Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meetings held on:

·       19 February 2021;

·       26 May 2021;

·       30 September 2021;

·       9 December 2021;

·       9 February 2022 as accurate records.

The minutes of the meetings held on:

-        19 February 2021;

-        30 September 2021;

-        9 December 2021, and;

-        9 February 2022 were agreed as accurate records.

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 May 2021 were agreed with the following amendment:

That comments attributed to Sandra Herbert, Head of Litigation and Corporate Law and Deputy Monitoring Officer, at item 4/20 (Review of the Terms of Reference) be attributed to Asmat Hussain, Interim Executive Director of Resources and Interim Deputy Monitoring Officer.

In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct and the statutory provisions of the Localism Act, Members and co-opted Members of the Council are reminded that it is a requirement to register disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and gifts and hospitality to the value of which exceeds £50 or multiple gifts and/or instances of hospitality with a cumulative value of £50 or more when received from a single donor within a rolling twelve month period. In addition, Members and co-opted Members are reminded that unless their disclosable pecuniary interest is registered on the register of interests or is the subject of a pending notification to the Monitoring Officer, they are required to disclose those disclosable pecuniary interests at the meeting. This should be done by completing the Disclosure of Interest form and handing it to the Democratic Services representative at the start of the meeting. The Chair will then invite Members to make their disclosure orally at the commencement of Agenda item 3. Completed disclosure forms will be provided to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion on the Register of Members’ Interests.

Councillor Appleton disclosed that she was an employee of London Councils, and so would need to be excluded from any discussion involving the recruitment of London Councils for any paid training for members.

To consider the Committee work programme for the remainder of the Municipal Year.

Adrian May, Interim Head of Democratic Services and Scrutiny, outlined the work programme to members.

In response to a question from an Independent Person officers agreed to incorporate into the Member Conduct Complaints Process review a review of the Council’s adopted Assessment Criteria for complaints and process for consultation with Independent Persons.

RESOLVED:

To note, consider and comment on the draft work programme as detailed in the report.

The Council has determined that the Ethics Committee shall be responsible for receiving and considering reports on matters of probity and ethics and to consider matters relating to the Code of Conduct.

The Head of Litigation and Corporate Law and Deputy Monitoring Officer, outlined the two-stage complaints process for members, highlighting that 23 complaints had been received in the year January to December 2021, 16 of which had been assessed by the Monitoring Officer. Six of those related to  alleged failures by councillors to respond to correspondence from the public, and ten related to a collection of other matters including members’ participation in meetings. There were no specific trends.

In response to members’ questions officers confirmed that the number of complaints received had increased on the previous two calendar years. Officers also confirmed that it was unknown how many individuals had made complaints and that complaints about members not responding to social media posts would not generally be seen as a potential breach of the Code of Conduct.

In addition to noting the contents of the report, members were asked to note the Monitoring Officer’s proposal to create a single landing page on the council website for members of the public to log complaints across numerous separate regimes including complaints regarding councillors. In response to a question from a member of the committee officers agreed to report back on progress and ensure that in the creation of the generic complaints landing page the digital team follow best practice from other Local Authorities and  ensure that accessibility and London Office of Technology and Innovation (LOTI) guidance was followed. Confirmation was also requested by a member of the committee that a risk assessment of the sustainability of the webpage be carried out before going live.

RESOLVED, to:

Note the contents of the report.

This is the quarterly report to the Ethics Committee to update members on any complaints or investigations undertaken by the Monitoring Officer during the first two quarters of the year up to 31 July 2022.

Councillor Fraser declared that one of the complaints outlined in Appendix A likely related to a matter he had self-reported.

The Head of Litigation and Corporate Law and Deputy Monitoring Officer summarised that there had been 30 complaints during the first two quarters of 2022, of which 13 had resulted in no-further-action being taken by the Monitoring Officer as further information requested from the complainant had not been provided; one complaint had not been within the remit of the Monitoring Officer to assess; and of the remaining sixteen 10 related to a single incident; three were about ex-councillors, and three were not substantiated.

Officers explained that the ten complaints relating to a single incident had been made shortly after the Council had adopted a new councillor Code of Conduct and as a result the Monitoring Officer had decided the appropriate action would be for the relevant Members to undertake Code of Conduct training. In response to a question from a member of the committee officers agreed to ascertain whether this training had been completed.

In response to a question from an Independent Person officers agreed to ascertain whether the Monitoring Officer had consulted an Independent Person on any of the complaints outlined in the quarterly report.

Officers also explained under current arrangements approved by the Council, consultation by the Monitoring Officer with an Independent Person on any complaint received was at their discretion but that this could be reviewed as part of the proposed review of the arrangements and assessment criteria for complaints being undertaken by the committee to enable more frequent consultation by the Monitoring Officer with Independent Persons.

RESOLVED, to:

Note the contents of the report.

This report provides the Committee with an overview of Member Learning and Development activityto date in the 2022-23Municipal Year. This activityis led and monitored by the Member Learning and Development Panel.

Simon Trevaskis, Senior Democratic Services and Governance Officer (Scrutiny) gave an update to the committee on the progress of the Member Learning and Development (MLD) Programme.

At the beginning of the meeting members had reminded officers that there had been a request by councillors for a structure chart and session on understanding the council. Officers agreed to pick this up as part of the MLD Programme going forwards.

Officers also noted members’ requests to cater to councillors’ busy work lives by encouraging training providers to deliver training online or hybrid as much as possible.

Officers also informed members that a councillor survey was going to be conducted to improve the programme, and that training for members who were elected following by-elections needed to be carefully crafted so that they did not get left behind.

RESOLVED, to:

1.     Note the content of the report, and;

2.     Consider whether there was any further training for Members, not already identified, that should be commissioned.

Members must comply with the Members’ Code of Conduct including the protocol around declaring gifts and hospitality. This report gives the committee the details of gifts and hospitality declared by Members (Executive Mayor and Councilors) since the 9^th May 2022 - following the Croydon local and Mayoral election.

The Interim Head of Democratic Services and Scrutiny outlined the record of gifts and hospitality received by councillors since the last report.

RESOLVED, to:

1.1           Note the requirements on Members with regards to declaring Gifts and Hospitality, and;

1.2           Note any Gifts and Hospitality declarations since 9 May 2022.

Report to follow if any applications for a dispensation need to be considered.

None had been received.