Agenda and minutes

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Items
No. Item

4.

Declarations of Interest

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 may have in respect of business on this agenda.

Minutes:

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

5.

Exclusion of Press and Public

To consider excluding the public and press from the meeting during consideration of agenda item 3 on the grounds that it contains information relating to individuals. This information is classed as exempt under Paragraph 1 of Schedule 12A to Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to information) (Variation) Order 2006.

 

Minutes:

Resolved:  That the public and press be excluded from the meeting during consideration of agenda item 3 (Complaints against Members of a Council covered by the Joint Standards Committee) on the grounds that it contained information relating to an individual.  This information is classed as exempt under Paragraph 1 of Schedule 12A to Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006.

6.

Complaints against Members of a Council Covered by the Joint Standards Committee

To consider complaints made against Members of a Council covered by the Joint Standards Committee, and to take an initial decision as to whether, and how, the matters should be pursued.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members considered complaints made against Members of a Council covered by the Joint Standards Committee and were asked to decide whether, and how, the matters should be pursued.

 

In each case the report of the Monitoring Officer and the views of the Independent Persons were noted.

 

Complaint 1

 

The substance of the complaint was that two Members of a Council covered by the Joint Standards Committee objected to remarks made about them on twitter by another Member and did not accept the apology offered by the Member concerned.

 

Having considered the evidence provided in support of the complaint, it was

 

Resolved:  That the Group Whip be requested to speak to the subject of the complaint regarding expected standards of behaviour.

 

Reason:     The Member concerned had also breached the Code of Conduct on previous occasions but the issue did not merit further action by the Joint Standards Committee. 

 

Complaint 2

 

The substance of the complaint was that a Member of a Council covered by the Joint Standards Committee objected to the conduct of another Member at a meeting.

 

Having considered the evidence provided in support of the complaint, including viewing a webcast of the part of the meeting to which the complaint related, it was

 

Resolved:  That the complaint not be upheld.

 

Reason:     The Sub-Committee considers that no breach of the Code of Conduct had taken place.

 

Complaint 3

 

The substance of the complaint was that a member of the public had alleged that two Members of a Council covered by the Joint Standards Committee had breached the Council’s Code of Conduct. 

 

Mr Laverick, Independent Person, offered to withdraw from the meeting for this item having drawn Members’ attention to the information provided in his written comments, including his indirect connection to an organisation referred to in the complaint.  Members agreed that the personal interest declared by the Independent Person was such that it should not preclude him from putting forward his views on the matter under consideration.

 

The Monitoring Officer did not take part in the discussion on this item.

 

Having considered the evidence provided in support of the complaint, it was

 

Resolved:  That the complaint be referred for investigation.

 

Reason:     The Sub-Committee considers that the matter required further investigation to ascertain whether or not there had been a breach of the Code of Conduct.

 

 

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