Meeting documents

Standards Committee
Thursday, 28th May, 2009 7.00 pm

Date:
Thursday, 28th May, 2009
Time:
7:00pm
Place:
Meeting Room A, Town Hall, Bury
 

Attendance Details

Present:
Councillors K S Briggs, R C A Brown, S Costello,
Y Creswell, V D’Albert, D M Higgin and B Theckston.

There were no members of the public in attendance at the meeting.
Co-opted:
A Brown, D Gremson, K Wainwright and A Withington (in the Chair)
Apologies for absence:
None
Buttons
Item Description Decision
Open
S.39 INTRODUCTION AND WELCOME
The Chair welcomed Mr Gremson and Councillors, Costello and Theckston to their first meeting of the Committee.
S.40 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
There were no Declarations of Interest made at the meeting.
S.41 PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
There were no members of the public present to ask questions under this item.
S.42 Minutes of the Meeting held on Tuesday, 24th February, 2009 6.00pm
Delegated decision:

That the Minutes of the last meeting held on 9 May 2009 be approved and signed a correct record.
S.43 APPOINTMENT OF INDEPENDENT MEMBERS TO THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE

Delegated decision:

That the report be noted.
S.44 APPOINTMENT OF STANDARDS COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Delegated decision:

That the report be noted.
S.45 STANDARDS COMMITTEE ANNUAL REPORT 2008/2009
Delegated decision:

That the report be noted.
S.46 OMBUDSMAN COMPLAINTS STATISTICS

Delegated decision:

That a further report be submitted once the Ombudsman’s Annual Review has been received, and comparative information from last year’s report be provided.
S.47 ITEM RAISED BY THE CHAIR
Discussion took place around the wording on agenda letters relating to briefing facilities; the position relating to abstentions and the membership of Consideration Sub-Committees.

The meeting started at 7.00 pm and ended at 7.50 pm.

Preamble

Preamble
ItemPreamble
S.43A report of the monitoring Officer was submitted which had made recommendations regarding the appointment of Independent Members, and which had been approved by Annual Council on 13 May 2009. As a result, the Independent Members of the Standards Committee were appointed as follows:-

Anne Brown - Appointed until May 2012
Arthur Withington - Appointed until May 2013
David Gremson - Appointed until May 2014
Kenneth Wainwright -Appointed until May 2015.

The appointments had been made in order to retain experienced Independent Members following the onset of local filtering. With effect from May 2012, advertisements seeking applications from persons wishing to become an Independent Member of the Standards Committee would be resumed.

Councillor Brown indicated that he had not been present at Annual Council but did not support the decision, particularly as it was contrary to Standards Board guidance. Mrs Anne Brown expressed disappointment at his remarks given that the matter had already been considered and determined by full Council.

S.44It was reported that Mr K Wainwright would serve on the Audit Committee and Mrs A Brown would serve on the Resource and Performance Scrutiny Commission for the 2009/2010 Municipal Year.
S.45The Annual Report presented to the Annual Meeting of Council for the Municipal Year 2008/2009 was submitted.

The Monitoring Officer outlined the steps that would be taken with regard to Standards training for Elected and Independent Members.
S.46Statistics relating to Ombudsman complaints received in respect of Bury MBC were submitted.

It was reported that the statistics formed part of the Ombudsman’s Annual Review which would be forwarded in June 2009.