Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED:

1. That Irene Francis be elected the Chair of the Standards Committee for the municipal year 2006-7.

2. That Nicholas Weber be elected Vice-Chair of the Standards Committee for the municipal year 2006-7.

Apologies for absence were received from Mr Nicholas Weber and Councillors Edge, Mughal and Khan.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business.

There was no such business.

A member with a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered must disclose to that meeting the existence and nature of that interest at the commencement of that consideration, or when the interest becomes apparent.

A member with a personal interest in a matter also has a prejudicial interest in that matter if the interest is one which a member of the public with knowledge of the relevant facts would reasonably regard as so significant that it is likely to prejudice the member's judgment of the public interest.

There were no such declarations.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meetings of the Standards Committee held on March 6 2006.

Matters Arising:

Members agreed the following alterations to the minutes of the meeting of 6 March.

-          That Irene Francis be included only once on the independent members list.

-          That in SC38, paragraph 2, the word ‘meeting’ be deleted and replaced by the word ‘room’, for the resolution now to read:

o       That the minutes of the Standards Committee held on 5 December 2005 be confirmed and signed as accurate record subject to an amendment on page 2 (para 3) which should state that all independent members declared an interest and left the room.

-          That in minute SC41, the following sentence should be inserted at the conclusion of paragraph 1:

o       Members were able to raise concerns over the conduct of other Members with the Party Whip.

-          That the references to personal and prejudicial interests in minutes SC41, paragraph 2 be expanded upon to read:

o       It was noted that the rules on bias with regard to Quasi-Judicial committees would remain separate and there would be more dispensations on declarations of interest which were currently felt to be quite limited, and a third category of interest (public sector) in addition to personal (where Members were required to declare, but not leave the room) and prejudicial (where Members were required to leave the room).

RESOLVED:

1.      That the minutes of the Standards Committee meeting held on of 6 March be confirmed and signed as an accurate record subject to the amendments specified above.

The committee thanked Doctor David Fishman for all his work on the committee, and wished him the very best for the future.  Members welcomed Jeremy Williams as the new secretary to the committee.

To consider any referrals received from the Standards Board for England.

The Monitoring Officer had no new referrals to report.

To consider the  Draft Standards Committee Annual Report To Council on 17^th July 2006.

We received the Standards Committee Annual Report to Full Council, which was to be considered on July 17^th.

We noted the following corrections to be made to the report:

Item 3.4

-          Delete ‘Minutes are given in Appendix 1’

-          The contents of Appendix One be inserted at the end of the paragraph 3.4

-          Appendix One to be deleted and Appendix Two to the report to be renamed Appendix One.

-          Insert a new paragraph at the end of Item 3.4 stating:

The Minutes are also available on the authorities website at http://www.minutes.haringey.gov.uk  Please contact Jeremy Williams for further information on 0208 489 2919 or at Jeremy.williams@haringey.gov.uk .

Item 5.1

-  That the one item in the table be in the £300-400 bracket be moved up to the £400-500 bracket, thus bringing the approximate total value for the year to £4,800.

Item 5.3

-  That the formatting on the table be corrected.

Item 7.1

-  To clarify that the total of only 56 Councillors in table 4 takes account of the resignation of Councillor Steven Gilbert.

Register of Gifts and Hospitalities 2005-6

-  That the spelling of Harringay ward be corrected on page 10.

RESOLVED:

1.  That, subject to the above alterations being made, to commend the report to Full Council for noting.

To discuss and agree necessary and required training on the 'Code of Conduct' and general standards issues, for Standards Committee members and for Members generally.

Members discussed training which they wished to receive for their work on the committee.  It was agreed that the Standards Board for England training DVD should be made available both to Members of the committee, and for all for all Councillors who wished to view it.

RESOLVED:

1. That the Standards Board For England training DVD be shown prior to the September meeting of the committee.

2. That a Mock Hearing be arranged between the September and December meetings of the committee, subject to Member availability.

3. That further training take place next May upon the implementation of the new Code of Conduct for Members.

4. That the Monitoring Officer write to all Members once a year, reminding them of their obligations under the Code of Conduct.

i) Standards Committee website

Members noted that the Register of Gifts and Hospitality was now available on the Council’s website at http://www.haringey.gov.uk .

RESOLVED:

1. That we note the on-line version of the Register.

2. That the fee given for next year’s Mayor Making be more approximate than the £14.65 average given for this year.

To note date, venue and programme of The Standards Board for England 'Fifth Annual Assembly of Standards Committees', to be held on 16 -17 October 2005, at The International Conference Centre, Birmingham and to appoint an attendee from Standards Committee.

Members were offered the opportunity to attend the Standards Board for England Conference in Birmingham from 16-17^th October 2006.  The annual conference provided a wealth of information on the rôle of the Standards Committee and the work of the Standards Board for England.

RESOLVED:

1.         That one Member of the Standards Committee be invited to the Standards Board for England Conference in Birmingham in October.

To consider any new items of business admitted under item 3 above.

There were no such items.

Monday, 4^th September 2006

Monday, 4^th December 2006

  Monday, 5^th March 2007

Future meetings of the committee were due to be held at the following dates and times:

-          4 September 2006, 7:30pm

-          4 December 2006, 7:30pm

-          5 March 2007, 7:30pm