Agenda and minutes

The Committee is asked to note any apologies for absence and substitutions received from Members.

There were none.

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee, held on 28 June 2017.

The minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee, held on 28 June 2017, were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or other interest, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the Agenda.

Councillor Heaney declared a non-pecuniary interest in that she was on the Planning Committee with Councillor Bennison.

Councillor Whitmore declared a non-pecuniary interest in that he was in the same political group as Councillor Bennison and also a friend.

Councillor Davis declared a non-pecuniary interest in that she had attended the Court Hearing in respect of Councillor Bennison but that she was present at the Standards Committee with an open mind. 

In accordance with the District Council’s Complaints Procedure, the Monitoring Officer will report to the Standards Committee, where there is evidence of a failure to comply with the Members’ Code of Conduct.

There was submitted a report (A.1) by the Council’s Monitoring Officer (Lisa Hastings) in respect of a failure to comply with the Members’ Code of Conduct.

It was reported that on 1 August 2017, District Councillor Jack Parsons had enquired with the Council’s Monitoring Officer whether he could refer himself to the Standards Committee following his criminal conviction on 27 July 2017, which he acknowledged had brought the Council into disrepute. The Monitoring Officer had advised him that due to the seriousness of the conviction, the matter would be reported to the next meeting of the Committee in any event. 

Members were informed that one complaint had been received by the Monitoring Officer under the Members’ Code of Conduct and Complaints Procedure following the actions of Councillor Parsons as reported in the media. The complaint had been submitted by Mr William Hones, a member of the public. Mr Hones’ complaint had made reference to the fact that it had been reported on the on-line version of the Clacton Gazette that Councillor Parsons had pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of a bladed article and was handed a twelve month Community Order and to carry out seventy hours of unpaid work. The second part to Mr Hones’ complaint had made reference to Councillor Parsons had allegedly failed to represent his residents by not belonging to a political group, in particular one of the non-aligned groups on the Council and was consequently not allocated any Committee seats. The complaint was attached to the report as Appendix 2.

Members recalled that at the Council meeting in March 2017, it had been considered whether it wished to allocate Committee seats to Councillors who were not part of a group and decided it would not do so.

Members were informed that the complaint had alleged that Councillor Parsons had breached the Tendring District Council Members’ Code of Conduct. The alleged breaches had related to paragraphs 3.1 and 3.4(a) of the Code.

The Monitoring Officer confirmed that the second part of Mr Hones’ complaint did not fall within the remit of the Standards Committee.

It was reported that Councillor Parsons had acknowledged that his conviction had brought the Council into disrepute and therefore, in breach of the Members’ Code of Conduct and a written apology had been received and was contained within the body of the Monitoring Officer’s report. Due to Councillor Parson’s acceptance, an investigation into the matter had not been required. Under the Complaints Procedure once there was a finding that evidence existed of a failure to comply with the Code of Conduct, there were two options available, namely:

The first option was to consider an informal resolution (paragraph 7.1.1 of the Complaints Procedure). In this matter the Monitoring Officer did not consider that informal resolution was appropriate. It was noted that a formal apology had been given by Councillor Parsons, however, it was considered necessary and in the public interest for a referral to the Committee due to the seriousness of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

In accordance with the District Council’s Complaints Procedure, the Monitoring Officer is required to report the outcome of an investigation to the Standards Committee.

Councillor Heaney had earlier declared a non-pecuniary interest in that she was on the Planning Committee with Councillor Bennison.

Councillor Whitmore had earlier declared a non-pecuniary interest in that he was in the same political group as Councillor Bennison and also a friend.

Councillor Davis had earlier declared a non-pecuniary interest in that she had attended the Court hearing in respect of Councillor Bennison but that she was present at the Standards Committee with an open mind.

There was submitted a report (A.2) by the Council’s Monitoring Officer that, in accordance with the District Council’s Complaints Procedure, the outcome of an investigation was being reported to the Committee following on from a Members’ Code of Conduct investigation.

The Monitoring Officer reported that two separate complaints had been received from Mr Anthony Chandler and Mr William Hones, who were members of the public. Their complaints had been received by the Monitoring Officer under the Members’ Code of Conduct and Complaints Procedure alleging that the behaviour of District Councillor Lis Bennison had breached the Members’ Code of Conduct.

The alleged breaches related to:

(i)         Paragraph 3.1:               The Leadership Principle of Public Life;

(ii)       Paragraphs 3.2:               In fulfilling the Duties and Responsibilities, a Councillor must not:

(b)           disrespect others; and

(c)           bully or harass any person.

(iii)     Paragraph 3.4(a):            A Councillor must not conduct themselves in a manner which could reasonably be regarded as bringing their office or the Council into disrepute; and

(iv) Paragraph 3.7(a):             A Councillor must comply and observe the law.

Members were informed that the Complaint Form that had been completed by Mr Chandler had referred to initial contact that had been made with the Monitoring Officer in 2016, regarding the alleged assault by Councillor Bennison, however, no further action could be taken at that time, under the Members’ Code of Conduct, whilst criminal proceedings against Councillor Bennison were being considered by Essex Police. The incident had occurred at the Clacton Airshow in August 2016, whereby Councillor Bennison whilst acting as a steward on behalf of the District Council had assaulted Mr Chandler, a member of the public.

Members were further informed that Mr Chandler had contacted the Council’s Monitoring Officer and had confirmed that Councillor Bennison had been convicted of assault at Southend Magistrates Court on 13 July 2017.  Subsequently, a Complaint Form was completed and received on 19 July 2017.  A second Complaint Form concerning the same incident was received from Mr William Hones on 25 July 2017.

The Monitoring Officer confirmed that on 23 August 2017, all parties were notified of her decision, that due to the criminal conviction it was not appropriate to take ‘no further action’ or seek informal resolution or mediation.  However, it was not considered that a detailed investigation would be required as the conviction was the outcome of criminal proceedings before the Magistrates Court.  Therefore, a light touch investigation had been undertaken and referred to the Standards Committee. To carry out a detailed investigation would have been an unnecessary  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

For the Committee to complete the review of the Members’ Code of Conduct and consider the proposed changes made following the suggested revisions at its meeting in June 2017 for recommendation to Council for adoption.

There was submitted a report (A.3) by the Council’s Monitoring Officer which had requested the Committee to complete the review of the Members’ Code of Conduct and consider the proposed changes made following the suggested revisions made at its meeting in June 2017 for recommendation to Council for adoption.

As part of its annual work programme, the Committee had commenced a review of the Members’ Code of Conduct and had paid particular attention to the definitions of interests.

The Committee recalled that, at its meeting on 29 June 2016, the Monitoring Officer had informed Members that there would be some merit in undertaking a light touch review of the Code of Conduct and to consider removing the distinction between “Other and Non Pecuniary Interests” by joining them together and reviewing the definitions. The Monitoring Officer had also informed Members that the three different types of interest had caused confusion with Members and the public and could be made simpler. In addition, it had been raised whether the provisions on declarations of interests had gone far enough and questions had been asked whether the Council should be retaining a register of interests. Matters such as membership of various groups or organisations had caused concerns with elected Members and the public that those were not registered, and whilst this was not required on a statutory basis, provisions could be included within the local Code.  Members had discussed the advantages of a register of interests, beyond the statutory minimum which was required by the legislation and had welcomed further exploration in this area.

At that meeting the Monitoring Officer had informed Members that, nationally, a number of Councils had reviewed their codes since adoption, some in response to feedback on definitions or areas which were missing, or due to the lack of sanctions available if the obligations were compromised. New ideas such as a voluntary acceptance of suspension and a recall scheme were emerging and information on those could be presented to the Committee for information through the review of the Code.

The Committee recalled that, at its meeting in September 2016, potential changes and additions to the Code had been discussed in order to provide clarity in relation to:

• Separating the Rules of Conduct and General Obligations from the introduction and interpretation part of the Code;
• Merge Other Pecuniary Interests with Non-Pecuniary Interests; and
• Effect of Other or Non-Pecuniary Interests on participation.

At that meeting it had been agreed that the Monitoring Officer would produce a revised draft Code of Conduct for further discussion to take place at the next meeting so that the Committee could work towards recommending minor changes to the Members’ Code of Conduct to full Council.

The Committee recalled that, at its meeting in June 2017 the Monitoring Officer had produced a revised draft Code of Conduct showing tracked changes and went through it stage by stage. A clean copy had also been provided for further consideration by the Committee.

At that meeting the Monitoring Officer had confirmed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

The Monitoring Officer will give a quarterly update on Complaints.

Quarterly Complaints Update

The Monitoring Officer circulated to the Committee the quarterly schedule, which gave general details of a complaint received, without providing any names, and went through it with the Committee. The Monitoring Officer also highlighted a number of other matters which included:

Two Local Authorities have considered motions to lobby the Government on the lack of sanctions which Councils have been left with since the introduction of the Localism Act 2011.  A consultation has also been launched on extending the list of criminal convictions which would restrict an individual standing as a Councillor.

The Monitoring Officer at the Committee’s request agreed to bring this item back to the next meeting of the Committee for further consideration.