election of chairman

election of vice-chairman

minutes

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 21 February 2012 (Minute Nos. 546 - 549) were taken as read, approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

The Minutes of the following Sub-Committees were accepted by the Committee and signed by the Chairman:

Standards Referrals Sub-Committee on 21 February 2012 (Minute Nos. 543 - 545);
Standards Referrals Sub-Committee on 28 February 2012 (Minute Nos. 568 - 572);
Standards Referrals Sub-Committee on 17 April 2012 (Minute Nos. 647 - 652);
Standards Consideration Sub-Committee on 31 July 2012 (Minute Nos. 197 - 200);
Standards Consideration Sub-Committee on 4 September 2012 (Minute Nos. 216 - 220);
Standards Referrals Sub-Committee on 4 September 2012 (Minute Nos. 221 - 224);
Standards Hearings Sub-Committee on 5 October 2012 (Minute Nos. 323 - 325).

With regard to the Standards Hearings Sub-Committee held on 5 October 2012 Minute No. 325, the Chairman advised that a letter promoting the high standards of conduct had now been circulated to all Members.

declarations of interest

No interests were declared.

part a minutes for recommendation to council

annual monitoring officer's report

The Monitoring Officer introduced his report which provided an overview of the Monitoring Officer's work in the past year in relation to the old and new standards regimes. The report also set out the Monitoring Officer's statutory responsibilities and summarised how several of those duties had been discharged since his last report.

The Monitoring Officer spoke about the impact to his workload following the introduction of the Standards Provisions contained within the Localism Act 2011. He drew attention to the late drafting changes to the Localism Act 2011 and late publication of the regulations and considered that in view of these late changes it would be better to consider the new regime once the new arrangements had had time to settle down.

The Monitoring Officer drew attention to the summary of his functions outlined on page 2 of the report. He then went through the report page by page stopping to respond to questions.

Discussions ensued about the relationship between parish councils and the Monitoring Officer since the Council adopted its new Code of Conduct. He outlined some of the issues that had been raised by parishes which included: some Parish Councillors were unhappy that their details would be published on the website and the question of blanket dispensations. The Monitoring Officer advised that it was a mandatory requirement for parish councillors register of interests to be published and that parish clerks would be able to process blanket dispensations locally. He confirmed that Kent Association of Local Councils representatives would be acting in an advisory capacity on parish matters.

In response to a query about work being covered as part of the constitutional review, the Monitoring Officer explained that they would not now be looking to split officer delegations between Council and Executive functions. He further explained that adding Proper Officer functions to Officer Delegations was merely a 'tidying-up' exercise.

Some Members were concerned about the new regulations in respect of use of covert surveillance. The Assistant Solicitor clarified that the offence being investigated would need to meet the crime threshold which meant the offence must be punishable by a maximum term of at least six months imprisonment to warrant the use of covert surveillance.

Members also raised the following further points which the Monitoring Officer responded to: what was the process for handing in petitions; did the advertising of agenda five clear days before the meeting now include weekends and the definition of a financial interest.

In response to a query from a Member, the Monitoring Officer advised that he would ensure that future reports clearly set out whether he had successfully carried out his duties in relation to each item.

The Chairman thanked the Monitoring Officer for his report.

annual report on member training and development

The Monitoring Officer introduced the third annual report on Member Training and Development. The report provided an overview of progress since November 2011.

A Member commented on the lack of attendance by Members and stated the importance of attending the sessions. It was suggested that more detailed information on flyers promoting training events may help to increase attendance.

The Chairman thanked the Monitoring Officer for the report.