gate keeping” role in respect of complaints from the Standards Board for England and place this responsibility on either Monitoring Officers or local authority Standards Committees. However, it was likely to be two or more years before the necessary regulations were introduced to effect this change.
It was suggested that the failure of the current complaints system to modify Members’ behaviour might be partly due to the fact that the sanctions imposed were too lenient.
It was felt that additional training would not resolve the current problems but that a fundamental change in attitude needed to be brought about.
Resolved - That the proposed work programme for 2006/07 now submitted be approved.