There were two replacements for this meeting:

            Councillor Burtenshaw replaced Councillor Crout

            Councillor Bell replaced Councillor Dhindsa

David Armsworth-Maw was absent without apologies.

There were no disclosures of interest.

To sign the minutes of the meeting held on 12^th January 2012.

The minutes of the meeting held on 12^th January 2012 were submitted and signed

Report of the Head of Legal & Property Services

The Committee received a report of the Head of Legal & Property Services. The Committee was asked to consider which of the Codes it wished to recommend to Council on 23^rd May 2012 and to note the position with regard to the appointment of an Independent Person.

The Localism Act received Royal Assent on 15 November 2011. The provisions in the Act in relation to standards would come into effect on 1 July 2012. The current ten General Principles and Model Code of Conduct would be repealed and Members would no longer have to give an undertaking to comply with the Code of Conduct. The Council was, however, required to adopt a new Code of Conduct governing elected and co-opted member’s conduct when acting in that capacity.

A suggested Code, which had been drawn up by a collaboration of legal teams in Herts, Essex and Suffolk, had been put to the Standards Committee at its meeting on 12^th January  and its recommendations put to the Constitution Working Party on 23^rd February 2012. The Working Party had recommended that the Code be adopted by Council.

Draft Codes had since been issued by the Local Government Association  and the Department of Communities and Local Government Association. Copies of all three draft codes were attached to the report. The Head of Legal & Property Services said that in her view, the Codes put forward by the Local Government Association and the Department of Communities and Local Government were too wide in their approach and she would recommend the adoption of the Code previously considered by the Committee.

Regulations to be made under the Act would also require the registration and disclosure of “Disclosable Pecuniary Interests” (DPIs) and these were expected to broadly equate to the current prejudicial interests. In addition, the provisions of the Act required an authority’s Code to contain appropriate requirements for the registration (and disclosure) of other pecuniary interests and non-pecuniary interests but the regulations in relation to these had still not been published.

The Act established a new category of Independent Persons. The Independent Person had to be appointed through a process of public advertisement, application and appointment by a positive vote of a majority of all members of the Council (not just of those present and voting). Current Independent members could not take up the position.

An advertisement had been placed in the Watford Observer on 20^th April. The advertisement also appeared on the Council’s website. Four people had contacted the Democratic Services Manager regarding the position but none had taken their interest any further.

The Head of Legal and Property Services advised that she intended to contact her fellow Monitoring Officers in neighbouring Councils to see if any of the independent members of their current standards committee might be interested in taking on the role of Independent Person. It was proposed that interviews would be conducted by the newly appointed members of the Standards Committee and then recommended to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.