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Agenda and minutes
Venue: Council Chamber, Muriel Matters House, Breeds Place, Hastings, TN34 3UY. Please enter the building via the Tourist Information Centre entrance.
Contact: Democratic Services on 01424 451484 email: democraticservices@hastings.gov.uk
Items No. Item Apologies for absence
Minutes:
Apologies received from Councillor Pragnell.
Declarations of Interest
Minutes:
None.
Minutes of the previous meeting held on 12th November 2020 PDF 197 KB
Minutes:
RESOLVED - that the minutes of the meeting held on 12 November 2020 be approved as a true record.
Minutes:
The Deputy Monitoring Officer presented an annual report to advise Councillors of the activities of the Standards Committee over the last two years.
The Annual Standards Committee meeting was originally scheduled for 4th June 2020 and then 27th May 2021 but had to be rescheduled due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. The last Annual Standards Committee meeting was held on 16th May 2019 and therefore the Committee were updated on activity for the period from May 2019 to the present date.
Six complaints were received by the Monitoring Officer during this period which were determined by the Standards Assessment Sub-Committee.
In addition, a few emails were received by the Monitoring Officer which when asked to complete a Standards Complaints Form in order to proceed with the complaints the complainants did not wish to proceed or did not respond and the complaint was therefore withdrawn.
The Sub-Committee met on four occasions during this period to determine the complaints. Councillors were given a summary of each complaint. One of the complaints was withdrawn by the complainant. On each of the other complaints the Sub-Committee found no breach of the Code of Conduct but did make recommendations for further training for all councillors on the declaration of interests, the Equality Act and social media use.
During this period the Council’s Constitution was amended to allow members of the Standards Committee to appoint substitutes where they have a conflict of interest in any matter to be considered by the Standards Committee. This amendment was made as a result of a conflict of interest on one of the complaints. Any Councillors acting as a substitute on an Assessment Sub-Committee must have undertaken relevant training. Members of the current Standards Committee received training from the Monitoring Officer and Deputy Monitoring Officer prior to the Annual
meeting.
RESOLVED:
The Committee notes the contents of the report.
Reasons:
1. To keep the Standards Committee advised of past complaints.
2. To inform the Standards Committee of procedures that worked well.
3. To contribute to continuous improvement of the way the Council deal with complaints about elected members.
(The Chair declared the meeting closed at 6.12pm)
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