Agenda for Standards Committee on Monday 30th November 2020, 7.30 pm

Agenda and minutes

Contact: Jonah Anthony 

Items
No. Item

26.

APOLOGIES

Minutes:

An apology for absence was received from Parish Councillor B. Morris.

27.

MINUTES

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting on16 September 2020 (circulated separately).

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting held on 16 September 2020 were agreed as a correct record and noted by the Chairman.

 

The hard copies of minutes will be signed by the Chairman as soon as it is reasonably practicable of alternatively, an electronic signature will be arranged.

28.

DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS BY MEMBERS

To note declarations of Members’ disclosable pecuniary interests, non-disclosable pecuniary interests and non-pecuniary interests in respect of items on this Agenda.

Minutes:

Councillor P.Zukowskyj declared a non-pecuniary interest as appropriate by virtue of being a Member of Hertfordshire County Council.

29.

REVIEW OF CORPORATE ANTI-FRAUD AND CORRUPTION POLICY AND ASSOCIATED POLICIES pdf icon PDF 69 KB

Report of the Corporate Director (Resources, Environment and Cultural Services) to seek comment from the committee on the proposed corporate anti-fraud and corruption policies.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members received a report of the Corporate Director (Resources, Environment and Cultural Services) seeking comment from the committee on the proposed anti-fraud and corruption policies: 

 

 

·        Anti-fraud and corruption

 

·        Anti-bribery

 

·        Anti-money Laundering

 

·        Preventing Tax Evasion

 

 

It was noted that to ensure consistency and a coherent framework these policies had been reviewed together, and the format redesigned.

 

Officers confirmed that the policies were shared with Herts Shared Internal Fraud Service to seek advice and comments. Members were also informed that the way in which the council delivers anti-fraud and anti-corruption activities would be reviewed as part of the modernisation programme. This would coincide with the review phase of relevant contracts currently in place.

 

 

RESOLVED: That the policies be approved

30.

REVIEW OF CORPORATE COMPLAINTS POLICY pdf icon PDF 46 KB

Report of the Corporate Director (Housing and Communities) to seek comment from the committee on the proposed corporate Complaints Policy. The review of the current policy, which was previously approved in December 2018, was brought forward due to updates released by the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members received a report of the Corporate Director (Housing and Communities) to seek comment from the committee on the proposed corporate Complaints Policy. The review of the current policy, which was previously approved in December 2018, was brought forward due to updates released by the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS).

 

Members were informed that failure to comply with the revised Housing Ombudsman Scheme and new Complaint Handling Code, released in July 2020, may result in a failure order being raised against the council.

 

RESOLVED: That the contents of the report and the outcome of the proposed changes to the complaints policy be noted.

31.

REVIEW OF CORPORATE RIPA POLICY AND LIST OF AGREED AUTHORISING OFFICERS pdf icon PDF 23 KB

Report of the Corporate Director (Public Protection, Planning and Governance) to request that the Standards Committee note and agree the proposed changes to the list of RIPA authorising Officers following recent staff changes and to agree that the corporate RIPA policy is updated accordingly, including minor typographical, formatting and other consequential amendments.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members received a report of the Corporate Director (Public Protection, Planning and Governance) to request that the Standards Committee note and agree the proposed changes to the list of RIPA authorising Officers following recent staff changes and to agree that the corporate RIPA policy is updated accordingly, including minor typographical, formatting and other consequential amendments.

 

Officers confirmed that whilst not named specifically as an Authorising Officer, Ka Ng would be an Authorising Officer by virtue of her position as Chief Executive and this was stated in the updated policy.

 

RESOLVED: Committee to note the changes detailed in this report and amended policy and the Monitoring Officer and RIPA Senior Responsible Officer to update the Constitution and Policy accordingly.