Agenda and minutes

Councillor Wildey was elected as Chairman for the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mrs Diane Chambers, Godwin, Hicks and Kemp.

There were none.

Members are invited to disclose any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Significant Interests in accordance with the Member Code of Conduct.  Guidance on this is set out in agenda item 4.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other significant interests

There were none.

Other interests

There were none.

The Committee on Standards in Public Life is currently undertaking a review of local government ethical standards and it is recommended that the Council submits a response to this review.

Discussion:

This report provided details of the Committee on Standards in Public Life’s (CSPL) review of local government ethical standards given that robust standards and arrangements were needed to safeguard local democracy, maintain high standards of conduct, and to protect ethical practice in local government.

Members discussed the report and noted that in light of the importance of the issue and that a number of Committee members were unable to attend this meeting, that the draft response be shared with all Members prior to submission to the CSPL by 18 May 2018.

Decision:

a)    The Committee noted the Committee on Standards in Public Life’s review of local government ethical standards, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

b)    The Committee agreed to delegate authority to the Chief Legal Officer to prepare a response to the review and to share the proposed response with all Members prior to formal submission to the Committee on Standards in Public Life.

This report summarises the content of agenda item 6, which, in the opinion of the proper officer, contains exempt information within one of the categories in Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. It is a matter for the Committee to determine whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of document. 

Decision:

That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the exempt material relating to agenda item 6 because consideration of these matters in public would disclose information falling within paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 as specified in agenda item 6,and, in all the circumstances of the case, the Committee considered that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information. 

The Committee is requested to consider a complaint relating to Councillor conduct.

Discussion:

The Monitoring Officer introduced a report which detailed a complaint received on 9 February 2018 in relation to a Medway Councillor. The Committee considered the complaint as detailed in section 3 of the report.

Additional information was tabled at the meeting in relation to the complaint.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to refer complaint CCC 2018/002 for investigation, as having completed the Medway Council screening process for Councillor Conduct complaints, the Committee considered it would not be disproportionate to investigate.