Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Apologies were received from Cllr Jim Casey, Paul Fletcher and Alan Eastwood.

The Committee sent their best wishes to Paul and hoped for a speedy recovery.

Minor amendment to previous minutes on item 5 point 8 of general principles be changed to Duty to uphold the law.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 27^th September 2023 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED – There were no Declarations of Interest received.

A report was submitted to Committee to consider and review the Protocol on Member/Officer Relations.

The Protocol on Member/Officer Relations (“the Protocol”) is contained Part 5, Section 3 of the Constitution. Its purpose is stated in paragraph 1.2 as: “…to guide Members and Officers of the Council in their relations with one another”

The Protocol covers the respective roles and responsibilities of Elected Members and Officers, the legitimate expectations of each other, and specific guidance on several issues that commonly arise, including an ‘Advice Note for Elected Members/Officers involvement in respect of family members and social care matters.’ Some of these expectations reflect the principles underlying the Code of Conduct for Members (“the Members’ Code”) and the Officer Code of Conduct (“the Officer Code”). The shared object of these codes is to enhance and maintain the integrity of local government and the Codes, therefore, demand very high standards of personal conduct. Although the Members Code had been subject to some amendments since its formal adoption in 2012 following recommendations by the Committee, the Protocol has not been reviewed for some time.

The Standard’s Committee’s role and function as delegated by the Council was contained in the constitution. It includes assisting councillors and co-opted members to observe the Code of Conduct. The Committee also had a function to monitor the operation of the Council’s standards arrangements and make appropriate recommendations to the Council as it considers appropriate with respect to the maintenance and review of the Code, together with such other codes, procedure, protocol, or guidance as the committee considers appropriate.

Christopher Bradley, HOS Corporate Contracting & Procurement, showed a presentation to Members highlighting the Member and Officer protocol and procedures. Members were presented with different scenarios where the code could be breeched and how to deal with the scenario appropriately.

Members of the Committee discussed their own experiences regarding response time to Councillor queries. It was noted that Members were receiving complaints from their constituents about departments not responding to their queries and would contact their local Councillor to assist with the matter, however Councillors were also not receiving correspondence in a timely manner or at all.

Members raised that in order to improve the communication between them and officers that a protocol or guidance be put in place regarding timescales and response times for officers to implement.

RESOLVED – That further discussions were to take place with Directors to identify officer response time to Members and that an update be provided at the next Standards Committee on 27^th March 2024.

The Monitoring Officer updated the Committee on complaints that had been received since September 2023.

It was noted there were no ‘live’ complaints and the two complaints that were reported at the meeting of the Committee on 22^nd September 2023 had now been concluded.

The first complaint related to an allegation of a pecuniary interest that had not been declared, and therefore alleging a potential conflict of interest when taking part in decision-making at committee. In accordance with the adopted Arrangements, the Subject Member was asked to respond to the allegations made against him. The Subject Member confirmed that he did not have any pecuniary interest in any of the businesses referred to by the complainant, and that his involvement as evidenced by the complainant was purely voluntary. The complainant did not provide any further evidence to substantiate the allegation, nor was any evidence apparent from general enquiries. In any case, there had not been any matters relating to those businesses that were considered by the committee, to which the Subject Member was appointed to.

Therefore, following consultation with the Independent Person it was determined at the Initial Assessment stage of the process that there had been no breach of the Code by the Subject Member, and the matter was not pursued further under the Arrangements. However, the Monitoring Officer advised the Subject Member about the issue of perception that led to the complaint made against him, in that it is possible that people seeing him involved publicly in a business would assume links to it. He was also advised that it would not be appropriate (and could be regarded as a breach of the Code) for a councillor with knowledge to be seen in a business that is in clear breach of any regulatory conditions. The Subject Member was also reminded to consider their position on any committee, should any matter relating to the businesses with his perceived links come before it for determination, and seek advice from the Monitoring Officer or the Legal officer supporting the committee.

The second complaint related to an allegation of ‘inappropriate’ involvement in the Council’s procurement process, which was also reported by the Lancashire Telegraph on 9 September 2023. As expected, the Council did maintain confidentiality and provided no comments as the matter was still in the process of being formally considered. The complaint was made by Mr Rick Moore, Deputy Chairman of Blackburn Conservative Association, after examining some email correspondence obtained through a request made under the Freedom of Information Act. The complaint was made against Councillor Quesir Mahmood, Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Growth & Development. The complaint also related to a senior officer of the Council, which was considered separately whilst the complaint against Councillor Mahmood was dealt with in accordance with the adopted Arrangements and included consultation with the Independent Person. The Monitoring Officer also reviewed some relevant information that was made available to him.

The Initial Assessment was undertaken to determine whether the matter merits further consideration/investigation,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.