Standards Committee

HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

STANDARDS COMMITTEE

FRIDAY 10 SEPTEMBER 2010 AT 11.30 a.m.

APPLICATIONS FOR DISPENSATIONS

Report of the Chief Legal Officer

Author:Kathryn PettittTel: 01992 555527

Purpose of Report

To ask the Committee to consider an application for dispensation to allow members to participate in meetings when they have a prejudicial interest.

Summary

2.1There is a need to provide additional primary school places in St Albans. A potential site has been identified in St Albans as shown edged red on the attached plan.

2.2Part of the land as coloured yellow is in the ownership of Liberal Premises (St Albans) Limited.Part of the land as coloured green is in the ownership of St AlbansCity and District Council.

2.3Whilst no documentation has been produced it is understood that the Liberal Democrat Party would benefit from the proceeds of disposal of the yellow land. If this is the case then all Liberal Democrat County Councillors would have a prejudicial interest in any discussions concerning the acquisition of any land owned by Liberal Premises (St Albans) Limited as may be required as part of the school provision project.

2.4St Albans City & District Council would benefit from the proceeds of disposal of the land coloured green. Thus all County Councillors who are also on St Albans City & District Council would have a prejudicial interest in any discussions concerning the acquisition of any land owned by St Albans City & District Councilas may be required as part of the school provision project.

2.5Legislation allows Standards Committees to grant dispensations for Members allowing them to speak and vote at a meeting covered by the mandatory provisions of the Code of Conduct where they have a prejudicial interest. Standards for England have issued guidance on the granting of dispensations in these circumstances and that accompanies this report as Appendix 1.

2.6Application for dispensation have been received from Liberal Democrat membersrequesting that they be allowed to participate in meetings to which the County Council’s code of conduct for members applies. Other than in one application the applications relate to participation in meetings which are not covered by the mandatory provisions of the Code of Conduct but which are covered by the County Council’s Code of Conduct for members. The County Council’s Code of Conduct extends to all meetings of the Council not only those covered by the legislation relating to dispensation. It is suggested that the Standards Committee apply similar principles to those mentioned in legislation in relation to all applications before it.

3.Conclusion

The Committee are asked toconsider the individual applications made to it and decide whether to grant the dispensation.

4.Background

4.1At the time of preparing this report 15 applications have been received from Liberal Democrat County Councillors all of whom are members of the Liberal Democrat party and 6 of whom are also councillors on St AlbansCity and District Council. One member who is on Development Control Committee has also requested dispensation in respect of that Committee. Details of the applications received and any others received before the meeting will be circulated separately.

4.2Liberal Democrat Councillors and those members who are councillors ofSt Albans City and District Council will have a prejudicial interest in any business of the County Council where it affects the finances of the Liberal Democrat party (in the case of all the applications before the Committee) and St Albans City & District Council (in relation to the land owned by that Council) and is one which a member of the public with knowledge of the relevant facts would reasonably regard as so significant that it is likely to prejudice their judgement of the public interest.

4.3 The County Council’s Code of Conduct for Councillors applies to any meeting of:

(a)The Council

(b)The Executive

(c)Any of the County Council’s or the Executive’s committees, sub-committees, joint committees, joint sub-committees or area committees

(d)Any Panel or Topic Group

(e)One or more members with an officer of the Council

(f)A political group

The latter three categories are not part of the statutory code of conduct and are local additions. Development Control Committee is covered by the mandatory provisions of the Code of Conduct.

4.4 The issue concerning the potential use and acquisition of land owned by Liberal Premises (St Albans) Limited is likely to be discussed at meetings of the type mentioned in paragraphs 4.3 (c), (d), (e) and (f) including Development Control Committee, the Education and Skills Panel and the Policy and Resources Panel. Both Development Control Committee and Panels comprise 15 members and the political proportionality on them is 11 Conservatives, 3 Liberal Democrats and 1 Labour.

5.Applications for Dispensation

5.1Legislation allows Standards Committees to grant dispensations for members allowing them to participate at a meeting covered by the mandatory provisions of the Code of Conduct when they have a prejudicial interest. Dispensations may be granted for speaking only, or for speaking and voting.

5.2A Standards Committee may grant a dispensation to a memberin the following circumstances:

Where more than 50% of the members who would be entitled to vote at a meeting are prohibited from voting OR
Where the number of members that are prohibited from voting at a meeting would upset the political balance of the meeting to the extent that the outcome of voting would be prejudiced

5.3Standards Committees must ignore any dispensations that have already been given to others at the meeting to decide whether either criteria apply.

5.4A Standards Committee can decide the nature of any dispensation it grants. For example the dispensation may allow a member to speak and not vote, or to fully participate and vote. The Committee can also decide how long the dispensation should last, although it cannot be longer than four years.

5.5The applications for dispensation which have been received other than that concerning Development Control Committee relate to participation in meetings which are not covered by the mandatory provisions of the Code of Conduct and so the provisions for dispensation set out in the Regulations as mentioned above do not apply to those applications. Members can, therefore, determine the basis on which to grant dispensation themselves but it is suggested that the Committee apply the similar principles when considering the applications as it would if considering applications relating to meetings covered by the mandatory code provisions.

6.Criteria

6.1It is for the Standards Committee to decide what criteria they will apply when considering a request and as mentioned previously in this report other than one application the applications before the Committee are not within the statutory provisions relating to dispensations. The Standards Board has published guidance on the criteria that a Standards Committee may consider adopting when deciding whether to grant a dispensation in relation to meetings covered by the mandatory code (attached as Appendix 1) and may be of assistance.

7.What Happens Next

7.1 The decision of the Standards Committee will be recorded in writing and kept with the Register of Interests established and maintained under Section 81(1) of the Local Government Act 2000.

7.2 There is no right of appeal from the decision of the Standards Committee.

8.Financial Implications

None

100910 dispensations