Agenda item

The Monitoring Officer presented the Cases and Work Update – 2023-24 report which was a regular report updating Committee on complaints received since the last meeting and on training undertaken or identified as being of assistance to Councillors in understanding the Standard’s regime and the actions taken to meet those training needs.

The Monitoring Officer said that thirteen complaints had been considered or were in the process of being considered during the period. She referred the Group to the table at Appendix A which set out the nature of the complaints and the decision or action taken and she confirmed that all had been discussed with the Independent Persons. She explained that details were not disclosed for complaints which did not come under the Code of Conduct.

The Monitoring Officer said that the Council had committed to support the LGA Debate not Hate campaign and that the Leader has signed their public statement on behalf of the Council. She said that it was for this committee to decide how this would be taken forward by the Council.

The Monitoring Officer said that this was an important topic as many Councillors were declaring that they would not stand again for election due to the abuse they had received and she noted that the LGA were campaigning for Councillor addresses to be withheld from the public. She said that she would report on any progress at the next meeting.

In relation to training, the Monitoring Officer explained that Induction Training had been made available to all Councillors following the elections in May 2023, including introductory training about Standards. The Induction Training had been attended by 28 Councillors, with only four new Councillors being unable to attend. All had been offered the opportunity to have catch up training with Officers separately, and presentation materials from the training sessions were available to all Councillors on their Intranet. She confirmed that the Standards Training had been well attended with only one Standards Committee member being unable to attend.

In relation to the Member Code of Conduct, the Monitoring Officer confirmed that the Committee was required to review it on an annual basis and as such it would be an agenda item at the next meeting of this Committee. She said that the Code of Conduct had last been reviewed by a Working Group following publication of the LGA Model Code, and that the Working Group had recommended changes to more closely align the Rushcliffe Code with the LGA Model Code. She suggested that the Council update its Code when the LGA updated their Model Code but thought it prudent for the Council to continue to review its code annually to ensure that it remained fit for purpose.

The Monitoring Officer said that Members of the Group could suggest other items of business for this Committee to review or explore and any training that it may consider appropriate.

Councillor Plant asked about Code of Conduct training for parishes as she noted that many of the complaints appeared to be in relation to parish/town Councillors. The Monitoring Officer said that it was on the agenda for the next Town and Parish Forum with the whole agenda focussing on governance. She said that National Association for Local Councils (NALC) would be attending the Forum also to present their point of view.

The Monitoring Officer said that it was expected that town and parish councils would have a Code of Conduct and that NALC produced a Model Code which they could adopt. She said that there was some variability between local town and parish council Codes of Conduct, with some being rather out of date, and it may be that this variability had given rise to some of the complaints due to different guidance being followed.

Ms White – Independent Member said that it was pleasing that complaints were not concentrated in any one area and that completion dates showed that matters were being dealt with quickly so that Councillors and members of the public were receiving answers quickly.

The Monitoring Officer said that whilst there was no set timeframe for responses, she tried to contact people as soon as possible depending on the circumstances. She added that the Council focussed on training and education in its outcome recommendations and said that the Council had limited power to apply sanctions.

Members of the Group referred to negative activity against Councillors on social media. The Monitoring Officer said that the Council did not have powers in this area and referred the Group to the LGA Debate not Hate campaign which sought to give Councillors tools to deal with it. She said that the Council would not fund Councillors in taking legal or civil action but would support them as much as possible. She confirmed that Councillors were elected representatives and not employees of the Council.

The Monitoring Officer said that a report on Debate not Hate would be brought to a future meeting of this Committee and she referred the Group to information about the campaign on the LGA website which could be found here.

The Chair said that it was important for the Council to support the health and wellbeing of its Councillors and the Monitoring Officer said that she would report back to the Group about any counselling and support available to them. The Chair also asked how the Council could support Councillors with interactions with the police and with criminal proceedings.

It was RESOLVED that the Committee received and noted the report.