The 10 December meeting of the Standards Committee included, amongst other things, the proposed appointment of six councillors to the Constitution Liaison Panel. Councillors were also asked to consider and review proposed changes to the way that the council deals with complaints against councillors. Finally, the Committee was to be asked to approve a recommendation to Full Council that the Standards Committee’s Terms of Reference be updated.

Appointment to the Constitution Liaison Panel

Councillors were to be asked to confirm the appointment of six councillors to the Constitution Liaison Panel.

The six councillors nominated for appointment were:

• Councillor Drew¹
• Councillor Hanrahan²
• Councillor Williams³
• Councillor Matthews⁴
• Councillor Tree⁵
• Councillor Woodard⁶

The report prepared for the meeting argued that

The opportunity exists to update and modernise the constitution to determine whether there is scope for simplification that may support transformative change.

The Constitution Liaison Panel exists to assist the Standards Committee in considering in detail proposed updates to the Constitution.

Proposed amendments to Arrangements for dealing with Councillor Code of Conduct complaints

The main item on the agenda for discussion was a proposal to substantially amend the council's arrangements for dealing with Councillor Code of Conduct Complaints.

The report prepared ahead of the meeting explains that

The Monitoring Officer is responsible for receiving and considering complaints made against district councillors and town and parish councillors in the Council’s area, in accordance with arrangements made under section 28 of the Localism Act 2011 (the Act) ⁷.

The report goes on to say that the proposed new arrangements

have been substantially amended and are contained at Appendix A.

The report says that East Hampshire District Council received 16 formal code of conduct complaints in the 2023/24 municipal year, and that as of December 2024 it had already received 16 in the 2024/25 municipal year.

The report goes on to summarise the key proposed changes. These include:

• Clarification of what can be included in complaints, and when complaints can be rejected. For example, the new arrangements state that anonymous complaints are unlikely to be progressed, and that > the Monitoring Officer may reject it at the outset if ... the complaint is essentially against the action of a council as a whole and cannot properly be directed against individual councillor(s)
• The introduction of timescales for responses to complaints. For example the new arrangements state that the Monitoring Officer will acknowledge a complaint within 10 working days, and that Councillors will be given 10 working days to respond to a complaint.
• Greater freedom for the Monitoring Officer to reject complaints. For example, the new arrangements would allow the Monitoring Officer to reject complaints where > the issue is minor and the councillor complained about has already accepted their breach and offered an apology or where > the complaint or pattern of complaints appear to be malicious or politically motivated or tit-for-tat.
• An explicit requirement for the Monitoring Officer to consider > the public interest and judicious use of public resources when deciding whether to investigate a complaint.
• Clarification that a Standards Committee has no statutory power to suspend or disqualify a councillor.
• Clarification of the appeals process, and that there is no right of appeal against a decision of the Standards Committee.

The report notes that these changes are proposed against a backdrop of a significant number of complaints against Councillors. For example, it says that

In the municipal year 2023/24, a total of 16 formal complaints were lodged and dealt with by the Monitoring Officer. Of these, 7 were councillor to councillor complaints. A single member of the public lodged 4 formal complaints. 10 of the complaints related to a single town council.

The report reveals that dealing with these complaints is a significant burden on the Monitoring Officer, saying that the Deputy Monitoring Officer spends

approximately 50% to 60% of productive working time, administering the Councillor complaints process as a whole.

It also reveals that in 2023/24 external investigators had to be appointed at a cost of £12,369.

The report concludes by noting that the proposed changes to the complaints procedure were considered by the Constitution Liaison Panel at its meeting on 25 November 2024.

Standards Committee Terms of Reference

Councillors were to be asked to approve a recommendation to Full Council that the Standards Committee's Terms of Reference be amended to give it responsibility for appointing the Councillor Development Panel.

The report prepared for the meeting explains that:

The Councillor Development Panel is currently appointed by Full Council and is responsible for developing and monitoring the implementation of the councillor development strategy. The Standards Committee has responsibility for reviewing member training and therefore it is considered that it would be more appropriate for the Panel to be appointed by the Standards Committee, with any recommendations made by the Panel being considered by the Standards Committee, before making any recommendations to Full Council, as appropriate.

The report says that this change is being proposed now because:

The Councillor Development Panel was convened on 29th October 2024 following requests from councillors for additional training.

Councillors Code of Conduct Complaints

Finally, the committee was scheduled to receive a report on complaints received by the Monitoring Officer since the last meeting of the committee on 25 June 2024.

The report, which was not available to the public, was to provide an update for Councillors on the status of existing complaints, and summarise any new complaints that have been received.

The report prepared for the meeting reveals that:

The Monitoring Officer has received a total of 11 new complaints since the last update provided to the Committee on 25th June 2024. This compares to 6 new complaints reported to the Committee between 12th March and 25th June 2024.

The report goes on to say that only one of the complaints received related to a District Councillor, with the remainder relating to Town and Parish Councillors.