Venue: held remotely via video-conference
Contact: Lisa Evans
No. | Item | |
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Apologies Minutes:
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Personal Matters Minutes: None. |
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Disclosure of personal / prejudicial interests Minutes: Councillor Julian Evans declared a personal and prejudicial interest in the applications submitted by Councillor Elizabeth Evans and left the video conference during consideration of these applications. |
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Procedure Minutes:
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To consider applications for dispensation from the following Councillors:- |
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Minutes: Councillor Elizabeth Evans, Ceredigion County Council An application for dispensation dated 16 September 2021 was received from Councillor Elizabeth Evans to speak only
on the Aberaeron Coastal Defence Scheme (to include Aberaeron harbour and Pwll Cam, Aberaeron).
Councillor Evans mother lives in Market Street, Aberaeron. Her home
directly overlooks the car park adjacent to Pwll
Cam. Councillor Evans family also own a
building at No 18 Market Street, Aberaeron – she has no income from it nor does
she have any part ownership of the property. Councillor Evans was present at the meeting to present her
application and answered questions regarding her application. Councillor Evans was requested to
leave the video conference for the Committee to consider her application. It was RESOLVED to grant Councillor Evans
with dispensation to speak only on the grounds that the nature of the members’
interest is such that the member’s participation in the business to which the
interest relates would not damage public confidence in the conduct of the
relevant authority’s business; and the interest is common to the member and a
significant proportion of the general public; (regulation 2 (d) and (e) of the
Standards Committees (Grant of Dispensations)(Wales) Regulations 2001).
The dispensation was granted for a period of 12
months. |
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Councillor Elizabeth Evans - Aberaeron Town Council Minutes: Councillor Elizabeth Evans, Aberaeron Town Council An application for dispensation dated 16 September 2021 was received from Councillor Elizabeth Evans to speak only
on the Aberaeron Coastal Defence Scheme (to include Aberaeron harbour and Pwll Cam, Aberaeron).
Councillor Evans mother lives in Market Street, Aberaeron. Her home
directly overlooks the car park adjacent to Pwll
Cam. Councillor Evans family also own a
building at No 18 Market Street, Aberaeron – she has no income from it nor does
she have any part ownership of the property. Councillor Evans was present at the meeting to present her
application and answered questions regarding her application. Councillor Evans was requested to
leave the video conference for the Committee to consider her application. It was RESOLVED to grant Councillor Evans
with dispensation to speak only on the grounds that the nature of the members’
interest is such that the member’s participation in the business to which the
interest relates would not damage public confidence in the conduct of the
relevant authority’s business; and the interest is common to the member and a
significant proportion of the general public; (regulation 2 (d) and (e) of the
Standards Committees (Grant of Dispensations)(Wales) Regulations 2001).
The dispensation was granted for a period of 12
months. |
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Councillor Ceredig Davies - Ceredigion County Council Minutes: Councillor Ceredig Davies
- Ceredigion County Council An application for
dispensation dated 06 September 2021 was received from Councillor Ceredig
Davies to speak and vote on alterations to pedestrian and vehicular access into
Aberystwyth Town Centre as he is the owner of the shop
Mona Liza, 22 Great Darkgate Street,
Aberystwyth. It was
RESOLVED to grant Councillor Davies
dispensation to speak only on the grounds that the nature of the
members’ interest is such that the member’s participation in the business to
which the interest relates would not damage public confidence in the conduct of
the relevant authority’s business (regulation 2 (d) of the Standards Committees
(Grant of Dispensations)(Wales) Regulations 2001). The dispensation was granted for a period of 12 months. |
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Councillor Keith Evans, Ceredigion County Council (Calon Tysul Application) Minutes: Councillor Keith Evans, Ceredigion County Council (Calon Tysul Application) An application for dispensation dated 31 August 2021 was received from Councillor Keith Evans to speak and vote
on potential funding for Calon Tysul. Councillor Evans serves and advises on their
Management Committee. As both their County Council and Community Council local
Member, local organisations look to elected members for guidance, leadership
and support. It was RESOLVED to grant Councillor
Evans a dispensation to speak and vote
on the grounds that the nature of the members’ interest is such that the
member’s participation in the business to which the interest relates would not
damage public confidence in the conduct of the relevant authority’s business,
and the participation of the member in the business to which the interest
relates is justified by the member's particular role or expertise (regulation 2
(d) and (f) of the Standards Committees (Grant of Dispensations)(Wales)
Regulations 2001). The dispensation was granted
for a period of 12 months. |
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Councillor Keith Evans, Llandysul Community Council (Calon Tysul Application) Minutes: Councillor Keith Evans, Llandysul
Community Council (Calon Tysul
Application) An application for dispensation dated 31 August 2021 was received from Councillor Keith Evans to speak and vote
on potential funding for Calon Tysul. Councillor Evans serves and advises on their
Management Committee. As both their County Council and Community Council local
Member, local organisations look to elected members for guidance, leadership
and support. It was RESOLVED to grant Councillor
Evans a dispensation to speak and vote
on the grounds that the nature of the members’ interest is such that the
member’s participation in the business to which the interest relates would not
damage public confidence in the conduct of the relevant authority’s business,
and the participation of the member in the business to which the interest
relates is justified by the member's particular role or expertise (regulation 2
(d) and (f) of the Standards Committees (Grant of Dispensations)(Wales)
Regulations 2001). The dispensation was granted
for a period of 12 months. |
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Councillor Keith Evans, Ceredigion County Council (Llandysul Sports Society Application) Minutes: Councillor Keith Evans, Ceredigion County Council (Llandysul Sports Society Application) An application for dispensation dated 31 August 2021 was received from Councillor Keith Evans to speak and vote
on potential funding for Llandysul Sports Society.
Councillor Evans serves and advises on their Management Committee. As both
their County Council and Community Council local Member, local organisations
looks to elected members for guidance, leadership and support. It was RESOLVED to grant Councillor
Evans a dispensation to speak and vote
on the grounds that the nature of the members’ interest is such that the
member’s participation in the business to which the interest relates would not
damage public confidence in the conduct of the relevant authority’s business,
and the participation of the member in the business to which the interest
relates is justified by the member's particular role or expertise (regulation 2
(d) and (f) of the Standards Committees (Grant of Dispensations)(Wales) Regulations
2001). The dispensation was granted for a
period of 12 months. |
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Minutes: Councillor Keith Evans, Llandysul
Community Council (Llandysul Sports Society
Application) An application for dispensation dated 31 August 2021 was received from Councillor Keith Evans to speak and vote
on potential funding for Llandysul Sports Society.
Councillor Evans serves and advises on their Management Committee. As both
their County Council and Community Council local Member, local organisations
look to elected members for guidance, leadership and support. It was RESOLVED to grant Councillor Evans
with a dispensation to speak and vote on the grounds that the nature of the
members’ interest is such that the member’s participation in the business to
which the interest relates would not damage public confidence in the conduct of
the relevant authority’s business, and the participation of the member in the
business to which the interest relates is justified by the member's particular
role or expertise (regulation 2 (d) and (f) of the Standards Committees (Grant
of Dispensations)(Wales) Regulations 2001). The dispensation was granted for a period of 12 months |
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Councillor Keith Evans, Ceredigion County Council (Llandysul Pontweli Application) Minutes: Councillor Keith Evans, Ceredigion County Council (Llandysul Pontweli Application) An application for dispensation dated 31 August 2021 was received from Councillor Keith Evans to speak and vote
on potential funding for Llandysul Pont-Tyweli Ymlaen Cyf. Councillor Evans serve and advise on their
Management Board as a Director. As both their County Council and Community
Council local Member, local organisations looks to elected members for guidance,
leadership and support. It was RESOLVED to grant Councillor
Evans a dispensation to speak and vote
on the grounds that the nature of the members’ interest is such that the
member’s participation in the business to which the interest relates would not
damage public confidence in the conduct of the relevant authority’s business,
and the participation of the member in the business to which the interest
relates is justified by the member's particular role or expertise (regulation 2
(d) and (f) of the Standards Committees (Grant of Dispensations)(Wales)
Regulations 2001). The dispensation was granted
for a period of 12 months. |
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Councillor Keith Evans, Llandysul Community Council (Llandysul Pontweli Application) Minutes: Councillor Keith Evans, Llandysul
Community Council (Llandysul Pontweli
Application) An application for dispensation dated 31 August 2021 was received from Councillor Keith Evans to speak and vote
on potential funding for Llandysul Pont-Tyweli Ymlaen Cyf.
Councillor Evans serve and advise on
their Management Board as a Director. As both their County Council and
Community Council local Member, local organisations look to elected members for
guidance, leadership and support. It was RESOLVED to grant Councillor Evans
a dispensation to speak and vote on the grounds that the nature of the members’
interest is such that the member’s participation in the business to which the
interest relates would not damage public confidence in the conduct of the
relevant authority’s business, and the participation of the member in the
business to which the interest relates is justified by the member's particular
role or expertise (regulation 2 (d) and (f) of the Standards Committees (Grant
of Dispensations)(Wales) Regulations 2001). The dispensation was granted for a period of 12 months. |
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Minutes: It was RESOLVED to confirm as a true record of the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 19 May 2021 subject to amending the following:- (i)” is” to “his” in minute S1 and to add that the late Mrs Anne Winfield had also been chair of the committee; and (ii) to remove the reference on S5 that Councillor Odwyn Davies noted that he would have to leave the meeting “at this point And John Weston stepped down to ensure that the meeting was quorate” as this was incorrect |
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Matters Arising Minutes: Minute S4-
S 62 Local Government and Election (Wales) Act 2021 Duties of leaders of political groups in relation to
standards of Conduct – It was reported to date
that the consultation had not been received on this section of the Act. Minute S9- Corporate Joint Committees (General) (Wales)
Regulations 2021Consideration was given to the
Corporate Joint Committees (General) (Wales) Regulations 2021 – It was
reported that the consultation had closed on the 06 September 2021. The
Chair stated that she had circulated comments to committee members stating that
it should be mandatory that Co-opted Members should sign up to the Code of
Conduct, and not optional. Minute S15 it was confirmed that Council had endorsed the appointments of the Chair and Vice-Chair accordingly |
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Review of Local Dispute Resolution protocol Minutes: Consideration was given to the
Report upon the Review of Local Dispute Resolution protocol. It was reported that at a recent Monitoring Officer Network
meeting authorities were requested to share their Local Resolution Procure with
the WLGA. This would provide an
opportunity to compare and contrast all Local Resolution Procedures with a view
to revising them. The Local Resolution Procedure was intended to sit alongside
the Code, enabling behaviour which may not reach the
threshold of referral to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales to be dealt
with swiftly and effectively. Consideration was given to
Ceredigion County Council’s current Local Resolution Procedure and flowchart.
It was reported that One Voice Wales had also produced guidance to assist town
and community councils to support them with the local resolution process It was stated that the results of
the review that was being undertaken by the WLGA would be shared with the
Committee in due course. It was AGREED:- (i) to note the protocol presented; (ii) to remove the line as with “non-aligned or unaffiliated members”
in paragraph 3.6 of the Ceredigion protocol; (iii) that the Chair contact OVW regarding the statement in
their guidance in relation to the issues that must be directed to the Public
Services Ombudsman for Wales include
“Vexatious, malicious or frivolous complaints”; as PSOW had been
informing Councils that he did not wish to see an increase in these sort of cases; (iv) that the Monitoring Officer
contact PSOW on the issue raised in (iii) |
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PSOW revised guidance on the Code of Conduct Minutes: It was reported that the Public
Services Ombudsman for Wales had released two new draft Guidance documents on
the Code of Conduct for members of County and Community/Town Councils on the 5th
February 2021. The Committee members had provided a
response to the consultation through comments via email and a workshop held on
4th March 2021. The draft guidance was also shared with the group leaders. The Council had submitted a response to the
consultation comprising of comments from the Ethics and Standards Committee,
Group Leaders and the Monitoring Officer. The final guidance on the Code of Conduct
for members of County and Community/Town Councils has now been published by the
Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.
The guidance and summary of changes has been shared with group leaders,
County Councillors and Town and Community Council
clerks. A Summary of the Report of the Consultation on Revised
Guidance on the Local Government Member Code of Conduct was
also considered. It was AGREED to note the guidance
for information. |
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The Public Services Ombudsman Code of Conduct Casebook Minutes: At the previous meeting of the Committee, it was noted that Casebook 24 was issued following the
publication of the agenda reports, and that it would be included in this
agenda. It was AGREED:- (i) to note casebook 24 for
information; (ii) to note the concern of the
Committee that the PSOW should have stronger proposals on the cases that they
consider; as several were recommendations and not stipulations; also the PSOW
should follow up on these recommendations e.g
whether training had been completed (iii) that the Ethical Framework
would be presented at a future meeting for consideration |
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Update on Code of Conduct matters- Update on recent press articles Minutes: It was AGREED to note the article presented for information. |
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Update on Adjudication Panel for Wales matters Minutes: The Adjudication Panel for Wales (APW) is an independent
tribunal that has been set up to determine alleged breaches against an
authority’s statutory Code of Conduct by elected and co-opted members of Welsh
County, County Borough and Community Councils, Fire and National Park
Authorities. Attached is the recent Decision Report in relation to Councillor
David Poole, Caerphilly County Borough Council. The nature of allegation was breach of paragraphs 6(1)(a), 7(a), 11(1) and 14(1)(a) of the Council’s Code of
Conduct. The tribunal decision was that
Councillor Poole was suspended for 5 months. It was AGREED (i) to note the report for
information; and (ii) to note that all Adjudication Panel for Wales matters
were now circulated to all Party Leaders for information due to their new
responsibilities next year in relation to the requirement of high standards of
their group Members |
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Update on the Public Services Ombudsman matters - Annual Letter data 2020/21 Minutes: For information, the following statistics have
been received from PSOW regarding the number of complaints closed
regarding the code of conduct of Ceredigion County Council and the number of
complaints received regarding Town and Community Councils. It was AGREED to note the information presented |
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Training Minutes: The following was reported:- • The Chair
was due to receive feedback from Councillor Hazel Thomas, Chair of Llanwenog Community Council on the training they had
recently received by Mr Hywel Jones • The two new
Independent Members would be receiving training on Monday • That County
Council Members would be receiving Data Protection/Equalities and Code of
Conduct breach training due to the information that possibly could
be placed on social media sites such as Facebook. This training would be also offered following the election in May 2022 • That the
training material provided on Data Protection /Equalities could be included
with any future Code of Conduct training for Town and Community Councils • Clarification
was awaited from WLGA if the presentation provided on
the Code of Conduct training following the elections in 2017 would be amended
prior to the training on the Code of Conduct following the May 2022 elections • That all
Members of the Committee could now provide bilingual training to Town and
Community Councils on the Code of Conduct as they all had experience of
providing training • That
training sessions would be arranged with the Committee
to consider specific issues within the Ethics and Standards agenda prior to the
formal Ethics and Standards Committee meetings. |
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The Ethics and Standards Forward Work Programme 2021/22 Minutes: It was AGREED to note the Forward
Work Programme as presented subject to the following:- (i) that the Job specification for Members of the Committee
were being considered by the Democratic Services Committee on the 12 October, it
was agreed that these would also be presented at the next meeting for
consideration; (ii) the need to change the next
meeting date from the 11 October 2021 to a date in November 2021; (iii) that Party Leaders attend the
meeting in January 2022 to update the Committee upon their methods of promoting
and maintaining high standards of conduct by the members of their groups; and (iv) that the North and Mid-Wales
Forum be placed as a standing item on the agenda, the next meeting was due to
be held in November 2021. |
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Any other matter which the Chairman decides is for the urgent attention of the Committee Minutes: The Chair conveyed the gratitude of the Committee to Mr Hywel Wyn Jones and Mr Rif Winfield for their contribution to the work of the Ethics and Standards Committee since their appointment. Both thanked the Committee and Officers for their work and support during their term. |