Agenda and minutes

To approve the record of the meeting held on 20 October 2014.

The record of the meeting held on 20 October 2014 was agreed and signed by the Chairman as correct. 

To receive apologies for absence. 

There were none. 

The Chairman will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he/she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report. 

There were none. 

A member need only disclose at any meeting the existence of a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) in a matter to be considered at that meeting if that DPI has not been entered on the disclosable pecuniary interests register maintained by the Monitoring Officer.

A member disclosing a DPI at a meeting must thereafter notify the Monitoring Officer in writing of that interest within 28 days from the date of disclosure at the meeting.

A member may not participate in a discussion of or vote on any matter in which he or she has a DPI (both those already registered and those disclosed at the meeting) and must withdraw from the room during such discussion/vote.

Members may choose to voluntarily disclose a DPI at a meeting even if it is registered on the council’s register of disclosable pecuniary interests but there is no legal requirement to do so.

Members should also ensure they disclose any other interests which may give rise to a conflict under the council’s code of conduct.

In line with the training provided to members by the Monitoring Officer members will also need to consider bias and pre-determination in certain circumstances and whether they have a conflict of interest or should otherwise leave the room for Code reasons. 

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other interests

There were none.

This report seeks approval of procedural guidance for investigations into councillor conduct allegations and the minor amendment of an existing complaints procedure. 

Discussion:

The Monitoring Officer introduced the report which sought approval of a procedural guidance for investigations into Councillor conduct allegations and a minor amendment of an existing complaints procedure.  The Monitoring Officer referred to the tracked change detailed on the last page of Appendix 2, which related to a complainant’s ability to refer a matter to the Local Government Ombudsman if the complainant is a member of the public and believe there has been maladministration in the consideration of a complaint.  He suggested that the wording detailed in the tracked change should be repeated under the ‘appeal’ heading of the investigations procedure at Appendix 1.

The committee agreed that this additional amendment should be made to Appendix 1.

Decision:

The committee agreed: -

(1)               the procedural guidance for investigations about councillor conduct allegations under the Localism Act 2011, attached at Appendix 1 to the report, subject to the wording under the ‘appeal’ heading being deleted and replaced with the following:

“There is no right of appeal by either party against a decision of the Monitoring Officer or of the recommendations of the Councillor Conduct Committee.

There is a right for any complainant, who is a member of the public, to refer the matter to the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO).  The LGO does not have any powers to overturn the decision of the committee but may ask the committee to reconsider the matter or change its procedures if there is evidence of maladministration.”

(2)               the minor amendments to the Medway Council procedure for dealing with Councillor conduct complaints under the Localism Act 2011, as detailed at Appendix 2 to the report.