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Standards Committee
The Standards Committee comprises of eight non elected co-opted members, six district council members and three representatives from the parish councils.
The Standards Committee comprises the following members:
- John Yates (Chairman) (non elected co-optee)
Register of Interests - Mary Dooley (Vice-Chairman)
- Kathleen Belshaw (non elected co-optee) Register of Interests
- Malc Crane
- Hilary Gilmour
- Ann Syrett
- Deborah Watson
- Andrew Gascoyne (non elected co-optee) Register of Interests
- Robert Lilley (non elected co-optee) Register of Interests
- Joanne Hill (non elected co-optee) Register of Interests
- Jean Jaffray (non elected co-optee) Register of Interests
- Dorothy Wright (non elected co-optee) Register of Interests
- Brian Betts (non elected co-optee) Register of Interests
- Tom Munro (Parish Council representative)
Its Terms of Reference, Rules and Procedures and the Conduct of its meetings are contained in Chapter 3 of the Council’s Constitution
The Committee is involved in achieving and promoting high standards of conduct by councillors, and assesses any allegation of misconduct or breaches of our Codes and Protocols. It also deals with any allegations that town and parish councillors have breached their Code of Conduct.
Ultimately any hearings into alleged breaches of the code of conduct for district or parish or town councils can be dealt with by the Standards Committee. Not all cases result in hearings.
If you have a complaint or a concern about the conduct of one of the district’s councillors or a parish or town councillor and you think they may have breached this code, you may be able to make a complaint to our Standards Committee. This should be done in writing on a complaint form and sent to the Monitoring Officer (details below).
Your complaint will be considered in accordance with the approved criteria by a Local Assessment Sub Committee of Standards Committee. This Sub consists of 3 members of the Standards Committee. The Chair must be one of the co-opted non elected members of the Standards Committee and, if the complaint relates to a Parish or Town Councillor, one of the Parish representatives on Standards Committee must be one of the 3 members of the Sub Committee.
The complaint has to be that the Councillor has breached the Code of Conduct. It cannot be about a Council decision or a service delivery issue. Potential complainants should ensure that they have clearly identified the breaches of the Code of Conduct they are alleging against the Councillor. A failure to do so could leave the members of the Local Assessment Sub Committee with the wrong idea as to what the complaint is.
Criteria for assessing complaints.
Other Action and Dispensations criteria are also used in assessing complaints.
To discuss your concern or to obtain a hard copy complaint form direct, please contact Sarah Sternberg, Solicitor to the Council and Monitoring Officer 01246 242414 or email sarah.sternberg@bolsover.gov.uk; or Alan Turner, the Deputy Monitoring Officer 01246 242418 alan.turner@bolsover.gov.uk
Other members of our Legal Services may be able to help in the absence of both the Monitoring Officer and the Deputy Monitoring Officer.
Last Updated on Monday, 04 July 2011 08:32
