To consider amendments to the council's constitution proposed by the governance improvement working group and the standards working group, and to agree recommendations to Council.

At the chairman’s discretion, the council constitution item was taken first.   

The chairman introduced the report and the monitoring officer went through the major changes to the code of conduct as follows:

·         the proposed code looks different

·         a new schedule 2 interests has been added

·         the need to declare gifts and hospitality has decreased from £25 to £20. 

There had been a majority vote at the standards working group in relation to the Nolan principle and the willingness to challenge poor behaviour.     One of the independent person’s view was that there should be a positive duty for members to report other members if they believed they were in breach of the code of conduct.   The working group had debated this issue and it had been agreed by the majority of the working group that the proposed code was in line with the Nolan Principles and that a  willingness to challenge poor behaviour was sufficient. 

Cllr FN Norman proposed an amendment to include a positive duty to report any poor behaviour as one of the rules, this was seconded by Cllr EJP Harvey.  

For:                  3

Against:           6

Abstentions     0

The vote was lost.  

It was noted that if the revised code was adopted, there would be a requirement for new register of interests forms to be completed by all members.    There would also be training arranged for members over the summer period.

The committee hoped that parish councils would also adopt the revised code.

The committee agreed to recommend the revised code of conduct to council on 19 May 2017 for adoption.

The monitoring officer highlighted the minor changes to the constitution since 16 December 2016 following consultation with the cross party working group: 

·         committee sizes are recommended as 7;

·         An independent panel for dismissing statutory officers had been added in line with national guidance issued by the joint negotiating body for chief executive terms and conditions.

·         The West Mercia Police and Crime Panel had been added to the list of joint committees.

·         A delegation to the monitoring officer had been added where there were inquorate parish councils.

·         The move to one budget setting meeting and one council tax meeting removing the requirement for a December meeting.

Following a concern raised by a member of the committee, Cllr PM Morgan, as a member of the governance improvement working group, explained that there would be an opportunity to review the numbers of committee members at the constitution review scheduled to take place in January 2018.    It was noted that if there were any other issues with the new constitution, then they could be reviewed at the same time. 

It was noted that the member-officer relations protocol contained a specific reference to consultation where changes could affect members’ wellbeing. 

The committee agreed to recommend the changes to the constitution to council on 19 May for adoption.