Agenda and minutes

Venue: via Remote Video Link

Contact: Email: CommitteeServices@horsham.gov.uk  Direct Line: 01403 215465

Items
No. Item

SC/27

Minutes pdf icon PDF 207 KB

To approve as correct the minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2021

(Note: If any Member wishes to propose an amendment to the minutes they should submit this in writing to committeeservices@horsham.gov.uk at least 24 hours before the meeting.  Where applicable, the audio recording of the meeting will be checked to ensure the accuracy of the proposed amendment.)

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 17 March were approved as a correct record and would be signed by the Chairman.

SC/28

Declarations of Members' Interests

To receive any declarations of interest from Members of the Committee

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

SC/29

Announcements

To receive any announcements from the Chairman of the Committee, the Chief Executive or the Monitoring Officer

Minutes:

There were no announcements.

SC/30

Model Code of Conduct pdf icon PDF 136 KB

The Standards Committee is requested to consider the minor amendments and corrections made to the Local Government Association “Model Councillor Code of Conduct 2020” and make the following recommendation: That Standards Committee recommend to Full Council the adoption of the Local Government Association “Model Councillor Code of Conduct 2020”, as amended

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Monitoring Officer introduced her report on the Local Government Association’s New Model Code, which had been published following consultation with local authorities and other organisations. 

 

The Committee had considered the Model Code at the previous meeting and agreed that it was a significant improvement on the current Members’ Code of Conduct.  It had also been agreed that a small number of minor amendments were necessary to improve grammar and increase clarity.  

 

The Committee considered these proposed amendments, as highlighted in the appendix to the report. 

 

Councillor Circus proposed two additional amendments to the Model Code:

 

i)        At 1.12 final paragraph concerning the right of Councillors to expect respectful behaviour from the public, the following clause (in bold) be added: 

 

              ‘If members of the public are being abusive, intimidatory or threatening you are entitled to stop any conversation or interaction in person or online and report them to the Local Authority (you can contact the Monitoring Officer or Standards Team) and/or the relevant social media provider or the police.

 

ii)       At 2.3, the word ‘equalities’ should be changed to ‘equality’, so that the revised sentence reads, ‘I promote equality and do not discriminate unlawfully against any person.’

 

Members agreed to the proposed amendments, including the two additional amendments, and that the Model Code, thus amended, be recommended to Council for adoption.

 

The Legal Services Business Manager advised that a new simplified procedure for the processing of formal complaints was being developed, to run alongside and complement the Model Code. This would be brought to the Standards Committee for consideration in due course.

 

It was noted that Best Practice recommendation 9 in Appendix C of the Model Code recommended that Decision Notices be published and include the view of the Independent Person. In light of this, the Monitoring Officer agreed that she would investigate whether Independent Persons were covered by indemnity in the same way that Officers and Councillors were and, if necessary, take steps to ensure this was the case.

SC/31

Urgent Business

Items not on the agenda which the Chairman of the meeting is of the opinion should be considered as urgent because of the special circumstances

Minutes:

There was no urgent business.