Agenda item

Report of the Constitution Working Group

The Cabinet Member Corporate Services introduced the report which set out the proposed arrangements for adoption by the Council in order to comply with the new conduct regime set out in the Localism Act 2011 and the recently approved Regulations. He apologised for the late circulation of the report but the regulations had not been published until 8 June 2012 and therefore officers had been under particular pressure to produce the report in the required timescales.  He highlighted the new obligation to disclose the pecuniary interests of spouses and partners as part of a Member’s Register of Interest declaration. Members were also asked to approve a new Code of Conduct.

Councillor McLain indicated his intention to abstain from any vote as although he had supported the original intention of the Standards regime, he was not happy with how it had turned out. He advised that following a detailed briefing by their Monitoring Officer, the Members at the County Council had achieved cross-party consensus in support of a common approach across all seven local authorities and a common code to include parish councils in Gloucestershire. They would be looking for proposals to come back in the Autumn. Hence he considered that this report was a good piece of work but was premature.

A member asked whether a wife or spouse have the right to refuse to have their interest disclosed and did they have any rights to privacy under the Human Rights Act. The Borough Solicitor acknowledged that this part of the legislation had come as a surprise and that parish councillors had already expressed some concerns. Members could have a defence if they had no knowledge of their spouse’s pecuniary interests but otherwise the obligation was on the Member to make the disclosure and not the spouse.  If they failed to do this they could be liable to criminal proceedings. She emphasised that these were statutory rules and the council could not decide to amend them. She assumed that the rights of spouses would have been taken into account during the construction of the legislation.

It was noted that Step 1 in appendix 3 should refer to CBC and not TBC.

The Leader referred members to recommendation 8 in the report regarding the appointment of Independent Persons. He advised that an Interview Panel consisting of himself, Councillor Garnham and Councillor Godwin, had interviewed three candidates on 20 June 2012. The panel was unanimous in its recommendation to the Council to appoint Mr Duncan Chittenden and Mr Martin Jauch as Independent Persons for Cheltenham Borough Council.

Before the vote, the Mayor highlighted to Members that the regulations came into force on 1 July and therefore the council was obliged to put arrangements in place in accordance with these regulations.  He also reminded Members that the Borough Solicitor had been on hand before the Council meeting to answer any questions members had about the proposals.

Upon the vote the recommendations (excluding 9) were CARRIED with 3 abstentions.

Upon a separate vote on recommendation 9, this was CARRIED.

Voting For: 28,   Against:0, Abstain: 1

RESOLVED:

1. That the draft Code of Members’ Conduct, attached at Appendix 2, be APPROVED and ADOPTED with effect from 1^st July 2012.
2. That the Cheltenham Borough Council Register of Interests comprises those Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and other interests as set out in Appendices A and B of the Code of Members’ Conduct at Appendix 2.
3. That the Council’s Constitution be amended to include within the Council, Cabinet Committee and Sub-Committee Rules of Procedure the following:
4. ‘A Member must withdraw from a meeting (including from the public area/gallery) during the whole of the consideration of any item of business in which the Member has a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest, or in which the Member has an “other” interest where, as a consequence of Paragraph 10(4) of the Council’s Code of Conduct, the Member is required to leave the meeting and not participate or vote on the matter, unless the Member is permitted to remain through the granting of a dispensation.’
5. That the arrangements for dealing with complaints, as set out in Paragraph 3 of this report are ADOPTED, together with the flowchart and assessment criteria set out at Appendix 3.
6. To establish a Standards Committee, including a Hearings Sub-Committee, as set out in Paragraphs 3.13-3.17 of this report, together with the Terms of Reference set out at Appendix 4 to be incorporated within Part 3C of the Council’s Constitution.
7. That Councillors Barnes, Fisher, Flynn, Godwin and Wheeler and two Conservative members to be advised be appointed to be members of the Standards Committee in accordance with the political balance requirements (4:2:1).
8. To ask the Independent Remuneration Panel to review the Council’s Scheme of Allowances consequent upon the changes to the Standards Committee.
9. That Mr Duncan Chittenden and Mr Martin Jauch as Independent Persons for Cheltenham Borough Council be appointed in accordance with the recommendation of the Interview Panel.
10. That Part 3D (Responsibilities for Functions – Officer Non-Executive Functions) of the Council’s Constitution be amended to appoint the Borough Solicitor and Monitoring Officer to be the Proper Officer to receive complaints in writing regarding allegations of failure to comply with the Code of Conduct and that authority is delegated to the Monitoring Officer as follows:

1. to determine, after consultation with the Independent Person(s), whether a complaint should be investigated and to arrange such investigation;
2. to seek local resolution of complaints without formal investigation where it is possible to do so;
3. to close a complaint if the investigation finds no evidence of failure to comply with the Code of Conduct;
4. to agree a local resolution where an investigation finds evidence of a failure to comply with the Code of Conduct, subject to consultation with the Independent Person(s) and the complainant being satisfied with the proposed resolution;
5. to grant dispensations in accordance with Paragraphs 2.10 and 2.11 of this report;
6. to make any other minor consequential changes to the Council’s Constitution as the result of the adoption of the arrangements set out in this report.

The Cabinet Member proposed that Council record a vote of thanks to the current members of the Standards Committee which would be ceasing on the 30th of June 2012. The independent members were Jon Leamon, John Cripps, David O’Connor, Duncan Chittenden and the chairman Simon Lainé and Parish Councillors were David Iliffe and Gloria Coleman.