Agenda and minutes

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The Chair drew Member’s attention to the notice on the summons.

Apologies were received from Councillors Beacham and Reith. Councillor Wright attended as a substitute for Councillor Reith.

There were no matters of urgent business.

Councillors Amin, Opoku and Wright declared a personal interest as school governors in relation to item 7. No further Declarations of Interest were made.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meetings of the Standards Committee held on 7 March 2016.

The minutes of the Standards Committee of 7 March were noted.

To receive a summary of information about complaints received by the Monitoring Officer that a Member had breached the Member’s Code of Conduct since the last meeting.

Raymond Prince, Assistant Head of Legal Services, attending on behalf of the Assistant Director for Corporate Governance and Monitoring Officer, had no matters to report.

To consider a report that proposes changes to the Constitution in the following areas:

a)           Abolition of the current Pensions Committee and Pensions Board, establishment of a new combined Pensions Committee and Board, approval of the terms of reference, appointments to the new body and consequential amendments arising as a result of the change;

b)           Minor amendments to the terms of reference for the Staffing and Remuneration Committee;

c)            Minor amendments to the terms of reference for the Planning subcommittee;

d)           Other minor amendments to the Constitution.

This report would go forward to Full Council in July for approval.

Gina Clarke, Senior Corporate Lawyer, introduced the paper that requested the Committee’s agreement to a number of changes to the Council’s Constitution, which would be submitted for adoption to the July meeting of Full Council.

In relation to the proposed abolition of the Pensions Committee and Pensions Board and their replacement with a combined Pensions Committee and Board, the Committee, regretting the absence of an officer to explain the policy decision, requested a note explaining the motivation for the merging of the Pensions Committee and the Pensions Board.

In relation to the proposed amendment to the Terms of Reference of the Staffing and Remuneration Committee, the Committee requested a list of human resources policies and procedures that the Council recommends to school governing bodies, as referred to in Appendix 2 of the report.

In relation to the proposed amendment to the Planning Sub-Committee’s handling of applications submitted by, or on behalf of, the Council, the Committee received assurances from Emma Williamson, Acting Assistant Director for Planning that she would seek to highlight such applications in the list regularly circulated to Members and to outline in the Planning Protocol criteria for applications that would not be delegated to officers.

The Committee did not agree to the recommendation that the Assistant Director for Schools and Learning be responsible for the nomination of school governors, rather than the Democratic Services Manager. That recommendation would not be taken forward to Full Council. The Constitution would need to be amended to reflect that the Council is now responsible for nominating, rather than appointing, school governors.

In relation to the changes to the Constitution that were made by the Monitoring Officer under Article 14.03 of the Constitution, to ensure the Constitution reflected the statutory position, the Committee requested a note on the Council’s appointment of the Leader and how the Leader’s appointment of Cabinet members was communicated to Members.

It was therefore:

Resolved

In relation to the Pensions Committee and Pensions Board, that the Standards Committee recommend full Council:

a)           approve the abolition of the Pensions Committee and the Pensions Board;

b)           pursuant to Regulation 106(2) of the Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) (Governance) Regulations 2015, approve the establishment of a combined Pensions Committee and Board;

c)            approve the terms of reference of the new combined Pensions Committee and Board, to be reflected in the Constitution at Part Three Section B;

d)           approve the consequential change to the scheme of Members’ Allowances at Part Six of the Constitution

e)           appoint the following Council members to the new combined Pensions Committee and Board:

Councillor C Bull

Councillor Bevan

Councillor Adamou

Councillor Blake

Councillor G Bull

Councillor Ross

f)             pursuant to Regulation 107(1), (2) and (4) note:

(i)  the appointment of the following employer and employee representatives to the new combined Committee and Board:

Keith Brown (employer representative)
Randy Plowright (employee representative)

(ii)the remaining vacant employer and employee seats are to be filled in accordance with the appointment process set out in the terms of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

To consider any new items of urgent business that are not exempt.

There were no new matters of unrestricted urgent business.

13^th October 2016

23^rd January 2017

4^th April 2017

The Standards Committee’s next meetings would be 13 October 2016, 23 January 2017, and 4 April 2017.

To consider a motion to exclude the press and public from the meeting should any items of urgent business be accepted that contain exempt information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government Act 1972; namely information relating to any individual, and information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual.

To consider any new items of urgent business that are exempt.

There were no new matters of restricted urgent business.