Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any interests in the items under consideration and in doing so state:

(1) the type of interest concerned either a

(a)   personal interest

(b)   prejudicial interest

(c)    disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI)

and

(2) the nature of the interest concerned

If any member requires advice on declarations of interests, they are advised to contact the Head of Democratic Governance in advance of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest on this occasion.

To agree the minutes of the last meeting held on 20 July 2017 as a true and correct record.

The Committee agreed that the minutes of the meeting held on 20 July 2017 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

To consider an update report from the Monitoring Officer on the current situation concerning the registering and declaring of interests by elected members

The Committee considered the update report from the Monitoring Officer on the current situation concerning the registering and declaring of interests by elected members.  Mr Towers advised that at the last meeting of the Standards Committee, consideration was given to instances of failure to register and declare interests, in particular regarding the registration of disclosable pecuniary interests.  The Committee had agreed a number of recommendations at that meeting including: mandatory training of all elected members with regard to registering and disclosing interests, an annual review of interests and the drafting of a protocol between the Council and the Constabulary for referring potential failures to register or declare disclosable pecuniary interests. 

In relation to the recommendations agreed at the last Committee meeting, Mr Towers reported that 34 Members had now completed the mandatory training and that a further session would be held for any members who had not yet attended.

Members noted that following the relative success of the Code of Conduct training it was recommended that further training in the same format be held for elected members with regard to Code of Conduct and standards of behaviour, working relationships with officers with reference to the ‘Protocol on Member/Officer Relations’ and Planning Protocol (for Planning Committee members). Mrs Hurst added that a planned IPool interactive training refresher package was being developed and Members would be notified when this became available.

Mr Towers went on to outline the two draft document that had been circulated to Committee members.  The first document related to interpretative guidance developed to assist members in completing their registration of interests form and

to aid Member’s understanding of the nature of individual types of interests. It was hoped that this would encourage greater compliance with regards to the completion of Register of Interest forms and declaring of interests at meetings.

Members were advised that the wording related to declarations of interests on the cover of all formal Council committee agendas had now been amended to include a prompt on the different types of interests and that members would be prompted to declare appropriately at meetings. It was also recommended that an Annual Review of Register of Interest forms be undertaken following the Annual Meeting of Council each year.  Mr Towers added that a minor constitutional change to the way declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPIs) and prejudicial interests were dealt with at full Council meetings when Executive Member reports were presented would also be required and the change would necessitate an ‘ask and answer’ procedure to be put in place.

Mr Towers referred to the Protocol between Lancashire Constabulary and the Monitoring Officer that had been drafted and attached at Appendix 3(b) of the report. The Committee noted that the recommendation was that the draft protocol serves as a working document for consideration with Lancashire Constabulary with a final draft being brought back for endorsement to the Committee on 12 June 2018.

Resolved:

1.      To endorse the interpretative guidance at Appendix 3a of the report and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

To note the date of the next meeting as 12 June 2018.

The Committee noted the date of the next meeting as Tuesday 12 June 2018.