Agenda item

That the report be circulated to all Town and Community Councils in Flintshire and the common theme and suggestions outlined in the report be endorsed as recommendations of best practice to those Councils.

The Monitoring Officer introduced the report and explained the independent members of the Standards Committee had attended all but one Town and Community Council meetings over the past 12 months.  The visits had been carried out in order to gain a greater understanding of how Town and Community Council meetings were run across the County, with a particular focus on issues pertaining to the Members’ Code of Conduct (the Code), and to provide any feedback arising from the visits that may be useful.

                        The overriding feedback was that Town and Community Council meetings in Flintshire were well organised and attended and that Town and Community Councillors, and their Clerks, should be commended for their hard work and commitment.

                        Copies of letters sent to Town and Community Councils following each visit had been sent out and were appended to the report.

                        There were some common themes that had arisen where members of the Standards Committee considered improvements should be made to Town and Community Council meetings, which were:

1.    Declarations of Interest should appear as a standing item on all agendas before substantive items were listed;

2.    Where Declarations of Interest were made by Councillors, they should both verbally express whether the interest was personal, or both personal and prejudicial, and should also briefly explain the nature of the interest including which item on the agenda it related to and the same should be submitted in writing before the end of the meeting;

3.    Agendas should be available prior to meetings on the Council’s website and minutes of meetings should also be published on the Council’s website;

4.    In order to promote accessibility, the location, date and time of meetings should be available on the Council’s website and adequate signposting at and around the venue itself should be in place;

5.    Name plates should be displayed for Councillors at meetings so members of the public know who the Members of the Council are;

6.    Inductions should be arranged for all new Councillors, including an explanation of the expectations upon them under the Code;

7.    That the matters required under the Local Government (Democracy) (Wales) Act 2013 are published on Town and Community Council websites as follows:

a)    Information on how to contact it, and if different, the Clerk including:

                                              i.        A telephone number;

                                            ii.        A postal address;

                                           iii.        An email address;

b)  Information about each of its Members, including:

                                              i.        The Member’s name;

                                            ii.        How the Member may be contacted;

                                           iii.        The Member’s party affiliation (if any);

                                           iv.        The ward which the Member represents (where relevant);

                                            v.        Any office of the Council held by the Member;

                                           vi.        Any Committee of the Council to which the Member belongs.

c)  The minutes of the proceedings of the Council’s meeting and (in

     so far as is reasonably practicable) any documents which are

     referred to in the minutes;

d)  Any audited statement of the Council’s accounts; and

e)  The register of Members’ interests.

                        In response to a question from Councillor Johnson, the Monitoring Officer explained that whilst it was a requirement to publish contact details for Members, he was able to give permission, depending on the circumstances explained to him, for such information to be redacted from the website or documents available to be viewed by the public.

                        The Monitoring Officer sought feedback from Town and Community Councils on whether any of the recommendations outlined in the seven letters had been acted upon.  Feedback could be received up to 4^th November 2019 to enable the details to inform a final report to the Committee on the visits in December 2019.  Holywell Town Councillor, Ted Palmer, said that since the letters had been received, Holywell Town Council now displayed Councillor name plates, had public speaking on the agenda and Declaration of Interest forms were put out on the tables.

                        A comment was made by Councillor Huw Morgan of Nannerch Community Council that the agenda for the joint meeting with Town and Community Councils should make it clear that the training provided at 6.00pm was open to Town and Community Council representatives and not just Standards Committee members, as was usually the case with Standards Committee meetings.

            RESOLVED:

            That the report be circulated to all Town and Community Councils in Flintshire and the common theme and suggestions outlined in the report be endorsed as recommendations of best practice to those Councils.