Decision details

Further to Minute No. 134 of the Cabinet meeting held on 29 March 2012, the Council considered the report of the Head of Corporate Legal Services which provided details of the impact of the Localism Act 2011 on the current standards regime and the proposed future arrangements for the administration of Standards in Sefton with effect from 1 July 2012.

The report had previously been considered by the Standards Committee on 13 March 2012 and the Audit and Governance Committee on 28 March 2012.

It was moved by Councillor P. Dowd, seconded by Councillor Maher and

RESOLVED: That

(1)               the Standards Committee cease to exist with effect from 30 June 2012;

(2)               the work of the current Standards Committee be merged with that of the Audit and Governance Committee with effect from 1 July 2012, and that the case-work of the current Standards Sub Committees continue and be overseen by the Audit and Governance Committee;

(3)               the draft Code of Conduct set out in Appendix A of the report as prepared by the Association of County Secretaries and Solicitors (ACSeS) be adopted by the Council with effect from 1 July 2012, subject to resolutions (9) and (10) below;

(4)               the Monitoring Officer and/or Deputies be given delegated authority in consultation with the Independent Member to deal with certain prescribed matters, in writing without the need to convene meetings, as set out in paragraph 6 of the report;

(5)               authority be delegated to the Hearings Sub Committee to impose the range of sanctions identified in paragraph 7 of the report on a Councillor should he/she have been found to be in breach of the Code of Conduct;

(6)               the Monitoring Officer be granted delegated authority to make arrangements for the advertisement, recruitment of an Independent Member (IP) and for standby IP’s in consultation with a working group of members (maximum of 5 members) drawn from the current Standards Committee;

(7)               the Monitoring Officer prepare the new register of interests in conjunction with the Head of Governance and Civic Services to comply with the new Code of Conduct and the Act and ensure that the register is available for inspection;

(8)               the Monitoring Officer ensure that Members of the Council and Parish Councils are made aware of their new obligations under the Act in due course;

(9)               in addition to the draft Code of Conduct prepared by ACSeS, a provision be included in the Code to ensure that members update their register of interests within 2 months of the date that            a change occurs;

(10)          a further addition be made to the ACSeS draft Code of Conduct that where a member discloses a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest, he/she must withdraw from the meeting room, including from the public gallery, during the whole consideration of any item of business in which he/she has an interest, except    where he/she is permitted to remain as a result of a grant of a dispensation;

(11)          the necessary changes be made to the terms of reference of the Audit and Governance Committee and that the Council’s Constitution be amended accordingly; and

(12)          a further review of the administration of Standards in Sefton be undertaken within six months of their introduction and be re-considered by the Council