Meeting documents

Standards Committee
Thursday, 1st June, 2006 7.00 am

Date:
Thursday, 1st June, 2006
Time:
7.00
Place:
Lancashire Fusiliers Room Town Hall Bury
 

Attendance Details

Present:
Councillors K Audin, R C A Brown, D Cassidy, V D D’Albert, D M Higgin and T Holt
Co-opted:
A Brown, K Wainwright and A Withington
Apologies for absence:
Councillor J F Walton (Cl) and Mr A Loyns
Buttons
Item Description Decision
Open
S.53 APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR - 2006/2007
Preamble for item S.53
Delegated decisions:

1. That Aidan Loyns be appointed Chair of the Committee for the current Municipal Year.

2. That in the absence of Mr Loyns, Mr K Wainwright be appointed Chair for this meeting.

S.54 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
 There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

S.55 PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
 There were no members of the public present to ask questions under this item.
S.56 MINUTES
 Delegated Decisions:

1. That the minutes of the meeting held on 16 February 2006 be approved and signed as a correct record.

2. That with regard to Minute S.1110, Ombudsman Case - Social Services, the Chair of the Healthier Communities Scrutiny Commission be asked to ensure that this matter is considered by the Commission.
S.57 APPOINTMENT OF INDEPENDENT MEMBER - 2006/2007
Preamble for item S.57
Delegated decision:

That the report be noted.
S.58 TERMS OF OFFICE OF INDEPENDENT MEMBERS
Preamble for item S.58
Delegated decisions:

1. That the report be noted.

2. That the Committee be chaired by the Independent person whose term of office is due to expire in a given year.

3. That in the absence of the Chair at a meeting of the Committee, the Independent Member whose term of office is due to expire in the following Municipal Year be asked to Chair the meeting.
S.59 APPOINTMENT OF INDEPENDENT MEMBERS TO OTHER BODIES
Preamble for item S.59
Delegated decision:

That the appointments as set out be approved.

S.60 INTRODUCTION TO THE WORK OF THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE
Preamble for item S.60
Delegated decisions:

1. That the following areas be examined as part of next year’s work programme:-

• Procedures relating to Hearing Panels
• Declarations of interest and clarity on what is a prejudicial interest in terms of outside body membership and when a Member should leave a meeting

2. That on letters sent to Members and Voting Co-opted Members regarding the declaration of interest form, Members be reminded that they are obliged to report any changes to the Monitoring Officer;

3. That any subsequent changes are also altered on the Councillor’s web pages.
The meeting started at 7.00 pm and ended at 7.40 pm

Preamble

Preamble
ItemPreamble
S.53It was reported that following the meeting of Annual Council on 17 May 2006, the Committee was to be chaired by an Independent Member.
S.57The Monitoring Officer reported that Independent Members had been appointed so that the term of office of one of the four Members expired each year. The term of office of Arthur Withington expired in May 2006 and following the usual recruitment process, Mr Withington had been re-appointed as an Independent Member of this Committee until May 2010.
S.58It was reported that the terms of office of the existing Independent Members were as follows:-

Aidan Loyns - Term of office expires May 2007
Kenneth Wainwright - Term of office expires May 2008
Ann Brown - Term of office expires May 2009

The Independent Members asked that consideration be given to a system for electing the Chair, and a further Independent Member to act in the Chair’s absence, for future years. It was also reported that they did not intend to take advantage of the Special Responsibility Allowance.
S.59It was reported that the following appointments had been made for the Municipal Year 2006/2007:

Resource and Performance Scrutiny Panel - Mr A Loyns
Audit Committee - Mr K Wainwright
S.60The Monitoring Officer submitted a report which reminded Members of the Committee’s role and terms of reference; asked them to consider items dealt with by the Committee in 2005/2006, and asked them to consider a programme of work for the Committee in 2006/2007.

The Monitoring Officer reported that she had undertaken a short training session for new Members on the Code of Conduct and on the ethical framework.

The Independent Members thanked last year’s Chair, Councillor K Audin, for his annual report at Council.