Minutes

Minutes of the Standards Committee of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 1 March 2002 at Romney House, 43 Marsham Street, SW1.

Present

Members:

• Jennette Arnold
• Reshard Auladin
• Cindy Butts
• Stephanie Caplan
• Cecile Lothian
• Ian Whitburn

MPA Officers:

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

Part 1

1. Introductions and welcome

(Agenda item 2)

The Clerk welcomed all concerned to the first meeting of the Standards Committee. In particular she welcomed Stephanie Caplan and Ian Whitburn as the two members who were independent of the Authority, and expressed the Authority’s appreciation that they had agreed to act in this capacity.

2. Appointment of Chair and Deputy Chair

(Agenda item 3)

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 Lothian be appointed Chair of the Committee for the remainder of the municipal year.

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

RESOLVED – That Jennette Arnold be appointed Deputy Chair of the Committee for the remainder of the municipal year.

3. An overview of the new ethical framework

(Agenda item 4)

The Clerk introduced this report which gave an overview to the new ethical framework, the role of the Standards Board for England and of the Standards Committee itself. She explained that it would become clearer over time what the respective roles of the Standards Board, the Authority’s Standards Committee and herself as Monitoring Officer would be, particularly in terms of complaints about members’ conduct. Although at present it was the case that all complaints had to be sent direct to the Standards Board, it was possible that the Board would refer lower level complaints back to the Authority to investigate and resolve. Some form of local discretion may also develop to give the Monitoring Officer some role before a complaint is referred to the Standards Board.

Similarly there were a number of roles that the MPA might ask the Standards Committee to take on, such as validating or quality assuring some of its policies. With the introduction of a new Members’ Allowances Scheme which is based on the payment of basic and special responsibility allowances, the Clerk has been asked to develop some performance measures to assess how well Members have performed against a ‘job description’ for their role – it may well be appropriate for the Committee to become involved in this process.

After discussion it was

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

4. A members’ code of conduct for the Metropolitan Police Authority

(Agenda item 5)

The Committee considered a report proposing the adoption of the government’s model code as the MPA’s members’ code of conduct. The report also addressed the consequential action that would be needed following adoption of the code.

The committee commented that guidance to members on key aspects of the code would be important. If this guidance was produced inhouse, it would be important to get legal advice on its accuracy. Clearly, the identification and declaration of interests would be one aspect of the code which members would need to be aware of. However, other aspects of the code could prove equally important. For instance the requirement not to disclose confidential information would present a challenge to members given the amount of confidential and sensitive issues they dealt with. Arguably, recent events connected with the Sema contract were a case in point.
The committee agreed that it would be sensible to adopt the government’s model code, at least in the first instance. This would then give the committee an opportunity over time to reflect on what other provisions might usefully be added to the MPA’s code.

RESOLVED –

1. That the Authority be recommended to adopt the model code of conduct as its code; and
2. that the Committee notes the consequential action that will be taken by the Clerk, as set out in paragraphs 4 to 7 of the report.

5. Future work of the committee

(Agenda item 6)

This issue had to some extent already been covered under agenda item four, particularly in terms of the kinds of areas where the committee’s role might develop.

Stephanie Caplan and Ian Whitburn were invited to attend the next meeting of the Authority, on 25 April, when adoption of the code of conduct would be considered. If they had time on that day further induction could also be arranged.

6. Next meeting

It was agreed to hold the next meeting of the committee on Wednesday, 29 May at 12 noon.

The meeting ended at 2.45 p.m.

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