To note attendances, including officers, and any apologies for absences.

The Chair and Vice-Chair were not present at the meeting. The Democratic Officer asked if any Councillors would nominate themselves to take the Chair. Councillor Western nominated herself and this was moved and seconded.

RESOLVED: That Councillor Western chair the meeting.

To note the Membership, including Chair and Vice-Chair, of the Standards Committee as agreed at the Annual Council Meeting held 22May 2024.

RESOLVED: That the membership be noted.

To note the Terms of Reference of the Committee as agreed at the Annual Council Meeting held 22 May 2024.

RESOLVED: That the terms of reference be noted.

To receive and, if so determined, to agree as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 7 March 2024.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 7^th March 2024, be approved as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

To consider a report of the Consitutional Working Group from the Monitoring Officer.

Councillor Western (in the Chair) introduced the report which had been completed by the Monitoring Officer and the Constitutional Working Group (CWG). The Chair highlighted a set of amendments shared by the Liberal Democrat group in writing which were to be considered in the meeting.

The Monitoring Officer informed the Committee that the CWG was a cross-party group, convening on an ad-hoc basis to look at the Council’s Constitution. The group convened following the amended Motion 7a – Focus on Trafford – being carried at the Council meeting on the 18^th March 2024. The objective of the CWG meetings was to look specifically at improving the quality of meetings of the full Council.  The CWG had had two meetings and reached out to group leaders to explore the Constitutional changes that groups would like to see. Discussions in the meetings and feedback from Leaders had brought together the report laid out in the agenda.

The Committee had been provided with some written comments submitted by Councillor Frass prior to the meeting. The Monitoring Officer had provided comments and responses to points made by Councillor Frass. The Monitoring Officer proposed that the Committee start by discussing and commenting on the report, then move onto discussing the amendments suggested by Councillor Frass, with any suggested amendments then taken back to the CWG. The CWG did not have to take on the suggestions of the Committee, however, areas suggested by either Standards or Scrutiny, which the CWG did not agree with, would be referenced in the report that went to Council.

Councillor Acton criticised the current process in the Council Chamber and applauded the work done by the CWG to produce the report.

Mr. Griffiths, around moving petitions from full Council to the Executive, asked whether the Executive was as open a forum as full Council with the same exposure. The Monitoring Officer responded that the discussion had around petitions was looking at the experience for the petitioner and how the conversation might be more interactive at an Executive meeting. Mr. Griffiths followed up, asking how many petitions had met the threshold in the past 12 months. The Monitoring Officer did not have the exact figure, but that it was definitely less than six. The Chair added that the general feeling of the CWG was that the Executive provided a less daunting and more informal experience. 

Mr. Brown asked if the overriding intention of the report was to improve discussion at Council meetings. The Monitoring Officer responded that it was.

Councillor Spencer enquired what the CWG’s feelings and discussions were around questions from Members at Council which were casework related, and whether this was the correct forum for these to be asked. The Monitoring Officer responded that there was a long discussion around how to tackle these questions. The focus of the discussion was to look at improving how casework enquiries were handled to ensure Members were aware of which were the right channels and right people to contact before bringing it  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.