Agenda item

To submit for confirmation, the draft minutes of the previous meetings held on:-

•  17 September 2019

•  11 March 2020 (Extraordinary)

The draft minutes of the Standards Committee held on the following dates were confirmed as correct, subject to the following:-

•   17 September 2019

•   11 March 2020 (Extraordinary)

The Chair reported that due to insufficient quorum present at the last meeting, the minutes of 17 September 2019 were presented to today’s meeting for approval.  It was noted that the Chair had accepted the minutes previously, and Councillor Dafydd Rhys Thomas confirmed that the minutes were a true record of the meeting held on 17 September 2019.

Matters arising from the minutes of 11 March 2020

•   Item 2 - The Solicitor (Corporate Governance) confirmed that correspondence has been sent to ICT following a request as to whether Members’ attendances in meetings could be amended to “present”.  It was noted that no response from ICT has been received to date.

 RESOLVED that the Solicitor (Corporate Governance) writes to ICT to  request that the Standards Committee receives a response. 

•   Item 3 - It was confirmed that due to Covid-19, the Chair and Vice-Chair have been unable to attend Group Leaders’ meetings to discuss Members’ Annual Reports and other relevant issues.  The Chair reported that they have met with one Group, and corresponded with another.  It was noted that once lockdown restrictions are relaxed, the Chair and Vice-Chair will endeavour to meet with Group Leaders.

The Vice-Chair questioned whether the Committee should take a more pro-active approach, and request a meeting with Group Leaders via Zoom or Teams, to which the Committee agreed.  The Director of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer responded that as Group Leaders often meet through Teams, she would make arrangements for the Chair and Vice-Chair to attend a Group Leaders’ virtual meeting.

RESOLVED that the Director of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer writes to Group Leaders to request that an invitation be extended to the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Standards Committee to attend a Group Leaders’ meeting in due course.

•   Item 4 - Reference was made to a paragraph on Page 4 of the report stating that “The HR Development Manager reported that she would look into the issue of recording attendances on training courses centrally on the HR system, and report back to the Committee in due course”.  It was noted that an update has not been provided on recording attendances to date.

RESOLVED that the Solicitor (Corporate Governance) raises the issue with the HR Training Manager, and reports back to the Standards Committee.

 •   Item 5 - A planned joint Chairing session with Gwynedd and Conwy local authorities was cancelled due to the pandemic.  The Chairing training is now available on the Council’s E-Learning portal.

•   Item 11 - The Monitoring Officer reported that the Standards Committee’s Local Resolution Protocol needs to be reviewed and strengthened.  She recommended that the Committee reviews the Protocol further, and undertakes mediation training within the context of the Protocol.

RESOLVED:-

•   To review the Standards Committee’s Local Resolution Protocol;

•   That the Standards Committee undertakes mediation training within  the context of the Local Resolution Protocol.

•   Item 12 - The Director of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer gave an update on the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Bill.  She confirmed that the Bill has been passed by the Welsh Assembly, and will be receiving Royal Assent in early 2021.  The Bill will be presented to the County Council in due course to discuss the main points, and this will be shared with the Standards Committee. 

A member of the Committee requested that an action log be created for officers to update actions points that are outstanding, or have been completed. 

RESOLVED to accept the above proposal.    

Action:  See Resolutions above.