Transcript

for joining and if we can sort of go straight into the agenda with apologies I've been informed that Liz Granger's sent apologies today and as we know we're hoping that Steve Tilston might join us during the course of the meeting I think that's probably less of anything from Councillor Apsley. Councillor Apsley is here in the chamber. Oh all right so beg your pardon sorry I've not seen everyone who was in there. We've got our Community Councillor, Councillor Benbow-Jones in the chamber as well. Oh great thank you thanks very much Linda and hello very sorry to have missed you out then. Moving on to item two then confirming the minutes from the 12th of March is everyone in agreement and would someone if so would someone like to propose those minutes thank you Julie and the seconder yeah thank you Sandra okay everyone happy with those minutes agree okay not hearing any dissenting voices so thank you they're taken. Item three is the declarations of interest does anyone have any declarations of interest to make before we proceed any further no okay thank you so on to item four then the review of the code of conduct confidential reporting procedure I think Linda you're going to lead us through this item thank you chair yes this is the annual review of our code of conduct confidential reporting procedure we have that in our constitution it was previously agreed by council back in 2016 and as I say on an annual basis this standards committee looks at the procedure to check whether any changes are needed and I myself I've had a look at the procedure there's no reasons for requiring any changes this afternoon so I'm asking that members note the contents of the report so that the procedure remains as written thank you chair thank you Linda any anyone like to comment on item four I'll take it then sorry was that someone wanting to speak I'll move the report chair thank you seconder for that I'll second it thank you very much everyone happy thank you okay so that's uh accepted thank you Linda um item five then uh will the whistleblowing policy thank you chair so again this is a an issue that the standards committee look at on an annual basis it's a report on for the last 12 months on our whistleblowing policy and you will note at paragraph 4.2 I've highlighted we've got we've had three concerns raised in the last 12 months that's similar to the previous 12 months where we had three concerns raised as well and I've outlined there in paragraph 4.2 where those issues have arisen and what is the current status in relation to those I am responsible for receiving all concerns about whistleblowing I do receive other inquiries that that perhaps people think are whistleblowing and I redirect them to the right place when it's not whistleblowing so for example to hr there may be procedures that they need to use there but out of those concerns raised with me three of those have been whistleblowing issues which as I say are reported here I've got no concerns itself regarding the policy it's publicized to officers as required on our website our internal website and to those that need to use it and I'm there to answer any questions as I say if people have queries about whether a concern falls within whistleblowing so I've no proposals to change the whistleblowing policy at this stage and I ask that standards committee consider the contents of the report this afternoon thank you thank you Linda so Julie you've got your hand up there yes I've got no no concerns over the whistleblowing policy itself it was just looking at the three what concerns that have been raised since the last report two of which are obviously resolved I'm just looking at that third one I just wondered if we could ask when was the concern raised and when is that report outcome expected just because we know some of the things that we have been involved in the time scales can be quite lengthy and I just wonder if we could get a handle on on that please Linda thank you and through the chair I believe the concerns were raised last October and an external investigation as it says has been carried out I understand the report may be published or available to us shortly it's reaching its conclusion I believe thank you thank you Julie any any further comments or queries on item five please so can I invite someone to propose accept the recommendation from Linda so that's a council bit though and council member jones the second thank you very much everyone in favor of that thank you so that's that recommendation is accepted moving on to item six then which is the draft annual report from the standards committee and can I just say thank you to Linda and or Helen and any other person who's been involved in drafting this on our behalf which is very much appreciated did Linda would you just like to preface this before we get into a discussion please thank you chair yes members will recall with the change in legislation last year was the first year that you brought together an annual report that was the first time it was it was required in legislation so this is the second annual report what the report does is cover as you will see in the draft details of the meetings that have taken place outlining who's involved in the committee what the committee looks at its roles and functions over the year so they're all summarized in the report also in particular to note is the compliance with the group leader's duty and this is the as I say this is a draft report so I've included that we will insert comments from the committee on the group leader's duties and attached to the back of the draft of the report for your information this afternoon is the questionnaires that have been completed by group leaders they're asked to in effect self-report on the past 12 months as to their involvement as group leaders and how they have promoted compliance within their groups so that's for you to consider this afternoon and then to add any comments into the draft report the standards committee annual report itself is then presented later this year to our full council that's a requirement in the legislation that the council received the report from this committee so chair I'm happy to answer any questions that members have this afternoon thank you Linda any comments observations please Julie would you like to go first sorry going again just a couple of observations general ones really about the level of detail in some group leaders reports over another and whether there's a piece of work that could be done about getting a consensus for a template without it being too unwieldy for going forward I mean I'm just looking at some of the things about training some of them really drill down into who's done what and when which is really helpful especially the standards committees going forward if they've got hearings what else did I notice and then the only other observation I have which is which is separate is that there seems to have been by my maths at least sort of nine things taken to the ombudsman or could potentially still be with the ombudsman and again that will have implications beyond my time on the committee but for future uh sort of time and capacity issues for the for the committee so I wondered if you have a field engine of how many of those have been resolved maybe or are actually ongoing and likely to come come back to the committee chair yes I mean certainly we can for example from this committee encourage more detail to be added in the future we're reporting back we're using a template that's been developed sort of across particularly north wales but I know it's used elsewhere to try and capture similar information but obviously group leaders fill in you know their own information into that we can try and encourage further detail on that as to the actual complaints that are recorded to the public services ombudsman of course as with any complaints it doesn't necessarily mean that there's any justification in those or that they're going to be investigated or proceed any further it's the same as with report complaints the reporter to the council they are reported and logged there may be something in them there may be nothing in them but they're all logged we do then I can confirm frequently receive letters from the ombudsman saying that this isn't so we do get that as well and it's only later on they tell us actually if they're being fully investigated and proceeding so currently I'm not anticipating a vast amount of work for this committee but obviously we'll keep in touch with members and let them know of any cases that are proceeding but as I say that they are the figures that are recorded so we're noting those and producing those so that at least there's an awareness and as I say the same with our complaints procedure with the council it's the public having an awareness for example that they can raise issues whether they're genuine complaints or not but they can at least raise them to be considered and looked at rather than I'd be more concerned if there was nothing reported because then people would not know how to get in touch with myself or the council about issues. Phil. Thank you Linda. Thank you. Any further comments? Page 24 Linda the case that we had the disciplinary case that we heard we found the community council preached the code of conduct and he was suspended from the community council for a period of four months. After the event it was made known that he sat on another community council at the same time and I had no answers when somebody said to me is that correct did it have an effect on him should he have sat on the other community council? I think from memory Linda I think we discussed this shortly afterwards didn't we and well I'll leave it to you to to go over the details. Yeah chair if I can answer that yes we did specifically check with the Ombudsman on the position because the behaviour related to a specific community council and a specific meeting of that community council it was confined to the membership of that community council we specifically checked that and it did not mean that the person was suspended from the other community council. Sometimes for example you may have behaviour that has happened that's that's wider than just within the council itself and then the Ombudsman would look at what other for example councils they sat on so for example you can have a county councillor who suspended from the county and the community council depending on what the behaviour has been but in this specific instance it was confined to the particular community council. Thank you. Any more comments please. Sorry. Sorry chair you've got Councillor Benbow-Jones in the room and Councillor Biffle on screen I don't know which you want to take first. Just to say I'm declaring an interest because I hadn't anticipated that question. Oh about the previous case right thank you and Councillor Biffle. Yeah thanks chair I apologise I've just sent an email to IT to try and shut this screen out. With regards to the previous conversation if a county councillor is suspended from a community council role is automatic he's or she is suspended from the county council role? Linda. Chair if I can answer that no it depends on what as I say what the complaint has been what the Ombudsman has investigated as I say it can be behaviour that's confined to just one of those councils or it can be behaviour that's got a wider implication in which case there's a suspension from a county and a community role but it can be confined to just one or the other. Thanks Linda. Thank you chair. Thank you. Any further comments from the committee on item six? No okay if I can just sort of echo what Julie was saying earlier I think there is a sort of a widespread between the various contributions from the group leaders and I felt that without sort of going into the specifics of them that it would be helpful to almost have a kind of a mini template within the template itself that guides the group leaders to answer specifically about what they've done rather than than in general terms I think that'd be probably more helpful for helpful to the committee. Okay so are we Linda just want us to confirm that we're happy with the draft of the report as written in in the pack? Yes thank you you did let us know chair that there is a slight amendment to your biography in it which we will update and if any other of the independent members need their biographies updating before the actual report is published later this year I think it'll go to September's council then obviously please do let me know and we can update that as well. Thank you Linda. Okay so would someone like to propose that we accept the draft so thank you Julie and the seconder please. Thank you Sandra. Everyone in is happy and in favour of giving Linda the green light regarding the draft annual report. Yeah that's great thank you that's unanimous. Moving on to item seven then in the pack we've got the dates and times for the meetings for the rest of 24 and the first half of 25. I guess we can just note those although we should probably just ask if there's anyone's got a any other is there any issue that's going to get in the way and I think Julie over to you. I'm just trying to clarify is that next meeting my final meeting on the committee so it's not it was going to be this one. Julie I believe it is because I think your term ends the end of September okay perfect I wasn't sure but that's lovely thanks Linda. Sorry it's November I believe sorry November but so if we have anything between September and November you are still welcome. Okay thank you and a similar query Linda really that I think my term is due to end in December I'm not sure of the date though. I believe it's the end of December. Oh so you've got to put up with me until the end. We do thank you Neil yes. And any other any other comments on the dates. No okay well thank you and which brings us on to any other business. Julie sorry for taking taking over the whole meeting just one very quick thing is there any part of being on the standards committee that would exclude a member from working in a polling station on election day. Linda please. No there is not you you would be most welcome if you would like to do that we are looking for more polling station clerks. Anyone else with AOB? Chair I've got one separate matter to raise but after the webcast has finished if if members could just stay on um after the recording stops I just need to let them know something. Okay thank you. We'll come to that okay so other than that I'm not seeing anyone anyone with a hand raised so I think we've got to the end of the agenda and we can formally declare the meeting closed. Thank you very much everybody.

Transcript