Notice of Motion’s shall be referred to the appropriate Committee meeting. The mover of the motion can outline the proposal and then it will stand adjourned. The motion may be debated to assist debate later if agreed by two-thirds of Council Members.
The following motion on Standards Committee process changes has been presented by Cllr Eden and supported by Cllrs Bradford, Daws, Hocking, G Hook, Macgregor, Mullone and Patch.
Background provided by Cllr Eden to the Motion:
This Council, as with the vast majority of Local Authorities operates a number of committees monitoring the work of the council and its officers and the political decisions of the administration.
Most Local Authorities, if not all, also have a process which holds councillors to account over failures to adhere to agreed standards, whether through the code of conduct or more generally through the Nolan Principles etc. In the majority of committees the minutes of the work and findings are made available for public viewing and posted onto the Council’s website.
Standards committees, not only discuss standards, but are most often delivered as quasi-legal hearings with allegations ‘investigated’ and reported on, witnesses and statements included in the process.
The findings of the hearings cannot be challenged or appealed. Furthermore, the phrasing of the findings, even where so poorly written as to make no sense, cannot be corrected at the time of initial publication to the website and wider distribution.
It is only the Standards Committees decision that can have a bearing on the individual beyond the remit of the council or their duties as a councillor.
Decisions made in a Hearing can impact the career and personal life of a Councillor significantly, financially and negatively. This is particularly true in a modern connected world. Minutes are posted on the website and distributed before the members of the committee have reviewed and agreed them increasing the risk of harm to a reputation that far exceeds the finding against the individual concerned.
This is the only committee that has that potential.
Wording of Motion proposed by Cllr Eden:
In light of that the proposed motion is as follows. This council resolves that
1) No minutes or decision notice from a Standards Hearing are published on the Council Website until all those present at the committee as members have reviewed them.
2) No minutes or decision notice from a Standard hearing should be distributed to any external body until the committee has seen debated and approved the minutes and decision notice.
3) Minutes should reflect the conclusion of the Investigation and not be used to repeat and re-frame accusations and allegations that are not proven (by the Investigating Officer) as the finding.
4) That this authority investigates the potential for seeking an appeal body to ensure natural justice can be delivered beyond the summary findings delivered currently.
5) All Investigating Officers to be taken through a due diligence process by Audit Scrutiny.
6) All Independent Persons to be taken through a due diligence process and their participation within the process reported to and assessed by the Audit Scrutiny committee.
7) (as it does for planning and training for committee members) all Standards Committee members to take appropriate training, in this case Unconscious Bias and Equalities training as part of councillor development – to be extended to the Monitoring officer, investigating officer and independent persons as a requirement for participation.
8) the Executive will investigate alternative Standards processes with the Senior Leadership Team, to ensure best quality and best value for money.
The following motion on has been presented by Cllr G Hook and supported by Cllrs H Cox, Dewhirst, Jeffries, Keeling, Macgregor, Nutley, Nuttall, Parker, Rollason and Wrigley.
1) Teignbridge Council places on record its gratitude to all sectors of the voluntary and charitable sector for the outstanding work undertaken within the District, particularly but not exclusively during the current Coronavirus pandemic.
2) We acknowledge the work of many organisations communities and individuals who have contributed at this uniquely difficult time.
3) We further ask the OnS committee to consider ways in which this council may work even more constructively with the sector in the future.
The following motion on has been presented by Cllr Patch and supported by Cllrs Bradford, Daws, Eden and Mullone.
BACKGROUND
Sometime on or after 20th November 2020 a document purporting to be a new version of the Council’s Constitution appeared on the Council website. The version of the Constitution last adopted by the Full Council (Article 4.3 (a)(i)) states that the Full Council is responsible for “adopting and changing the articles in the Constitution or Rules of Procedure – unless otherwise stated”. Delegated powers had been given to the Monitoring Officer by Full Council in September 2019 to make ‘minor’ changes to the constitution as part of a ‘tidying-up’ exercise – at that time assurance was given in writing to Council:
For the avoidance of doubt and as indicated above, the existing rules will not be materially changed (i.e. will only cover changes to remove/address clear errors in law or drafting to improve clarity and understanding of the relevant provision as the Monitoring Officer considers appropriate).
(Para 3.6, Report of Constitution Working Group to Full Council, 24 Sept, 2019 – my emphasis added)
Preliminary inspection of the ‘new version’ of the Constitution (dated 20th November 2020) has revealed several apparent material changes from the last adopted version of the Constitution, in the main eroding the rights of Members of the Council and the Public – for example, with respect to:
1. the rights of Members of this Council to present questions to Full Council (Articles 4.3.2 (f); Article 4.7.3): new/extended discretionary powers have been given to the Chairman of the Council and Managing Director, giving them, respectively, greater scope/new powers to reject questions from elected Members (compare with previous Article 4.5 (k));
2. the rights of members of the Public to present questions to Full Council (Articles 4.3.2 (e); 4.7.1 (f)): new/extended discretionary powers have been given to the Chairman of the Council and Managing Director, giving them, respectively, greater scope/new powers to reject questions from members of the Public (compare with previous Articles 4.5 (j)(vi) and 4.5 (j)(v));
3. the rights of Members of this Council to present Motions on Notice to Full Council(Article 4.9.3): new/extended discretionary powers have been given to the Managing Director (in consultation with the Chair of Council) allowing him to reject Motions on Notice from elected Members (compare with previous Article 4.5 (l)(iii));
4. the remit of Overview and Scrutiny Committee 1(Article 3.6.2): the scope of what of what is covered under Work Area ‘Strategic Direction’ of the Council, and hence what might be scrutinised by this committee, has been restricted/reallocated elsewhere (compare with Resolution of Full Council on 3rd September 2020 – and as still currently recognised on the TDC website for this committee’s Remit: https://democracy.teignbridge.gov.uk/mgCommitteeDetails.aspx?ID=391);
5. the powers of Overview and Scrutiny Committees (1&2) to require Senior Officers and Executive Members to attend and explain decision, actions and performance(Articles 3.5.3 (f) & (g)): these powers have been diluted (compare with previous Article 5.5 (a)(i));
6. loss of the power of Group Leaders to veto delegated ‘minor’ changes to the Constitution that might be “to the detriment of a member of the public or a councillor ...” (Article 2B3 [sic: second 2B3] Section 6 (Schedules Only), Page 5 of 20): the Monitoring Officer has been given the delegated power to make changes “as he [sic] considers appropriate” – without the veto protections previously provided to Group Leaders with respect to what are defined as ‘minor’ changes (power was previously delegated to Democratic Services Manager – these have been duplicated for the Monitoring Officer, although without the power of veto for Group Leaders – compare with previous Article 4.3 (b) – penultimate row of table on page 15).
(In each case the Article No. in the new document is provided – for comparison with the corresponding provisions in the last Adopted version of the Constitution – i.e., the Constitution available prior to 20th November 2020).
These material changes (not an exhaustive list), insofar as they were not authorised in the powers delegated to the Monitoring Officer, represent unconstitutional changes. Indeed, powers given to the Managing Director in the ‘new version’ include proposals that were referred back to the Constitution Working Group by Full Council on 3rd September 2020 for further consideration (Minute 44 Resolution Part 4). Consequently, the following Motion is presented to Council:
MOTION
This Council resolves to:
A) strive to uphold the integrity of the Constitution of this Council;
B) reinstate the last version of the Constitution to be properly adopted by this Council – i.e., the version in place prior to the version dated 20th November 2020; in doing so, to have the previous version’s Articles/documents reinstated on the Teignbridge District Council website in place of the version dated 20th November 2020;
C) ensure that future material changes to the Constitution of this Council are made in accordance with the Constitution, and only after a full consideration and scrutiny of the extent and nature proposed changes.
Minutes:
Cllr Eden presented her Notice of Motion on Standards Committee process changes. The Notice of Motion was referred, without discussion, to the Executive for consideration.
Cllr G Hook presented his Notice of Motion to acknowledge the work that the voluntary and charitable sector do particularly but not exclusively during the current Coronavirus pandemic. The Notice of Motion was referred, without discussion, to the Executive for consideration.
Cllr Patch presented his Notice of Motion regarding the Constitution. The Notice of Motion was referred, without discussion, to the Executive for consideration.