Agenda item

(a)       That offices should contact those counties identified by the Public Services Ombudsman as representing good practice to see what improvement could be made to the Council’s ethical training;

(b)       That the Council should put in place those best practice recommendations from the report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life as agreed by the Committee; and

(c)        That the Monitoring Officers in all 6 Councils plus the Fire and National Parks Authority, be asked to collectively prepare a more detailed analysis of how one or more Joint Standards Committees might be introduced in North Wales.

The Monitoring Officer introduced a report to provide feedback from the Standards Committee Forum for North and Mid Wales.  He provided background information and referred to the key issues, as detailed in the report, which should be considered by the Committee.  The draft minutes of the meeting of the North Wales Standards Committees Forum held on 24 June 2019, were appended to the report.

                        The Monitoring Officer referred to the best practice recommendations that were potentially relevant from the report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life and advised that whilst Council could not change legislation it could adopt the recommendations voluntarily where they were not already in effect.  The Committee was asked to consider the recommendations as identified in the report.

                        The Committee recommended that the Council should put in place the following best practice recommendations:

            R6       Code to require registration of gifts/hospitality over £50 or over £100 pa from a

single source

R19     Parish clerks to be qualified - it was suggested that this could be raised at the joint meeting with Town and Community Councils to be held on 30 September.

            R24     Councillors to be “prescribed persons” in Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998

BP4    Code readily accessible in prominent position on local authority website – it was suggested that there could be more transparency around this

BP5    Local authorities to update registers of gifts and hospitality quarterly and make accessible

BP11 Standards complaints about member on clerk conduct to be made by Chair or Parish (Community) Council as a whole - it was suggested that this could be raised at the joint meeting with Town and Community Councils to be held on 30 September.

BP15 senior officers to meet regularly with group leaders or whips re standards – it was suggested that the Chair and Vice Chair of the Standards Committee might wish to meet with the Leader of the Council and the Monitoring Officer  to discuss standards within the Council twice a year. 

The Monitoring Officer agreed to provide a report on progress on recommendation BP15 at the meeting of the Standards Committee to be held on 4 November 2019.

The Monitoring Officer advised that across the North Wales region there were 8 Standards Committees (including the Fire and Rescue Authority and National Park).  Each covered similar areas of responsibility and met frequently based on workload.  Since 2016 it was legislatively possible to have joint Standards Committees service two or more authorities.  Attached to the report was a presentation on the risks and issues for the creation of one or more joint Standards Committees across the North Wales region.

Julia Hughes asked that the minutes of the North Wales Standards Committees Forum meeting held on 24 June 2019, be amended to include her attendance under those present as follows:  North Wales Fire & Rescue – Julia Hughes (Vice-Chair).

RESOLVED:

(a)       That offices should contact those counties identified by the Public Services Ombudsman as representing good practice to see what improvement could be made to the Council’s ethical training;

(b)       That the Council should put in place those best practice recommendations from the report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life as agreed by the Committee; and

(c)        That the Monitoring Officers in all 6 Councils plus the Fire and National Parks Authority, be asked to collectively prepare a more detailed analysis of how one or more Joint Standards Committees might be introduced in North Wales.