Agenda and minutes

Joint Standards Committee - Monday, 20th January, 2025 7.30 pm

Venue: Council Chamber, Gibson Drive, Kings Hill

Contact: Committee Services  Email: committee.services@tmbc.gov.uk

Link: View Meeting

Items
No. Item

PART 1 - PUBLIC

ST 25/1

Notification of Substitute Members pdf icon PDF 182 KB

Minutes:

Notification of substitute Members were recorded as set out below:

 

·       Cllr Boughton substituted for Cllr Bell

·       Cllr Clokey substituted for Cllr Dean

·       Cllr Williams substituted for Cllr Lark

·       Cllr Coffin substituted for Cllr Rhodes

 

In accordance with Council Procedure Rules 17.5 to 17.9 these Councillors had the same rights as the ordinary member of the committee for whom they were substituting.

ST 25/2

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 3 KB

Members are reminded of their obligation under the Council’s Code of Conduct to disclose any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and Other Significant Interests in any matter(s) to be considered or being considered at the meeting. These are explained in the Code of Conduct on the Council’s website at Code of conduct for members – Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council (tmbc.gov.uk).

 

Members in any doubt about such declarations are advised to contact Legal or Democratic Services in advance of the meeting.

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest made in accordance with the Code of Conduct.

ST 25/3

Minutes pdf icon PDF 208 KB

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Joint Standards Committee held on 5 June 2024

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the meeting of the Joint Standards Committee held on 5 June 2024 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

ST 25/4

Consultation - Strengthening the Standards and Conduct Framework for Local Authorities in England pdf icon PDF 408 KB

The report presents the consultation on strengthening the standards and conduct framework, published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 18 December 2024, together with a proposed response for approval by the Committee.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report of the Monitoring Officer presented the consultation on strengthening the standards and conduct framework, published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 18 December 2024 (attached at Annex 1), together with a proposed response for approval by the Committee (attached at Annex 2).

 

The consultation sought views on introducing measures to strengthen the standards and conduct regime in England and ensure consistency of approach amongst council’s investigating serious breaches of their member codes of conduct, including the introduction of the power of suspension. Members discussed the proposed responses in detail and their comments were noted.  In particular, Members raised concern in relation to Question 24, i.e. that a suspended councillor be banned from council premises and the use of council facilities withdrawn in cases where deemed appropriate, and suggested that this should not be applied to a member who was the subject of an interim suspension.  

 

RESOLVED:That the Borough Council’s response to the consultation, as set out in Annex 2, be approved subject to the comments made.

Matters submitted for Information

Matters Taken Under Delegated Powers

Matters for consideration in Private

ST 25/5

Exclusion of Press and Public pdf icon PDF 4 KB

The Chairman to move that the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting during consideration of any items the publication of which would disclose exempt information.

Minutes:

There were no items considered in private.

ST 25/6

Complaints Update pdf icon PDF 145 KB

This report updates Members on the complaints made to me as Monitoring Officer that a Member may have failed to comply with their authority’s Code of Conduct.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received an update on the complaints made to the Monitoring Officer that a Member may have failed to comply with their authority’s code of conduct.

 

Details of the complaints received since the last meeting of the Joint Standards Committee were set out in Annex 1.  Three complaints had been made to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman in relation to decisions reached by the Monitoring Officer.  Two of these cases related to decisions made by the Monitoring Officer during 2024 with the third relating to a decision made during 2023.  In all three cases, the Ombudsman had indicated that it would not investigate the complaints because there was insufficient evidence of fault.