The Democracy and Standards Committee of West Northamptonshire Council met to discuss proposed amendments to the council's constitution, receive an update on code of conduct complaints, and review member development and training. The committee was also scheduled to review its work programme for the year.

Proposed Amendments to the Constitution

The committee was scheduled to consider proposed updates to the council's constitution and make recommendations to the Full Council. According to the report pack, the council's constitution sets out how the council operates, how decisions are made, and the procedures followed to ensure efficiency, transparency, and accountability.

Several specific amendments were proposed:

• Terms of Reference for the Pensions Fund Committee and Local Pension Board: The council maintains a Pensions Fund Committee and is required to establish a Local Pension Board. Both bodies include co-opted members representing various stakeholders. The constitution did not specify what should happen if replacements for these members could not be found. To address this, the report pack proposed alterations to the terms of reference of both bodies, as well as the Investment Sub Committee, allowing the Monitoring Officer to extend the term of office of any such member by up to 12 months at a time, subject to consultation with the Chair.
• Council Procedure Rules: The audio system in the Great Hall allows members to enter a queueing system to speak during debates. To ensure compatibility with this system, it was suggested that a sentence be deleted from Part 4, Section 27 of the constitution, which required members to provide their names to the Chair before the meeting if they wished to ask questions relating to portfolio holder reports.
• Planning Protocol: The Planning Protocol outlines the conduct expected of members when dealing with planning matters. It was recommended that section 6.8 be amended to clarify members' rights to request an adjournment to seek legal advice. Additional clarifications were suggested, including amending section 1.1 a) to read the applicant and/or their agent and adding language to sections 1.1 b) and 2.1 to provide additional clarity on speaking times.

Code of Conduct Arrangements

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the number of complaints received and dealt with under the Member Complaints Procedure. The report provided statistics on complaints of alleged breaches of the West Northamptonshire Council's Code of Conduct, as well as those of town and parish councils within West Northamptonshire.

The report detailed the nature of each complaint, the Monitoring Officer's initial assessment, any informal resolutions agreed upon, and the current status of the complaint. Specific information regarding pending complaints was not included to avoid prejudice to the ongoing process.

The report also mentioned the Nolan Principles, which outline the ethical standards expected of all those working in the public sector. The councillor name plates for members of the Democracy and Standards Committee had been updated to include details of the Nolan Principles. The committee was scheduled to consider whether all name plates for each committee should consist of the same information.

Member Development Progress and Committee Training Needs

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on member training and development opportunities. The report provided details of training and briefings that members had received since May 2025, including:

• Hitting the Ground Running and a Councillor's Guide to West Northamptonshire Council
• Mandatory training for members of the Planning and Licensing Committees
• Effective and Impactful Scrutiny
• Local Government Finance: The Essentials
• Working Together Effectively Cabinet
• Top Team Executive Leadership Team and Cabinet
• Good effective chairing of meetings
• Data protection and GDPR
• Communications and media relations
• Statutory consideration in lawful decision making
• Safeguarding
• Committee-specific training for members of the Pensions Committee and Audit and Governance Committee

The committee was also scheduled to consider its own training needs, which could include initial training on the new Code of Conduct and Standards regime, further guidance on key issues, refresher training, and training for the Democracy and Standards Sub Committee (Hearings Panel) procedures.

Review of Committee Work Programme

The committee was scheduled to review and note the committee work programme for 2025/2026.