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Ethics Committee - Wednesday, 9th July, 2025 6.30 pm

July 9, 2025 View on council website
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Summary

The Croydon Council Ethics Committee met on 9 July 2025 to discuss revisions to the members' code of conduct, member training and development, and a review of ethics complaints. The committee was also scheduled to discuss recent developments in ethical standards and its work programme.

Amendments to the Member's Code of Conduct

The Ethics Committee was asked to consider and recommend to the Full Council the adoption of revised statutory arrangements for dealing with complaints against councillors, for inclusion in the council's constitution.

The report also proposed that the Ethics Committee recommend to the Full Council to approve amendments to the council's constitution:

  • To update the Ethics Committee's terms of reference to allow the committee to undertake reviews of the council's arrangements for member code of conduct complaints.
  • To incorporate the terms of reference of an Assessment Sub-Committee to support the Monitoring Officer to assess member code of conduct complaints in certain specified circumstances.

The report also proposed that the Ethics Committee recommend to the Full Council approval for the amendment to the Code of Conduct for Members in relation to disclosure of members' interests.

The proposed changes to the ethics complaints processes included:

  • Updating officer post titles and contact details.
  • Making the references gender neutral.
  • Updating regulator details.
  • Clarifying that a Deputy Monitoring Officer may undertake the Monitoring Officer functions.
  • Making changes to the data protection and privacy sections to comply with changes in the law.
  • Including a new paragraph on conflicts of interest.
  • Reducing the acknowledgement period for complaints to 10 working days.

The report stated that the Committee on Standards in Public Life acknowledged the role of Monitoring Officers in receiving and filtering complaints:

The Monitoring Officer usually filters complaints about councillor conduct and judges if the complaints are trivial or vexatious, or whether they should proceed to a full investigation. Usually, this filtering is based on the judgment of the officer, often against a formal policy, though the Monitoring Officer may seek the advice of an independent person or members of a standards committee when they do so.

The report also detailed proposed updates to the assessment criteria to exclude complaints regarding:

  • Response times to correspondence.
  • Admitted errors and remedial actions.
  • Pre-member conduct.
  • Political activity and personal life.
  • Legal and arbitration matters.
  • Council or committee decisions.
  • Multiple complaints.
  • Member v member complaints.

The report proposed that the timeframe for making initial assessment decisions be set as 10 working days following receipt of the comments from the Independent Person or member, whichever is later.

The report also detailed the inclusion of details within the council's arrangements of an Assessment Sub-Committee of the Ethics Committee to assist in advising the Monitoring Officer on assessment of complaints in certain specified circumstances.

The Assessment Sub-Committee's terms of reference will be to:

  • Support the assessment of the complaints and the consideration of whether the threshold for commencing a formal investigation has been met for a decision by the Monitoring Officer.
  • Consider the views of the Independent Person (where sought and obtained).
  • Offer the views of the Sub-Committee to the Monitoring Officer in order for a decision to be taken by that officer.

The report also detailed expanding the detail provided in the arrangements relating to informal resolution, and adding a new appendix, called Investigation Process to the arrangements, detailing investigation principles and processes.

The report also detailed updating the actions that the Hearing Panel can take, and updating the Hearing Panel Rules of Procedure.

Member Learning and Development 2024-25

The Ethics Committee was scheduled to receive an overview of member learning and development activity in the 2024-25 municipal year. This activity is led and monitored by the Member Learning and Development Panel, which is responsible for developing the annual Members' Training Plan and for receiving reports on progress in delivery of members' learning and development. This includes receiving reports on attendance of members at the various training sessions offered.

The Members' Learning and Development Panel members for 2024/25 were Councillors Patsy Cummings (Chair), Simon Fox (Vice-Chair), Luke Shortland, Nikhil Sherine Thampi, Samir Dwesar, Janet Campbell, Brigitte Graham and Jessica Hammersley-Rich.

The Member Learning & Development Programme for 2024/25 successfully delivered training and briefings on 22 different topics. Councillors also have access to Croydon Learning where they are able to undertake e-learning modules in a number of topics such as Equality & Diversity, Safeguarding and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Of particular note for the Ethics Committee was the Code of Conduct and Member Roles & Responsibilities Training, which was delivered to members in two sessions on 23 and 30 April, with 34 members attending.

Update on Ethics Complaints

The Ethics Committee was scheduled to receive an update on any complaints received by the Monitoring Officer during the first quarter of 2025, up to and including 31 March 2025.

Between the date of the last updating report, which set out the fourth quarter of 2024, the Monitoring Officer had received 4 complaints. 2 had subsequently been withdrawn on the basis that the complaints actually relate to officer conduct and matters have been referred to corporate complaints. In respect of remaining 2, the complainants have not provided additional information needed in order to consider the complaints at assessment stage.

Recent Developments in Ethical Standards

The Ethics Committee was scheduled to receive a report highlighting the recent decision by Cornwall Council to refer to police a failure by a former cabinet member to register a disclosable pecuniary interest correctly, the resignation of a Durham City Council councillor after failing to declare council employment, and the breach of the Code of Conduct by a Planning Committee Councillor at King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough council who was messaging fellow councillors on the committee during an application.

The report also provided an update to members on the recently published Local Government Association councillor workbook on handling complaints and service improvement.

Work Programme

The committee was scheduled to consider its work programme for the remainder of the municipal year.

Attendees

Profile image for Councillor Catherine Wilson
Councillor Catherine Wilson  Labour •  Selhurst
Profile image for Councillor Brigitte Graham
Councillor Brigitte Graham  Labour •  Woodside
Profile image for Councillor Helen Redfern
Councillor Helen Redfern  Conservative •  Sanderstead
Profile image for Councillor Esther Sutton
Councillor Esther Sutton  Green Party •  Fairfield
Profile image for Councillor Luke Shortland
Councillor Luke Shortland  Conservative •  Coulsdon Town
Profile image for Councillor Mario Creatura
Councillor Mario Creatura  Conservative •  Coulsdon Town
Luisa Zingone
Jennifer Gordon
Ashok Kumar
Joanne Middlewick
Jane West
Stephen Lawrence-Orumwense
Adrian May
Klaudia Petecka

Topics

No topics have been identified for this meeting yet.

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