Agenda and minutes

Standards Committee - Monday, 22nd June, 2015 6.00 pm

Venue: Committee Room 2, Town Hall, Stockport. View directions

Contact: Democratic Services

Items
No.	Item
1.	Election of Chair To elect a Chair of the Committee for the period until the next Annual Council Meeting. Minutes: RESOLVED – That Stephen Clarke be elected as Chair of the Standards Committee for the period until the next Annual Council Meeting.
	Stephen Clarke in the Chair
2.	Appointment of Vice-Chair To appoint a Vice-Chair of the Committee for the period until the next Annual Council Meeting. Minutes: RESOLVED – That Maggie Waker be appointed Vice Chair of the Standards Committee for the period until the next Annual Council Meeting.
3.	Minutes PDF 51 KB To approve as a correct record and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 16 February 2015. Minutes: The Minutes (copies of which had been circulated) of the meeting held on 19 February 2015 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.
4.	Declarations of Interest Councillors and officers to declare any interests which they have in any of the items on the agenda for the meeting. Minutes: No declarations of interest were made.
5.	Complaints about councillors' conduct during 2014/15 PDF 70 KB To consider a report of the Monitoring Officer. The report summarises complaints received about councillors’ conduct during the 2014/15 municipal year. Officer contact: Craig Ainsworth, tel: 0161 4743201, email: craig.ainsworth@stockport.gov.uk Minutes: The Monitoring Officer submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) summarising complaints received about councillors’ conduct during the 2014/15 municipal year. The Monitoring Officer reported that during the course of the year it had become clear that the Hearing Panel arrangements currently in place may not be adequate, in particular further consideration needed to be given to the composition of the Panel. Further proposals to improve these arrangements would be submitted to the next meeting for discussion by the Standards Committee. RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted. (2) That this Committee would support the appointment of ‘substitutes’ in any review of the composition of the Standards Committee and Hearing Panel. (3) That this Committee would fully support refresher training being provided in relation to ‘Standards’ to all Councillors to ensure that they are aware of: · The complaints process · The resources involved in investigating a complaint · Issues relating to the use of social media and the Member Learning and Development Committee be informed of this committees views.