Visitors and members of the public who are unfamiliar with the building and procedures are advised that:

(a)      The fire alarm is a continuous loud ringing. In the event that a fire drill is planned during the meeting, the Chair will advise of this.

(b)      Exit routes from the chamber are located on each side of the room, one directly to a fire escape, the other to the stairs opposite the lifts.

(c)      In the event of the alarm sounding, leave the building via the nearest safe exit and gather at the assembly point on the far side of the car park. Do not leave the assembly point or re-enter the building until advised to do so. Do not use the lifts.

(d)      Anyone unable to use the stairs should make themselves known during this agenda item.

The Chair outlined the emergency evacuation procedure.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 18 December 2023 (Minute Nos. 521 - 527) as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 18 December 2023 (Minute Nos. 521 – 527) were taken as read, approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

Councillors should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their families or friends.

The Chair will ask Members if they have any disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) or disclosable non-pecuniary interests (DNPIs) to declare in respect of items on the agenda. Members with a DPI in an item must leave the room for that item and may not participate in the debate or vote. 

Aside from disclosable interests, where a fair-minded and informed observer would think there was a real possibility that a Member might be biased or predetermined on an item, the Member should declare this and leave the room while that item is considered.

Members who are in any doubt about interests, bias or predetermination should contact the monitoring officer for advice prior to the meeting.

No interests were declared.

The Monitoring Officer introduced the report which asked the Standards Committee to consider whether the Council’s current arrangements for handling complaints under the Code of Conduct should be updated.  He explained that the arrangements for dealing with complaints were not amended when the Code of Conduct was updated in 2023 and the Standards Committee had asked for this to be considered. The Monitoring Officer drew attention to the existing arrangements and the arrangements used by the Kent Secretary’s Group used by a number of authorities, as published in the Agenda pack. He said this was the beginning of the process and the recommendation was for the Committee to steer the process. The options were to leave the arrangements as they were, update and amend existing arrangements or to adopt new arrangements using either those used by the Kent Secretary’s Group or those which met the requirements of Committee Members and were fit for purpose for the Council.

Members were invited to make comments which included:

·         The Swale arrangements dealt with the beginning and end of the process but were ‘light’ in the middle;

·         the Kent Secretary’s arrangements were more structured;

·         some of the wording was ambiguous and there was a lack of detail;

·         was critical of the process of a recent Standards Hearing sub-committee;

·         said the Monitoring Officer should not be the complaints investigating officer; and

·         questioned where the background papers were in the report.

The Monitoring Officer said the only relevant papers were the Council’s existing arrangements and the Kent Secretaries arrangements and they were included as appendices to the report. The Local Government Association (LGA)  guidance on arrangements was listed as a background paper, as the LGA papers were not strictly background papers because they were publicly available.  The Monitoring Officer reiterated the purpose of the report and the discussion was to agree whether to continue with the current arrangements, to update and amend or to use alternative arrangements. In response to a Member’s comments, the Monitoring Officer clarified that Swale Borough Council’s code of conduct was from the LGA and the Kent Secretary’s arrangements which had regard to the LGA guidance on arrangements were included in the report to consider.

A Member questioned the timeline of the complaint process and the Monitoring Officer explained it was dependent on the circumstances and discretion would be used. Several Members said they had suggestions to amend the existing arrangements, if it was agreed to progress in that way.

A Member said it was important that those who had been complained about were made aware from the beginning what the complaint was. Another Member said it was not always the victim that made the complaint and the process of complaining on behalf of a victim should be set out clearly.

A Member expressed how important it was to get the process right and suggested setting up a cross party working group to bring a draft proposal back to the Standards Committee. Another Member suggested comments and amendments should be shared by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 834.

The Chief Executive introduced the report and explained it set out the training undertaken by Members in 2023/24. She said the Member Development Working Group (MDWG) were currently considering the draft Member Development Training Strategy which would be considered by the Standards Committee at their next meeting and also advised that Standards Training had been arranged with an independent organisation and a confirmed date would be circulated.  The Chief Executive explained that, as previously agreed with the MDWG, all training as far as possible would be recorded and there had been a delay in instructing an independent trainer willing to allow recording of the Standards training but this had now been resolved.

There was a discussion around the attendance of Parish Councillors at the Standards training session and the Chief Executive advised that if costs allowed and there was availability, Parish Councillors would be invited to attend or alternatively might be able to view the session at a later date.

A Member asked whether there was any scope to offer more ‘soft skills’ to Members such as confidence building, time management, commitment balancing, resilience and mental health. The Chief Executive agreed to take the suggestion back to the MDWG and added that they were already looking at providing training for skills needed for liaising with their residents.

Resolved:

(1)  That the Member Training and Development report be noted.