Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on 25 November 2013.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 25 November 2013 were approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chairman subject to the names of Councillors Geoff Mayes and Julian Swift-Hook not being written in italics in the attendance list.

There were no declarations of interest received.

Purpose: To provide an update of the results of internal audit work for the first half of 13-14.

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 4) which set out the results of the work of the Internal Audit Team over the first half of the 2013/14 financial year.

Julie Gilhespey in introducing the report explained that although the Council was only required to produce an annual report this interim report was produced to address any emerging issues within the year.

Members were informed that no fundamental weaknesses were identified in the Council’s internal control framework through the work carried out by Internal Audit. No ‘weak’ opinions had been issued during the first six months of the year. Julie Gilhespey also explained that the delivery of the audit plan was on track for the current year and she was pleased to note that the team was fully staffed at present.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

Purpose: To review and amend sections of the Scheme of Delegation in light of legislative changes.

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 5) which set out the annual review of Part 3 (Scheme of Delegation) of the Council’s Constitution. Andy Day in introducing the report noted that there were relatively few changes to the Scheme of Delegation (SoD) which had been circulated to all Heads of Service and had also been considered by the Finance and Governance Group.

The Chairman noted that Members were required to review the Scheme of Delegation on an annual basis and he thanked Officers for the work that they had put into producing the document.

A number of minor typographical errors had been corrected. In addition the following key changes were being proposed:

Head of Highways and Transport

§     Paragraph 3.12.2, fifth bullet point – insert the words ‘including de-minimus arrangements;

§     Paragraph 3.12.3, last bullet point – insert the words ‘and current guidance’;

§     Amend the text in 3.12.7 pertaining to the Land Drainage Act 1991;

§     Amend the text in 3.12.13 in relation to the Flood and water management Act 2010.

§     Insert text in new paragraph 3.12.10 in relation to the Goods Vehicles (Licensing Operators) Act 1985.

Head of Culture and Environmental Protection

§     Removal of reference to legislation that was no longer relevant  or that had been superseded.

Head of Strategic Support

·                    Insertion of a paragraph at 3.9.5 delegating authority to the Head of Service to deal with Assets of Community Value.

Head of Legal Services

·                    Insertion of a paragraph under the heading miscellaneous (3.13.4) which will allow the Monitoring Officer to make minor amendments and corrections to the Constitution;

·                    Insert a new paragraph 3.13.12 (Localism Act 2011) to align the procedures for dealing with complaints made under the Standards regime with the Scheme of Delegation.

Head of Human Resources

·                    Amend the final bullet point of paragraph 3.3.3 to take into account the requirements of the Education Act 2002.

Members agreed the proposed changes and requested that the following additional changes made at the meeting be included:

RESOLVED that the amended report would be considered by Full Council on 04 March 2014.

Purpose: To review and amend sections of Part 13 (Codes and Protocols) i.e. Appendices A (West Berkshire Code of Conduct for Planning), D (Gifts and Hospitality: A Code of Conduct for Councillors), E (Procedure for Local Determination of Allegation) and G (West Berkshire Code of Conduct for Licensing) in light of legislative changes, policy changes and recent government guidance.

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 6) which set out proposed amendments to sections of Part 13 (Codes and Protocols) i.e. Appendices A (West Berkshire Code of Conduct for Planning), D (Gifts and Hospitality: A Code of Conduct for Councillors), E (Procedure for Local Determination of Allegation) and G (West Berkshire Code of Conduct for Licensing) in light of legislative changes, policy changes and recently issued government guidance.

Andy Day in introducing the report noted that West Berkshire Council’s revised Code of Conduct for Councillors was adopted by full Council at the December 2013 Council meeting. It was therefore now necessary to re-write Appendix E (Procedure for Local Determination of Allegations) to reflect the revised governance arrangements and procedures for dealing with complaints made against District, Town and Parish Councillors.

It had also previously been agreed that an annual review of the Council’s Constitution would be undertaken. A timetable has been established for the Finance and Governance Group to review individual sections of the Constitution.  This report proposed amendments to sections of Part 13 (Codes and Protocols) namely: Appendices A (West Berkshire Code of Conduct for Planning), D (Gifts and Hospitality: A Code of Conduct for Councillors), E (Procedure for Local Determination of Allegations) and G (West Berkshire Code of Conduct for Licensing) in light of legislative changes, policy changes and recent government guidance.

The existing Protocol for Planning (Appendix A) and the Protocol for Dealing with Gifts and Hospitality by Councillors (Appendix D) had been substantially re-written and therefore the tracked changes were not been shown on the document.

Appendices D and E had already been considered by the Standards Committee on the 13 January 2014 and they proposed a few minor amendments to Appendix D. The Standards Committee had recommended approval of the two Appendices.

The following key changes had been made to the documents by Officers:

Part 13 Codes and Protocol – Appendix A (West Berkshire Code of Conduct for Planning)

·         align this Part of the Constitution with the revisions to the Councillors Code of Conduct (Appendix H to Part 13 of the Constitution) and the Officers’ Code of Conduct as set out in Part 13 of the Constitution.

·         Amended the Code in light of the Localism Act 2011 and the document issued by the Local Government Association entitled “Probity in Planning”. Two particular areas of the Localism Act were relevant to this Code. Firstly, with regard to pre-determination the Act made it clear that it was proper for Councillors to play an active part in local discussions and that they should not be liable to legal challenge as a result, provided they maintained an open mind. Secondly, and related to pre-determination, the act introduced a new requirement for developers to consult local communities before submitting planning applications for certain developments. This gave Councillors and local residents a chance to comment when there was still genuine scope to make changes to proposals at both pre-application and post submission stage.

Part 13 Codes  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.