Issue - meetings

The Committee to receive a briefing on the Internal Audit Report:  Member-Officer Relationship Review

The Committee to receive a briefing on the Internal Audit Report:  Member-Officer Relationship Review

The Deputy Monitoring Officer presented the report and highlighted the salient points.  It was particularly highlighted:

·         As set in previous reports in relation to the Protocol, action may only be taken against a Member where they are alleged to have breached the Code of Conduct adopted by the Council under the provisions of Part 1 of the Localism Act 2011.  When such a complaint is made it must be dealt with in accordance with the Arrangements for dealing with allegations of breaches of the Northampton Borough Council Members’ Code of Conduct and of Codes of Conduct adopted by Parish Councils which are contained in the Constitution for the purpose of implementing those provisions of the Localism Act 2011.

·         Case law in 2018 has made clear that it is not permissible to have a ‘dual system’ of considering allegations against Members by using an authority’s grievance procedure and, should such a course of action be taken, it will not bind the Member concerned.

·         Accordingly, Committee should note that action may only be taken against a Member in relation to any alleged breach of any revised Protocol if the allegation concerned would also be a breach of the Council’s Code of Conduct.  

The Committee commented:

·         The realised there could not be two conflicting Codes of Conduct

·         There is need to be mindful of the time that NBC has left prior to Unitary Council

·         It was suggested that this report is not considered by both the Constitutional Working Group and full Council but just full Council.

·         No additional comments were made by the Committee on the draft Member/Officer Protocol

RESOLVED:

It was resolved that:

(1)  The work undertaken by the Member and Officer Working Group was noted.

(2)  Having considered the comments of the Working Group it was agreed, to recommend the Protocol to full Council for adoption into the Constitution.