No apologies for absence were received.

The minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee held on Monday 06 March 2023 were agreed and signed by the Chair.

No declarations of interest were made.

The Head of Legal Services presented the Committee with a report to set out the basis for a delegation to the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the councils Independent Person, to undertake that initial screening and for the approval of consequential changes to documents and procedures.

There was currently no delegation to the Monitoring Officer in place, which meant that each time a complaint was received, they were required to convene a Standards Committee. With the delegation to the Monitoring Officer, it would prevent a meeting from being called unless it was necessary.

The position of the Independent Person was recruited like any other position within the council. They would be subject to an interview, and if successful, a recommendation to Full Council would be made. Full Council would then appoint their chosen candidate.

Members were in agreement that the initial screening be delegated to the Monitoring Officer, but asked from a governance perspective that should the number of complaints meet a set threshold of 5, a report is brought back to the committee showing what was screen out and why. Anything under the threshold would be sent as an update to Members via email.

The committee were in agreement that an annual report should be presented to the Standards Committee, and would detail the number of complaints and how they were dealt with.

Resolved that delegation to the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the councils Independent Person, to undertake that initial screening be approved subject to an annual report.