Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Lees A Room, Civic Centre, Oldham, West Street, Oldham, OL1 1NL. View directions

Contact: Lori Hughes 

Items
No. Item

1.

Election of Chair

The Panel is asked to elect a Chair for the duration of the meeting.

Minutes:

RESOLVED – That Councillor Williams be elected Chair for the duration of the meeting.

2.

Apologies For Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Alex Feay, Independent Member.

3.

Urgent Business

Urgent business, if any, introduced by the Chair

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business received.

4.

Declarations of Interest

To Receive Declarations of Interest in any Contract or matter to be discussed at the meeting.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest received.

5.

Exclusion of the Press and Public

That, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they contain exempt information under paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and it would not, on balance, be in the public interest to disclose the reports.

Minutes:

RESOLVED that, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they contain exempt information under paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and it would not, on balance, be in the public interest to disclose the reports.

6.

Consideration of a Complaint

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report of the Director of Legal Services which required assessment of a complaint in relation to a Borough Councillor which said that the Councillor had breached the Council’s Members Code of Conduct.  The Director of Legal Services set out the complaint, as detailed in the report, and outlined the criteria to be used by the sub-committee for deciding whether a complaint should be accepted for investigation, dealt with informally or rejected.

 

The criteria considered in relation to the complaint was:

·       Was the complaint about someone who is no longer a Member of the Council but is a Member of another Authority?

 

·       Was the complaint about someone who is no longer a Member of the Council but is a Member of another Authority?

 

·       Had the complaint already been the subject of an investigation or other action relating to the Code of Conduct?  Similarly, has the complaint been the subject of an investigation by other regulatory authorities?

 

·       Was the complaint about something that happened so long ago that there will be little benefit in taking action now?

 

·       Was the complaint too trivial to warrant further action?

 

·       Did the complaint appear to be simply malicious, politically motivated or tit for tat.

 

Members gave consideration to the detail of the complaint contained within the report and the options available to them.

 

RESOLVED - That further information be sought from the witness via the complainant to enable the sub-committee to make a decision about the complaint.