Agenda and minutes

None were declared.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Committee meetings held on the 11

December 2014  and 26 March 2015 be approved as a correct record and

signed by the Chair.

Paul Aladenika, Principal Policy Officer, introduced the report and explained

that this is a standard report presented to the Committee annually.

A brief discussion followed and it was commented that the implementation of

Modern.Gov was a good idea. It was further commented that the use of actual

examples throughout the review was to be commended.

An enquiry was raised as to whether any information on the Lewisham

Congress which met in October 2014 had been published. Paul Aladenika

agreed to make such information available to members of the Committee.

It was also clarified that the outcomes of the Peer Review were reported to 

Business Panel and Overview & Scrutiny Committees as well as to the Mayor

& Cabinet.

RESOLVED that the outcomes of the review be endorsed.

Helen Glass, Deputy Monitoring Officer, introduced the report and explained

there had been two referrals since the last report considered by the Standards

Committee.

In relation to Case A, the Monitoring Officer had referred the matter to the

Executive Director Children and Young People Directorate (CYP)  for the

matter to be dealt with in accordance with the Directorate’s procedures.

Alan Docksey, Head of Resources, CYP, explained to the Committee that on

receipt of the complaint, which related to staffing and management issues at a

school, it was felt appropriate for the issues to be investigated and responded

to by the school and consequently the matter was passed to the Chair of

Governors.

It was further explained that there had recently been a significant amount of

change at the school. The Governing Body had been dissolved and replaced

with an Interim Executive Board (IEB). This matter was being progressed by

the IEB although there was an acknowledgement due to the passage of time

and staff changes that matters may be more challenging to deal with at this

stage. Schools Human Resources Team would assist and offer a view as they

are contracted  to provide human resources advice to the school and would

have knowledge of some of the issues raised.

It was commented that it was for the Council in dealing with complaints

brought under the whistleblowing policy to demonstrate independence and

that it would be appropriate to seek to obtain some corroboration of the

matters complained about before forwarding the matter to the school .

It was suggested that  the better course of action would have been for the

matter to be investigated by the Council and not simply referred to the school.

An effective whistleblowing policy must instil confidence  that people can raise

issues and that those issues will be properly investigated.

There were some comparable comments in relation to Case B. It was also

asked that as that complaint related to safeguarding  was  there not a different

procedure to be adopted. Officers explained that where complaints are made

about safeguarding these are always matters of serious concern and CYP

Directorate will always look for corroboration. However where the complainant

is anonymous and no school identified, in the absence of any further

information, it is very difficult to know how to progress.

It was noted that it seemed to be a generic response  that enquiries about

schools are referred to the school/governing body. A request was made for

the Children & Young Person’s Directorate procedures to be submitted to the

Committee.

In response to an enquiry about timescales in relation to Case A it was

confirmed that this had not been agreed with the IEB. It was agreed that

information in relation to timescales will be  referred back to the Committee.

In relation to Case B members enquired whether the response from the

Monitoring Officer had been sufficiently proactive. The Deputy Monitoring

Officer informed the Committee that she did not have knowledge of the actual

complaint but explained that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

RESOLVED  that Councillors Dacres, Adefiranye, Bell, Elliott, Mallory, and

Gill Butler and Leslie Thomas be members of Standards Sub Committee A.

Councillors Hooks, Bourne, Hall, Moore, Morrison and Cathy Sullivan and

David Roper-Newman be members of Standards Sub Committee B.

The meeting ended at 7:50pm