northlincs.gov.uk

PRESENT: Mr P Kelly (Chair), Councillor Swift (Vice-Chair), Councillors Armitage, Glover, Mrs Simpson and Whiteley.

Mrs Y Aubrey and Messrs D Cuckson, W Harvie, and R Nixon.

173 DECLARATIONS OF PERSONAL OR PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS – There were no declarations of interests.

174 MINUTES – Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of this committee held on 24 July 2008, having been printed and circulated amongst the members, be taken as read and correctly recorded and be signed by the chair.

175 (6) COMPLAINTS UPDATE – The Monitoring Officer reported that two complaints referred by the Standards Board for England were currently being investigated. The report arising from one was expected within the next few weeks and the other shortly afterwards.

Since the new complaints regime had come into place four complaints had been received. All of these had now been considered by an Assessment Sub-Committee. No further action would be taken on one. The remainder were to be investigated, two locally and the third had been referred to the Standards Board for England

Resolved – That the report be noted.

176 (7) ANNUAL REPORT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT OMBUDSMAN – The Monitoring Officer submitted the Local Government Ombudsman’s Annual Letter for the year ended 31 March 2008 for the information of the committee. This indicated that, whilst 25 complaints had been received during the year, there had been no ‘MI Reps’ (where the Ombudsman had concluded an investigation and issued a formal report finding maladministration causing injustice) or ‘M Reps’ (where the Ombudsman had concluded an investigation and issued a formal report finding maladministration but causing no injustice to the complainant)

Resolved – (a) That the report be noted, and (b) that the council be congratulated on its record of having no complaints resulting in MI Reps or M Reps during the year.

At the close of the meeting a training session was held for members using case scenarios supplied by the Standards Board.