Agenda and minutes

Leonie McCarthy, Social Inclusion Manager - Neighbourhoods

Cllr Dale McKean, Eye & Thorney Ward Councillor

Amy Kavanagh, Bretton Parish Council

John Lawrence, Wothorpe Parish Council

Richard Perkins, Ailsworth Parish Council

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 October 2011 were agreed as a true and accurate record.

The Head of Legal Services discussed the standards and code of conduct, what it means and outlined the obligations of Parish Councils and also the Principle Authority.

The following key points were highlighted:

Duty under the localism act for every Parish Council to adopt a code of conduct.

Have to have a register of interests and these must be published on both the Parish Council website, where available, and the Principle Authorities website.

Parishes can choose to adopt PCC code (attached to report) which is quite a paired down version compared to the DCLG and NALC versions.

Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI’s) form part of the code of conduct and it is a criminal offence to speak or vote at a meeting if you have a DPI and they have not been declared.

Cannot participate in a meeting if you have a DPI unless you have a dispensation in place.

Parish Clerk is responsible for giving dispensations.

PCC are currently looking at introducing a system of blanket dispensations e.g. if a blanket dispensation was put in place in relation to a members employer then that member would always be allowed to speak about matters concerning said employer at a meeting should they arise.

If a complaint is made about a Parish Councillor then it should be made to the Monitoring Officer who will notify the relevant member whom the complaint was made against asking for their side of the story.

If a complaint is referred for investigation it will go through a formal process to see if the code has been breached and may then be referred to the Audit Committee at PCC.

PCC will be recruiting an Independent Person to advise Parish Councillors on complaints should a complaint arise.

Members asked to review the code and come back in nine months to look at any potential changes.

Currently no members of Parish Councils are on the Audit Committee but recommendations can be put to Council if someone would like to be.

The following questions were raised:

Q. Are there any benefits as to which code is adopted?

A. Parish Councils should adopt a code that best suits them although it would be easier if everybody was working off the same code. CAPALC also advised that it would be much clearer if Parish Councils adopted their Principle Authorities code.

Q. If Parish Councils decide to adopt the PCC code would they be able to submit draft recommendations for amendments?

A. The Head of Legal Services advised that she was more than happy to receive recommendations for amendments and encouraged Parish Councils to be part of the review process if the PCC code is adopted.

Q. How long do Parish Councils have to adopt the Code?

A. A date has not been imposed in legislation although The Head of Legal Services recommended that a code should be adopted sooner rather than later.

Q. What guidelines are there for the Parish Clerk with regards to dispensation?

A. There are no criteria  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The Chair discussed with the meeting the upcoming Parish Council Conference taking place at the Kingsgate Conference Centre in Parnwell on 23 October 2012.

The Chair strongly urged members to attend the Parish Council Conference which would cover various topics including:

• What localism means to Parish Councils
• What should the role of the Parish Council Liaison be and how can it work alongside Neighbourhood Committees
• How can we do things differently
• Provocative speakers will be attending to discuss items followed by round table/workshops

The Chair explained that items 5, 6 and 7 on the agenda will be put into place as part of the Parish Council Conference.

The Chair advised that the Leader of the Council will be attending the conference.

                                                                                                                  19:28

                                                                                                                  CHAIRMAN