Agenda and draft minutes

To note any changes to the membership.

1.1           There were no changes to the membership.

To receive declarations by Members and Officers of the existence and nature of any pecuniary interests or any other significant interest in matters on this agenda.

2.1      There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 29 November 2023 as a correct record of proceedings.

3.1       RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 29 November 2023 be signed by the Chair as a correct record of the proceedings.

Report of the Executive Director of Democracy, Law and People

4.1       The Monitoring Officer introduced the Biennial Standards Committee Report and advised that this was the third of these reports which had been produced. The report sets out the work of the Standards Committee over the last two years and includes a Statement of Ethical Standards. It will be recommended to Full Council for noting. 

4.2       She noted that the report now includes the Nolan Principles and highlighted that in the last two years the Committee had reviewed the rules of debate at Council meetings; developed guidance on personal safety for Members; revised the Member/Officer Protocol; arranged for Code of Conduct training. 

4.3       The Committee discussed the format of the report and asked that it be revised in terms of colours, images used and the orientation of the report.  There was a request to include photographs of the Independent Persons and the former Chair of the Committee in the section at the end of the report.

4.4       It was agreed that a revised version of the report will be prepared and distributed to the Committee for comments and approval.

5.1       Cllr Chowdhury asked that a review of the Member/Officer Protocol be included in the Work Programme for 2024-25.  He advised that as the Protocol was developed in 2022 some of the newly elected Councillors would not have had time to constructively feed into the consultation on the Protocol.

5.2       Cllr Hassan asked that the issue of diversity be included in the review of the Member/Officer Protocol and this was agreed.

5.3       The Committee agreed this should be added to the work programme and suggested that it should be added to the February 2025 meeting.

5.4       The Monitoring Officer advised that the work to review the Protocol would start over the coming months in order that a fully formulated document could be reviewed by the Committee at the February 2025 meeting.

5.5       The Chair asked that any consultation be run via the Leaders of both Groups as well as the Whips.

5.6       Due to lack of business the Committee agreed to cancel the meeting scheduled for 11 July 2024.

6.1      Asif Iqbal MBE advised the Committee that the Government had updated their

           Disability Action Plan consultation document he also asked the Committee to

           note the Government’s Access to Elected Office fund.

6.2      An update was provided on the recruitment for a new Independent Person. 

           Four applications had been submitted and the Monitoring Officer would be

           reviewing these in advance of interviews with the General Purposes

           Committee.

6.3     The Committee asked whether contact had been made with the other

           Independent Person who currently sits on the Committee as they had not

           been to a meeting in the last few months.  The Monitoring Officer agreed to

           contact the Independent Member to understand if there were any issues

           preventing attendance.