Agenda and minutes

To appoint a member to chair the meeting.

Resolved: That Councillor Fisher be elected as Chair of the meeting.

At this point in the meeting, Members and co-opted members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary interest, or other registerable interest, they might have in respect of business on this agenda, if they have not already done so in advance on the Register of Interests. The disclosure must include the nature of the interest.

An interest must also be disclosed in the meeting when it becomes apparent to the member during the meeting.

[Please see attached sheet for further guidance for Members].

Members were asked to declare at this point in the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interests or other registerable interests they might have in respect of business on the agenda, if they had not already done so in advance on the Register of Interests.

No interests were declared, but for the sake of transparency, Cllr Rowley noted that he was a school governor for an unrelated Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) within the city.

To consider excluding the public and press from the meeting during consideration of the private reports at Agenda Item 4, on the grounds that they contain information relating to individuals and information likely to reveal the identity of individuals. This information is classed as exempt under Private Document Pack paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 12A to Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006.

Note: the private reports referred to above follow the public report on each item in the agenda papers.

Resolved:  That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the private reports at Agenda Item 4 (Code of Conduct Complaint received in respect of City of York Councillors), on the grounds that they contain information relating to individuals and information likely to reveal the identity of individuals, which is classed as exempt under paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 12A to Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006.

[Note: following the above resolution, the Deputy Monitoring Officer confirmed that she had nothing further to add in respect of the public reports in the agenda papers, and the remainder of the meeting took place in private session.]

To consider a complaint of breach of the Code of Conduct received in respect of City of York Councillors and determine next steps.

Members considered a report which set out three complaints alleging breach of the Code of Conduct received in respect of three City of York councillors. Details of the complaints were presented in the private report referred to in Minute 18 above.

Members were asked to decide whether to:

A. rule that one or more complaints are out of scope.

B. rule that one or more complaints are in scope and choose to:

(i)                take no further action

(ii)              seek to resolve the matter(s) informally, or

(iii)             refer the matter(s) for investigation. 

Having considered all the information provided, and the advice of the Independent Person at the meeting, it was

Resolved:  That Option B (iii) was recommended in respect of all complaints.

Reason:     The Sub-Committee considers that this matter is capable of being a breach of the Code of Conduct and that an investigation is required.