Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

Amendments Nos. 238ZFC and 238ZFD relate to the treatment of matters referred to the monitoring officer. Clause 194 provides that a monitoring officer may copy an ethical standards officer’s report to any member or officer of the authority. Amendment No. 238ZFC would provide that the standards committee should be added to the list of relevant persons to whom a monitoring officer may send a copy of the report. This is unnecessary because proposed new Clause 65A(4) already provides for the report to be sent to members of the standards committee—that is what ““relevant”” means in that proposed new subsection—as well as to other members and officers who would benefit from the information that the report may contain. We believe that the existing drafting is sufficient to ensure that those with an interest in the report, or those whose knowledge and experience of the system would be improved by seeing it, will be included in the circulation. Clause 195 provides for the ethical standards officer or the standards committee to give directions on how a case should be dealt with when they refer it to the monitoring officer for action. Amendment No. 238ZFD would delete this power. That would seriously hamper the effective operation of the conduct regime by preventing the appropriate officers giving instructions on how particular matters should be handled; for example, in cases in which the ethical standards officer or the standards committee decide whether a particular case should be investigated, or whether other action, such as requiring the monitoring officer to circulate information referred to him for training purposes, would be appropriate. The power already available to ethical standards officers to give directions to monitoring officers is being used proactively to seek mediation between parties to improve the content and availability of training and to ensure that members get access to better information. This is a very positive power with no heavy handed implication that they will be told what to do in all cases. It is there, in essence, to provide guidance on the availability of other options, and removing it would mean that matters could be dealt with only through formal investigation, which is not always the best way forward. It provides for those situations in which a middle way or a lower order of intervention would be appropriate.