Agenda and draft minutes

Standards Committee - Thursday, 16th March, 2023 6.00 pm

Venue: Crompton Suite, Civic Centre, Oldham, West Street, Oldham, OL1 1NL. View directions

Items
No.	Item
1.	Apologies For Absence Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Bushra Tabssum.
2.	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.
3.	Urgent Business Urgent business, if any, introduced by the Chair Minutes: There were no items of urgent business received.
4.	Public Question Time To receive Questions from the Public, in accordance with the Council’s Constitution. Minutes: No public questions had been received.
5.	Minutes PDF 205 KB The Minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee, held on 20^th October 2022, are attached for approval. Minutes: RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 20 October 2022 be approved as a correct record.
6.	Local Government (Disqualification) Act 2022 PDF 134 KB Report of the Director of Legal Services Minutes: Consideration was given to a report of the Director of Legal Services which advised the Committee of the provisions of the Local Government (Disqualification) Act 2022 which came into force in June 2022. The Act introduces new grounds on which a person is disqualified from being elected to, or holding, the position of a member of the Council. This new disqualification relates to individuals who are subject to certain notification requirements or orders relating to sexual offences. There was already a disqualification that applied to individuals who within five years before the day of election, or since their election, had been convicted of any offence and had been sentenced to imprisonment (whether suspended or not) for a period of not less than three months without the option of a fine. In 2017 the Government consulted on proposals to update the disqualification criteria for councillors, London Assembly members and elected mayors to bring them into line with both modern sentencing practice and the values and high standards of behaviours the electorate have a right to expect of members. Subsequent to the consultation the Government gave a commitment to seek to legislate to ensure that the disqualification criteria would be amended to also include individuals who are subject to either the notification requirements set out in the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (commonly known as ‘being placed on the sex offenders register’) or a Sexual Risk Order made under section 122A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. RESOLVED that the legislative change regarding disqualification of a person from being elected to, or being a Member of a local authority as detailed in the report be noted.