09 February 2012Background
Size of Committees
Independent Members
Parish Members
Appointment of Independent Members
Agendas and Records, Public Access and Publicity
Monitoring Officers Report
Part III of the Local Government Act 2000 provided for the establishment of a new statutory framework governing the conduct of members and officers in local government. It came into force on 19 December 2000.
Sections 53(1) and (2) of the Act require all relevant authorities in England (except parish councils) and police authorities in Wales, to establish a Standards Committee for the purpose of promoting and maintaining high standards of conduct in the authority and assisting the authority’s members to observe the authority’s code of conduct.
By virtue of sections 55(1) and (2) of the Act, the Council’s Standards Committee has responsibility for the promotion and maintenance of standards of conduct in the parishes in its area. Sections 55(6) and (7) require there to be appropriate parish representation on the Committee whenever parish matters are discussed.
The Standards Committee advised the Council on the adoption of its code of conduct which is in the form of the Government’s Model Code.
The Government has made regulations which require the Standards Committee to determine local breaches of the Code of Conduct and the Monitoring Officer to undertake some investigations into alleged breaches.
By virtue of Section 53(4) of the Act, standards committees must have a minimum of three members.
The Council has decided to have a Committee of 16 Members. The Committee comprises six District Councillors, five Independent Members and five Parish Councillors.
Section 53(4)(b) of the Act requires that every standards committee includes at least one independent member.
Independent members are vital to the work of standards committees and to the perception that the public have about the integrity of the Committee and its ability to promote high standards of conduct in authorities.
The Council has decided that it will have five independent members. The Committee is chaired and vice-chaired by an independent member.
The standards committee of an authority will be responsible for assisting all members and co-opted members of the authority to maintain high standards of conduct.
Section 55 of the Act requires district councils to promote high standards of conduct in the parishes for which they are responsible, through their standards committee, or by means of a sub-committee appointed for that purpose.
Sections 55(6) and 55(7) of the Act require that a representative of the parishes is present when parish affairs are dealt with through the main standards committee or a sub-committee.
The parish representative on a committee or sub-committee cannot be both a member of the parish and district council.
Appointment of Independent Members
The role of independent members is important to the public’s perception of the effectiveness of standards committees. It is important that such members are seen to be genuinely independent of the authority.
Authorities are required to advertise for independent members in one or more local newspapers.
All applications are considered according to a process and procedure adopted on 3 November 2005 by the Standards Committee, as set out in the Council's Constitution.
A person is disqualified from being an independent member if he, or she, is related to, or has a close friendship or relationship with a member or officer of the authority, which might reasonably be thought to prejudice the person’s independence or if he or she is a co-opted member of a committee or sub-committee (other than a Standards Committee) of a relevant authority.
Agendas and Records, Public Access and Publicity
The way in which committees and sub-committees of principal local authorities conduct their affairs is regulated by Part V(A) of the Local Government Act 1972. This provides for the production of agendas for meetings; the advance publicity that councils should give to meetings; the extent to which meetings should be open to the public, and the public’s access to papers and records of committees and sub-committees.
Essentially, the effect of applying Part V(A) of the 1972 Act to Standards Committees is that:
The Monitoring Officer produces an annual report each year which runs from November to November. The purpose of the report is not only to provide an overview of the work of the Monitoring Officer in the past year, but also to provide an opportunity to review and learn from experience. This Report therefore, sets out the Monitoring Officer’s statutory responsibilities summarises how these duties have been discharged from the last Monitoring Officer’s Report, in accordance with the Council’s Constitution and legislative requirements and draws attention to those issues that will require attention in the next calendar year. The Report also sets out the work of the Standards Committee.
View the Monitoring Officer's Report 2010 (
PDF File 110KB file details).
