Members of the public are welcome to attend our meetings to watch them in person at any of the venues across the County. Publicly accessible meetings held in County Hall will be webcast, which means they are available to be watched live or recorded on our website. Please see our webcasting notice here. The Committee may, in certain circumstances, resolve to hold part of the meeting in private. If this is the case, you will be required to leave the meeting.
PDF 57 KBVenue: Committee Room 'B' - The Diamond Jubilee Room, County Hall, Preston. View directions
Contact: Josh Mynott Tel: 01772 534580, Email: josh.mynott@lancashire.gov.uk
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*County Councillor Matthew Tomlinson replaced County Councillor David Borrow for this meeting only. |
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Apologies Minutes: None.
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Disclosure of Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda. Minutes: There were no interests declared.
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Constitution: Chair and Deputy Chair; Membership; Terms of Reference Additional documents: Minutes: Resolved: That the constitution, membership and Terms of Reference of the Conduct Committee be noted.
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Summary of Code of Conduct Complaints Received 2012-13 Minutes: The Committee were presented with a summary of complaints received against the Code of Conduct and dealt with by the Monitoring Officer or Deputy Monitoring Officer in the year July 2012 to July 2013.
Resolved: That the summary of complaints against the Code of Conduct dealt with by the Monitoring Officer or Deputy Monitoring Officer for the period July 2012 to July 2013 be noted.
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Urgent Business An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency. Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Member’s intention to raise a matter under this heading. Minutes: There was no Urgent Business.
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Date of Next Meeting The next meeting of the Committee is to be confirmed. Minutes: It was noted that the Conduct Committee met as required in accordance with the agreed Complaints procedure.
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Exclusion of Press and Public The Committee is asked to consider whether, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, it considers that the public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972, as indicated against the heading to the item. Minutes: Resolved: That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the committee agreed that the public should be excluded from the following item of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.
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Complaint against a County Councillor: Report of the Deputy Monitoring Officer (Not for Publication – Exempt information as defined in Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972. It is considered that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interests in disclosing the information).
Minutes: The Committee considered a complaint made under the Code of Conduct by County Councillor Bill Winlow against County Councillor Geoff Driver. The process for the consideration of complaints in accordance with the principles agreed by full council were set out, along with the specific issues in the case as set out in the report.
The Committee then discussed the issues in relation to the complaint. County Councillor Geoff Driver attended and spoke to the committee in accordance with Standing Order 19(1).
The Committee considered whether there had been a breach of the code. The views of the Independent Person were sought. Following consideration of those views it was:
Resolved: That, having regardto theviews of theIndependentPerson,the conduct of County Councillor Driver atthe meetingon 21May amountedto a breachof theCode ofConduct inthat he hadfailed totreat CllrW'inlowwith respect.
The committee then considered the appropriate sanction. The views of the Independent Person were again sought. Following consideration of these views, it was:
Resolved: That, i. havingregardto the views of theIndependentPerson, County Councillor Driver should provide a writtenapology toCllr Winlowin respectof Councillor Driver's conduct atthe meetingon 21May. ii. theterms of theapology were not prescribed.
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