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 at this point in the meeting any personal or prejudicial interests they might have in the business on the agenda.

Cllrs Horton and Waudby each declared a personal, non prejudicial interest in agenda item 5 (Registers of Gifts and Hospitality), as former Lord Mayors who had been in receipt of tickets from the Racecourse.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee held on 22 October 2010.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Standards Committee meeting held on 22 October 2010 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meetings of the Standards Committee Assessment Sub-Committee held on 22 October 2010 and 11 November 2010.

The minutes of the Standards Committee Assessment Sub-Committee meetings held on 22 October 2010 and 11 November 2010 were approved by the relevant members and signed as a correct record.  The minutes of the 22 October meeting were signed by Mr Hall, who had chaired that meeting, while those of the 11 November meeting were signed by Mrs Bainton.

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 5:00 pm on Thursday, 16 December 2010.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

This report responds to a resolution made by the Standards Committee in January requesting an annual review of the registers of gifts and hospitality.

Members received a report which responded to a resolution made at the meeting in January 2010, requesting an annual review of the registers of gifts and hospitality.

About half of City of York Council (CYC) Members, and a much lower proportion of Parish councillors, had entered details of gifts and hospitality in the register.  Some CYC Members had gone further than the Code required, registering items of a value lower than £25.  Previously, most CYC declarations had related to tickets to the Racecourse or Theatre Royal.  However, race tickets were no longer offered generally to councillors and no theatre tickets appeared to have been accepted during 2010. 

All CYC Members and Parish clerks had been reminded by the Monitoring Officer of the need to ensure that registers were kept up to date.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

REASON:      For information.

This report advises Members of the City of York Council’s successful bid for Charter status.

Members received a report which advised them of the City of York Council’s successful bid for Member Development Charter status.

The Charter had been formally presented on 24 November 2010, following a successful external assessment on 28 September 2010.  The assessment team had commented favourably on the Member Development Steering Group (MDSG), the annual programme and the Member Development Strategy. 

The team made a number of suggestions for further improvement, as detailed in paragraph 4 of the report.  Some of these would be taken forward by the MDSG at future meetings.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

REASON:      For information.

This report informs the Committee of the take up and feedback received regarding to development events offered to Members in the first half of 2010/2011.

Members considered a report which informed them of the take-up of, and feedback from, member development events offered during the first half of 2010/11.

It was reported that, to date:

• 5 non-Executive Members had achieved the minimum target of attending 8 qualifying sessions, 4 of whom had exceeded the target;
• 2 Executive Members had achieved the minimum target of attending 12 qualifying sessions;
• all Executive Members had undertaken at least 2 qualifying events or activities;
• 7 non-Executive Members had not undertaken any qualifying events or activities.

A summary of feedback received from Members on development events and sessions was provided in paragraphs 10 to 13 of the report and in Annexes A and B.

RESOLVED: That the contents of the report be noted.

REASON:      In order to comply with the monitoring arrangements set out in the Member Development Steering Group’s Terms of Reference, as approved by Council.

This report provides the most up to date information with regard to the Government’s proposals to abolish the “Standards Board Regime”.

Members received a report which provided an update on the Government’s proposals to abolish the ‘Standards Board Regime’. 

Recent correspondence received by the Standards Board from the Department for Communities and Local Government was attached as Appendix 1 to the report.  This confirmed that, in addition to revoking the Code of Conduct and abolishing both the Standards Board and Standards committees, .the Relevant Authorities (General Principles) Order 2001 would also be revoked. 

The correspondence also set out proposed transitional arrangements and details of the ‘post Standards Board’ conduct regime.  Local authorities would be able to adopt their own voluntary Code of Conduct but the only sanction for non-compliance would be censure.  Councils could also establish their own Standards Committees, but these would be ordinary committees of the council and as such could not include voting external members.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

REASON:      For information.

To review the work plan for the Standards Committee for the remainder of the 2010/11 Municipal Year.  An updated copy of the current approved work plan is attached.

Members reviewed the Committee’s work plan for the remainder of the 2010/11 Municipal Year.

RESOLVED: (i)         That the next meeting of the Standards Committee be held on 25 February 2011 (and not 22 January as stated on the work plan), and that a further update on government proposals relating to the Standards regime be received at that meeting.

                        (ii)        That no further changes be made to the work plan at this stage.

REASON:      In order to organise the future business of the Committee, whilst taking account of proposals to abolish the Standards regime.