Minutes

Minutes of the Standards Committee of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 17 January 2003 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members:

• Stephanie Caplan
• Nicholas Long
• Eric Ollerenshaw
• Ian Whitburn
• Cecile Wright

MPA Officers:

• Catherine Crawford (Clerk)
• Simon Vile (Head of Secretariat)

Part 1

1. Appointment of Chair and Deputy Chair

(Agenda item 1)

The Clerk invited nominations for the position of Chair of the Committee for the remainder of the municipal year, up to the Authority’s annual meeting in June. It was moved, seconded and

Resolved – That Cecile Wright be appointed Chair of the Committee for the remainder of the municipal year.

Cecile Wright thereupon took the Chair and invited nominations for the position of Deputy Chair. It was moved, seconded and

Resolved – That Ian Whitburn be appointed Deputy Chair of the Committee for the remainder of the municipal year.

2. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 2)

An apology for absence was received from Jennette Arnold and for late arrival from Nicholas Long.

3. Declarations of interest

(Agenda item 3)

None received.

4. Minutes

(Agenda item 4)

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 1 March 2002 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

5. Ethical framework update

(Agenda item 5)

Members considered a report by the Clerk giving an update on a number of issues relating to ethical standards and the role of the committee. In particular the report addressed the possible content of Section 66 Regulations which were expected at the end of the month, the work of the Standards Board for England and issues relating to the MPA.

Various issues came up in the discussion. Of concern to more than one member was the process for making complaints or allegations against members. The requirement that all complaints must be made direct to the Standards Board made the process unwieldy and, particularly for local authorities in the run up to elections, open to manipulation. It might be better if local standards committees were given a role to ‘sift’ complaints and allegations before they were passed to the Standards Board.

With regard to the registration and declaration of members’ interests, gifts etc, it was recognised that Assembly members appointed to the MPA could at times have difficulty identifying whether, for instance, hospitality accepted related to their Assembly role or their MPA role. It was agreed that it would be helpful if the Authority liaised with the Greater London Authority on a regular basis, say every six months, to compare registers to see whether any crossover was necessary.

Reservations were also expressed about the External Auditors recommendation that gifts and hospitality declined should also be declared. This was contrary to the advice given by the Standards Board for England and could place Assembly members in a difficult position given the number of invitations that were declined in the normal course of their business. It was agreed to raise this issue when the External Audit report was put to the next meeting of the Audit Panel in March.

It was agreed that when the Section 66 Regulations were made, it would be necessary to offer members of the Standards Committee training on conducting hearings. However, it might be better if this was done as near as possible to a first hearing. It might also be possible to carry out training jointly with the GLA and LFEPA.

With regard to the Standards Board conference in June, it was agreed that members would be circulated with information when available and invited to attend at that stage.

Resolved – That the report be noted, subject to the action referred to in the text of the minute above.

6. Members’ job profiles, allowances and expenses

(Agenda item 6)

The committee considered a report by the Clerk.

The committee supported the idea of job profiles for members, as set out in the report. It was agreed, however, that an appraisal scheme for individual members was both impractical and inappropriate. Instead, it was suggested that each committee could be asked to produce an annual report on its activities. Individual members, lead members or otherwise, could be invited to contribute to this to enable free expression of individual members’ views.

On a related point, it was recognised that when the MPA membership is reappointed in 2004, a realistic description of the role should be included in the recruitment pack as the role has proved far more demanding than first envisaged.

With regard to the members’ expenses scheme, the proposed scheme in appendix B of the report was supported, subject to:

• rail travel: that members should be entitled to travel first class if the journey exceeds 70 miles. For shorter journeys, standard class should be used
• the occasions quoted when use of taxis may be acceptable to include ‘when carrying sensitive papers’

It was also agreed that any review of members’ declared interests or future reports on allowances and expenses paid to members should come to the Standards Committee in the first instance.

Resolved - to recommend to the Authority:

1. the adoption of the job profiles set out in appendix A to the report;
2. that an appraisal process for individual members should not be taken forward, but that each committee be asked to produce an annual report on its activities;
3. that the members’ expenses scheme set out in appendix B be approved subject to the amendments set out above; and
4. that the additions to the Members’ Allowances Scheme set out in paragraph 17 of the report be approved.

7. Next meeting

It was agreed to hold the next meeting of the Committee in May.

The meeting ended at 10.55 a.m.

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