This meeting was scheduled to discuss the council's response to a consultation on standards and conduct, a report on complaints made, and how the council provides training to ensure that councillors know and follow the rules.

Government Consultation on strengthening the standards and conduct framework

The committee was scheduled to discuss the council's draft response to a government consultation on strengthening the standards and conduct framework.

The consultation sought views on a range of proposals to promote and maintain high standards of conduct in local government. These proposals included:

• Strengthening the role of Independent Persons.
• Introducing a requirement for councillors to undertake training on the Code of Conduct.
• Giving local authorities greater powers to deal with complaints about councillor conduct.

The draft response to the consultation sets out the council's views on the proposals. It states that the council:

supports the principle of high standards of conduct in local government

and

believes that the proposals in the consultation would help to achieve this.

However, the draft response also:

raises a number of concerns about the practical implications of the proposals

and

calls on the government to provide further guidance and support to local authorities on how to implement the proposals.

Update on Complaints

The committee was scheduled to receive a report on complaints received since the previous meeting.

According to the report, four complaints had been received by the Monitoring Officer since the last meeting of the Committee, three of which related to the conduct of councillors on social media.

Member training and induction

The committee was scheduled to discuss arrangements for councillor training and induction.

The report prepared for the meeting set out the council's approach to induction and training for councillors, explaining that:

All new Councillors are required to undertake a comprehensive induction programme which covers all aspects of their role. This includes training on the Code of Conduct and on the Council's procedures for dealing with complaints about councillor conduct.

The report also noted that:

The Council also provides ongoing training for councillors on a range of topics, including ethics and standards, social media, and equality and diversity. This training is designed to help councillors to keep up to date with best practice and to develop their skills and knowledge.

This report explains that the training will be provided in a hybrid format:

Following the success of the hybrid training event held on the 2021 Census and related data issues for Members in December 2023

The report explains that:

This has the benefit of keeping costs down and enabling Members to choose to participate in a way that suits their availability.

and

Recordings of each training session will also be made available on the Council’s website.

The report noted that

Attendance at training sessions by Members remains relatively low

and the Monitoring Officer:

has already spoken to the whips of the two main political groups

to try and improve attendance.