Agenda and minutes

Councillor Neghat Khan – Other Council Business

Councillor Jane Urquhart – Work Commitments

None.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 22 March 2018.

The minutes of the meeting held on 22 March 2018 were agreed as a correct record and were signed by the Chair.

Nancy Barnard, Governance Manager, informed the Committee that Social Media training was to be included as a mandatory element of the training programme for new and returning councillors following Council elections in May 2019.

Nancy Barnard, Governance Manager, introduced the report to the Committee explaining that the Codes had been reviewed to ensure they were fit for purpose in advance of the Council elections in May 2019. Two amendments had been proposed in order to reflect Councillors’ responsibilities in relation to equality and diversity and to clarify the need to declare Other Interests in relation to individual delegated decisions as well as in relation to meetings.

RESOLVED to recommend the proposed changes to Council for approval, subject to the following amendments:

(1)  to include all protected characteristics in the section on equalities;

(2)  to reword the proposed amendment on Other Interests to ensure it is easily understandable.

Malcolm Townroe, Director of Legal and Governance and Monitoring Officer, introduced the report which updated the committee on progress in dealing with existing complaints made about Councillors and new complaints made since the last update to the Committee in March 2018. Several cases are under investigation including some complex cases which are taking some time to resolve. The majority of cases are resolved informally.

RESOLVED to note the update.