Hart Borough Council Standards Committee Meeting

Julia Ambler was duly elected as Chair.

Proposed by:  Cllr Neighbour; Seconded by Cllr Collins.  Agreed unanimously.

Cllr Jane Worlock was duly elected as Vice-Chair.

Proposed by:  Cllr Neighbour; Seconded by Cllr Dorn.  Agreed unanimously.

Apologies had been received from Cllr Clarke, who was being substituted by Cllr Jones, and David Argent

There were no declarations of interest.

The Committee was being recommended to endorse the refreshed Section 28(6) Arrangements for dealing with Allegations, and to recommend to Hart District Council’s Full Council to adopt these.  

Members of the Committee heard:

• That minor amendments had been made in light of experiences of a number of cases to make processes easier to follow and to ensure the document was in plain English and easier to understand
• Only one case had gone to a Panel hearing, although there had been a number of others that had been dealt with by the Monitoring Officer that had been satisfactorily concluded by informal agreement
• That the Council had a “light touch” approach to dealing with any allegations

Members of the Committee queried:

• Whether in future it would be possible to have a track changes version of any refreshed document so amendments would be clearer
• Whether a more in depth explanation could be given to complainants when cases were closed as to why the allegation was dealt with in the way it was

Discussion took place around how it was determined in what capacity Councillors were acting, for those who had more than one capacity (ie District, County and/or Parish Councillor).  It was proposed that the wording on Page 5, in section 2, be amended to say “against an individual acting in the capacity of a District councillor” so that it was clearer for all involved.

An amendment to the document was proposed by Cllr Neighbour and seconded by Cllr Worlock.  Agreed unanimously.

It was further agreed that an annual report be circulated via email to the Committee showing how many complaints were received and which stage of the process they were resolved by.  This would be actioned starting in time for the first meeting of the Standards Committee after the May 2025 full Council Annual General Meeting.   

Subject to the modification agreed, the paper was unanimously recommended to be put forward to full Council in September.

Members of the Committee noted that an advert for the Independent Persons vacancies would be published soon, via social media and the Council’s website.

It was unanimously agreed that the Chair and Vice-Chair should join the interviewing panel for the role.