Authority details

The Hearings Panel comprises five Members of the Authority’s Standards Committee, selected on each occasion by the Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Committee Chair.  The role of the Panel is to consider the findings of any investigation which has concluded a breach of the Code by an Authority Member (“the Subject Member”) and indicative sanctions.  The Panel, in consultation with the “independent person”, then decides whether or not (on the basis of the evidence available and on the balance of probabilities) a breach of the approved Code has been proven.  If the Panel feels a breach has been proven, the Panel considers whether a sanction should be imposed from the following:

1.    censure the subject member. The Committee will determine the terms and manner of this censure (which may include, but is not limited to, notifying the subject member’s appointing constituent authority and/or arranging for details of the censure to be published in local media circulating in the area of the Authority);

2.    recommend to the full Authority that the subject member be removed from any Committees, Sub-Committees, Working Parties or outside bodies to which they have been appointed or nominated by the Authority;

3.    withdraw any Authority facilities that may have been provided to the subject member (e.g. e-mail accounts);

4.    exclude the subject member from the Authority’s premises (save to the extent that the subject member requires access to attend meetings of the full Authority or any Committee etc. to which the subject member may have been appointed by the Authority);

5.    instruct the Monitoring Officer to arrange for training for subject member.