Basingstoke & Dean Borough Council Standards Committee Meeting

Apologies were received from Linda Agnew.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no urgent matters.

The minutes of the meeting held on 12 June 2023 were confirmed by the Committee as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Monitoring Officer introduced the report which updated the Committee on the outcome of the recruitment process for Independent Persons and Independent Standards Assessors.

She detailed that the Council had appointed two Independent Persons and one Independent Standards Assessor, as a result of interviews which took place in September and October 2023. Two new Parish Council representatives had also been appointed to the Standards Committee.

The Monitoring Officer sought approval of a further recruitment process for two Independent Standards Assessors. It was detailed that there was currently one vacancy for an Independent Standards Assessor but there would be a second vacancy after the completion of Verity Murricane’s term on 30 April 2024.  

Resolved: The Committee:

·         Approves a further recruitment process for two Independent Standards Assessors.

The Monitoring Officer updated the Committee of the learning and development on the Councillors’ Code of Conduct for Borough and Town and Parish Councils which had taken place since the Committee meeting on 12 June 2023.

She informed the Committtee that a code of conduct training session took place on 22 June and eight Borough Councillors attended. She stated that another code of conduct training session had been arranged on 22 January 2024 and Borough Councillors would be recommended to complete an e-learning module on the Local Government Association (LGA) website if they were unable to attend.

The Monitoring Officer also informed the Committee that in-person code of conduct training had been provided at Baughurst Parish Council in August 2023, and that other Parish Councils had requested in person training. It was also stated that a remote training session had been arranged for Parish Councils on 16 January 2024.

The Committee discussed the report and made the following comments:

·         It was queried as to which Parish Councils had requested in-person code of conduct training. The Monitoring Officer stated that the Parish Councils that had requested in-person training were: East Woodhay, Highclere, Burghclere, Old Basing and Bramley.

·         In response to a question, the Monitoring Officer stated that once the e-learning module had been completed, a certificate of completion needed to be sent to the Council so it could be recorded.

·         Expressed disappointment that more Borough Councillors had not undertaken the code of conduct training in the 2023/2024 municipal year.

·         A suggestion was made to work with the Basingstoke and Deane Association of Parish and Town Councils to encourage adoption of the Borough Council’s code of conduct and to promote training.

·         Stated concern about a lack of knowledge as to how many Parish Councillors had undergone training, and that a record of attendance needed to be kept. It was also stated that Parishes should review their code of conduct annually.

·         A discussion took place about the approaches required to persuade Councillors to attend code of conduct training.

·         Enquired if Parish Clerks could train Parish Councillors on code of conduct if the Clerks understood the training material.

·         Recommended that the LGA code of conduct e-learning module be completed as part of new Borough and Parish Councillor induction.

·         Highlighted the importance of councillors to acquire knowledge on the code of conduct.

Resolved: The Committee notes the content of the report.

The Monitoring Officer introduced the report, which provided an update to the Committee on the progress in determining Code of Conduct complaints received against Borough, Parish, and Town Councillors.

She confirmed that there had been four complaints received since the previous meeting on 12 June 2023, two of which were dismissed at the outset for alleged conduct which did not relate to Council business and was not covered by the Code of Conduct. One complaint was resolved by the way of informal action. There was one undetermined complaint which was received on 13 November 2023.

The Committee discussed the report and made the following comments:

·         In response to a question, the Monitoring Officer confirmed that three of the complaints were related to Parish Councillors and one was related to a Borough Councillor.

·         Questioned how complaints were analysed. The Monitoring Officer emphasised learning from a complaint if it went through the decision making process, alongside the Standards Committee Annual Report.

Resolved: The Committee:

·         Notes the progress made on complaints received and the learning derived from the consideration of complaints.

The Committee reviewed and agreed its work programme with the following

comments:

·         The Monitoring Officer detailed that a Revised Probity in Planning Code of Practice for Councillors and Officers would be presented at the March meeting, alongside the draft Annual Report of the Standards Committee.

The meeting ended at 7:05pm.

Chair