Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 8 June 2015 be confirmed.

No declarations of interest were received. Councillor Metcalfe noted that he would leave the room during the consideration of the agenda item titled ‘Member Code of Conduct Complaints Considered by the Monitoring Officer’ [minute no. 16] as it related to complaints made directly against members of the City of Lincoln Council from which discussions, as Leader of the Council, he was excluded from by the Committee’s terms of reference.

The Legal and Democratic Services Manager:

a)    presented a report containing information on recent cases relating to other local authorities' codes of conduct.

b)    summarised the cases within the report, noting the particular areas which members might wish to consider.

c)    invited members’ questions and comments.

Members:

·         considered how the Council’s approach to a member fraudulently claiming to hold qualifications might differ from that of the local authority identified within the report.

·         discussed the manner in which freedom of speech interplayed with the need to be aware of the context in which a councillor was speaking and the potential for offence to be caused.

·         noted the difficulty for a councillor in determining whether to offer character references in support of residents.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Democratic Services Officer:

a)    presented a report regarding the Council’s attempts to work with local schools in promoting local democracy.

b)    advised members that after being approached by the Council a number of schools had expressed in an interest in taking part in Local Democracy Week.

c)    noted that it had been difficult to encourage secondary schools to commit to dates for any activities, although one event had been provisionally arranged on which members were to be consulted.

d)    explained that a local primary school had also expressed an interest in taking part in a similar event which would promote democratic skills such as debating to a children of a younger age group.

e)    invited members’ questions and comments.

Members:

·         noted their willingness to take part in events with local schools and requested that further details of each planned event be sent to them by email.

·         discussed suitable formats and topics for events with different age groups.

RESOLVED that:

1.    the report be noted.

2.    officers be requested to email members with further details of the planned events with local schools to allow members to confirm which of the events they would be able to attend.

The Democratic Services Officer:

a)    summarised the member development events held in the past six months.

b)    invited members to provide feedback regarding the member development programme, including suggestions for future member training topics and events.

c)    invited members’ questions and comments.

The Legal and Democratic Services Manager:

d)    further updated regarding a recent postponed training event involving Lincolnshire Police at which the members in attendance were noted largely to be the same members who attended the training in previous years.

e)    requested members’ input regarding improving attendance rates at member development events in general.

Members:

·         discussed the reasons for which councillors were unable to attend member development events and considered whether officers could request explanations as to why members had failed to attend events.

·         considered whether the Council should attempt to reintroduce e-learning as an alternative to requiring councillors to attend training.

·         expressed the view that, in view of lack of sanctions available to officers, political groups should take principal responsibility for ensuring members were attending any necessary member development events.

·         considered whether member induction events could be made more engaging, noting that two-day events could test the patience of members in attendance.

·         noted the potential for member development attendance to be published on the Council’s website to incentivise high attendance.

RESOLVED that:

1.    the report be noted.

2.    officers be requested to provide a further report setting out methods by which the proportion of members taking part in member development events could be improved.

The Democratic Services Officer:

a)    presented the current Ethics and Engagement Committee work programme for consideration by members.

b)    confirmed that the item previously discussed regarding improving member development attendance would be added to the work programme for the next scheduled meeting.

c)    invited members' questions and comments.

RESOLVED that the work programme be approved.

Councillor Metcalfe left the room during the consideration of this item as it related to complaints made directly against members of the City of Lincoln Council from which discussions, as Leader of the Council, he was excluded from by the Committee’s terms of reference.

The Legal and Democratic Services Manager:

a)    presented the report relating to complaints against councillors which had been considered by the Monitoring Officer and had been determined as requiring no action.

b)    invited members to note the report.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.