SC 8
The Committee considered a report that
suggested a range of alternative options for the future of the
Council’s ethical governance. In
so doing, the report also summarised and compared how other
Councils were currently set up to consider ethical governance.
In discussion, reference was made to:-
(a)
the number of standards complaints made so far this
year. The Committee was informed that
the Council had received five formal complaints to date this
year;
(b)
the range of alternative future options.
Of the range of options, it was apparent that the two most popular
amongst the Committee were as follows:-
-
That the Standards Committee be retained, with one
formal meeting scheduled each year (additional meetings could be
called as necessary); and
-
That the Standards Committee be retained, with
meetings only being scheduled as and when required.
On balance, the
Committee was swayed by the significance of public perception and
was therefore of the view that the first option should be endorsed
whereby one formal meeting should be scheduled each Municipal
Year;
(c)
the size of the Committee. Whilst
reviewing the future of the Committee, Members felt it to be timely
to consider its membership size. In
conclusion, the majority of Members felt that the Committee should
be reduced in size from 9 to 5. It was
felt that this would send a clear message to the community that the
Council was always reviewing its processes and governance to ensure
that they were as efficient and streamlined as possible.
It was then:
RECOMMENDED
That Council be RECOMMENDED
that, with effect from the 2016/17 Municipal Year:-
1.
one Standards Committee meeting should be formally
scheduled each year (with the ability being retained to call other
meetings as and when deemed necessary); and
2.
the membership of the Standards Committee be reduced from nine to
five.