Issue - items at meetings - Standards Annual Report
Issue - meetings
Standards Annual Report
Meeting: 22/07/2020 - Council (Item 15)
15 Standards Annual Report PDF 157 KB
Report of the Shared Services Lead for Legal attached.
Minutes:
The Council considered a report of the Shared Services Lead for Legal which presented the Standards Annual Report for 2019-20.
Information was received on the number of complaints made against members and the action taken if the individuals were found to have breached the Code of Conduct.
With reference to a recent case where a member formally apologised for breaching the Code of Conduct at a Cabinet meeting, Councillor David Howarth was of the opinion that all group leaders had agreed that in such an event, an apology should be done in public at Full Council meeting. The Leaders of the Labour and Conservative groups concurred with Councillor Howarth’s sentiments.
It was widely acknowledged that the Standards Committee was limited in its powers to sanction members but Councillor Margaret Smith queried the possibility of South Ribble Borough Council adopting localised sanctions as some other authorities had done. In response, the council’s Monitoring Officer confirmed that he would be happy to look into this further.
Special thanks were also given to the council’s Independent Persons for their recent work in disciplinary proceedings against the former Chief Executive.
RESOLVED: (Unanimously)
That Council note the report.