Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare:

·        any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests

·        any prejudicial interests or

·        any disclosable pecuniary interests

which they might have in respect of business on this agenda.

Members were asked to declare any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests, or any prejudicial interests or disclosable pecuniary interests which they might have in respect of business on the agenda.  None were declared.

To appoint a Chair of the Joint Standards Committee for the 2021/22 municipal year.

Parish Cllr Rawlings nominated Cllr Rowley to be appointed as Chair.  The nomination was seconded by Cllr Douglas and it was unanimously

Resolved:  That Cllr Rowley be appointed as Chair of the committee for the 2021/22 Municipal Year.

To appoint a Vice Chair of the Joint Standards Committee for the 2021/22 municipal year.

Cllr Fisher nominated Parish Cllr Rawlings to be appointed as Vice Chair.  The nomination was seconded by Parish Cllr Waudby and it was unanimously

Resolved:  That Parish Cllr Rawlings be appointed as Vice Chair of the committee for the 2021/22 Municipal Year.

Paul Hoey and Natalie Ainscough of Hoey Ainscough Associates Ltd., who were in attendance to deliver a workshop for Members on the Model Code of Conduct once the formal business of the meeting was concluded, introduced themselves.

The Chair welcomed Cllr Pavlovic, Chair of Audit & Governance Committee, to the meeting.

To approve the minutes of the meeting of the Joint Standards Committee held on 31 March 2021.

Resolved:  That the minutes of the meeting of the Joint Standards Committee held on 31 March be approved as a correct record, to be signed by the Chair at a later date, subject to amendment of the bullet point under Minute 85 to read as follows:

·        “Provide evidence of the payment of any expenses during the trip (i.e. room service, drinks etc.)”

To approve the minutes of the meetings of the Joint Standards Assessment Sub-Committee held on 15 April 2021, 23 April 2021 and 29 April 2021.

Resolved:  (i)      That the minutes of the meetings of the Assessments Sub Committee held on 15 April 2021 and 23 April 2021 be approved as a correct record, to be signed by the Chair at a later date.

(ii)      That the minutes of the Assessments Sub-Committee held on 29 April 2021 be approved as a correct record, to be signed by the Chair at a later date, subject to the amendment of the Reason under Minute 16 to read as follows:

“The sub-committee considers that an investigation is warranted in this case.”

Webcasting of Remote Public Meetings

Please note that, subject to available resources, this remote public meeting will be webcast including any registered public speakers who have given their permission. The remote public meeting can be viewed live and on demand at www.york.gov.uk/webcasts.

During coronavirus, we've made some changes to how we're running council meetings. See our coronavirus updates (www.york.gov.uk/COVIDDemocracy) for more information on meetings and decisions.

It was reported that there had been two registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

Gwen Swinburn spoke in relation to a Code of Conduct complaint that she had submitted, objecting to the manner in which it had been dealt with by the Monitoring Officer.

Cllr Warters raised concerns about the handling of a series of Code of Conduct complaints, noting that little progress had been made since 2016 in improving the standards process.

This report provides Members with an update on the Model Code of Conduct.

Members received a report which provided an update on the Model Code of Conduct.

The formal meeting then concluded and Members attended a private, informal workshop on the Model Code.