Agenda and draft minutes

County Councillor Frances Taylor declared a non-prejudicial interest in relation to Item 5 on the agenda as a member of Magor with Undy Town Council.

County Councillor Peter Strong declared a non-prejudicial interest in relation to Item 5 on the agenda as a member of Caldicot Town Council.

The minutes of the meeting held on 16^th December 2024 were confirmed as an accurate record.

We noted that there had been discussion around code of conduct training for Community and Town Councils.  This Deputy Monitoring Officer agreed to raise this with the Monitoring Officer following the meeting.

We also noted that the Committee had agreed to continue holding the meetings at 10am but looked to change the date of the December meeting.

The Deputy Monitoring Officer presented the Standards Committee Annual Report 2024/25 for approval prior to reporting to a meeting of Council.

County Councillor Taylor suggested that consideration be given to holding refresher sessions for code of conduct training during the term of Council, rather than only during the induction period.

The Committee requested that this discussion be added to the agenda of the next meeting.

The Committee resolved to accept the recommendation the Standards Committee approves the draft annual report at Appendix 1.

Guidance states that local authorities should have in place a process for dealing with low level, member on member complaints and a route to allow these complaints to be resolved internally, informally and quickly.

MCC does have a local resolution protocol within the current constitution, but through discussions with the All-Wales Monitoring Officers Group it was noted that there were variations between councils, both in terms of the processes associated with local resolution protocols, and with the sanctions that could be imposed under these more informal arrangements.  Therefore, Welsh Government are looking to organise workshops for officers to improve the protocols with the aim of setting a standardised approach.

It was hoped that the new Local Resolution Protocol would be brought to the December meeting.

The Chair presented notes from the National Forum of Chairs of Standards Committees and welcomed comments from the Committee.

The Ombudsman had attended the June 2025 meeting, and an issue had arisen around whether a member should be notified at the point the complaint is made, rather than later.  The process in place at that time was that a member wasn't informed at the point of the complaint being made but was only informed if the complaint proceeded further. They are now committed to informing members at the point where the complaint has been made rather than later in the process.

The Deputy Monitoring Officer presented the report to provide the Standards Committee with the decision notices issued by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales following complaints against elected members in respect of breaches of the Member Code of Conduct.

The Committee resolved to accept the recommendation that the Standards Committee notes the contents of this report and the decision notices attached at Appendices 1-6.

The Committee resolved to move the date of the next meeting to Monday 24^th November 2025 at 10:00am.