Agenda and minutes

At this point, members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on this agenda.

Members were invited to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they had in the business on the agenda.  No interests were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee held on Friday 26 January 2007.

RESOLVED:             That the minutes of the meeting held on 26 January 2007 be approved and signed as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting, members of the public who have registered their wish to speak, regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the remit of the Standards Committee, may do so.  The deadline for registering is 5pm on Thursday 8 March 2007.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s public participation scheme.

To review the workplan for the Standards Committee for the 2006/2007 municipal year.

Members reviewed the workplan for the Standards Committee for the 2006/07 municipal year.  It was agreed that the following items be considered at the meeting scheduled for June 2007:

·                 Presentation on new Committee Management System

·                 Review of the Complaints Procedure

Members agreed to add an item on the ‘Assessment of the impact of the White Paper on Standards Committee’ and the workplan was amended to reflect those changes.

This report sets out the proposed changes to the Code of Conduct and a response to those proposals for consideration by the Standards Committee.

Members considered a report that detailed the proposed changes to the Code of Conduct together with a suggested response to those proposals.

Members were informed that 75% of complaints made to the Standards Board for England were about Parish Councillors and that a Monitoring Officer was only informed about those cases where the Standards Board agreed there was a need to investigate the complaint.

In regard to ‘Participation in relation to Prejudicial Interests’, it was proposed that a Member having declared a prejudicial interest would be able to make representation and then withdraw from the debate and decision making process.  In an effort to ensure an equitable approach across all parties, it had been suggested that Standards Committee would need to agree an annual dispensation including whether or not a Member would need to withdraw from the room during the debate.

In relation to inquorate Parish Council meetings, Members requested written guidance be circulated to all parish councils on what should be said at the meeting and who it should be addressed to.

RESOLVED:          That the proposed response to the revised model code of conduct for Local Authority Members be approved for submission to the Department of communities and Local Government

REASON:               To ensure the views of members in the York District are forwarded to the Government within the requisite timescale.

This report sets out a review of the work carried out by the Standards Committee at City of York Council during the municipal year 2006/07.

Members considered a report which set out a review of the work carried out by the Standards Committee at City of York Council during the municipal year 2006/07.

The report detailed that there had been five allegations reported to the Standards Board for England against City of York Council Members during the municipal year 2006/07.  On each of those occasions, the Standards Board had determined that no breach of the code had occurred.  It was noted that in the case of allegations made against Parish Councils and Parish Councillors, a Monitoring Officer would only be informed when a breach had been determined and an investigation was required.