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There is no summary of this meeting yet. One is written once the council publishes the minutes. The agenda and papers are below.
In accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by the City & County of Swansea, no interests were declared.
Resolved that the Minutes of the Standards Committee held on 10 April 2026 be approved and signed as a correct record subject to the amendment of minor typographical errors as outlined below: Minute 25 – “Community / Town Councillor Engagement” Paragraph 5 – replace “interests with also discussed…” with “interests were also discussed….” Paragraph 7 – replace “be devised and well as….” with “be devised as well as…”.
The Head of Democratic Services presented the Standards Committee Annual Report 2025-2026. The report described how the Committees functions had been discharged during the previous year. During discussions, the Committee requested that the Head of Democratic Services invite the Ombudsman to attend a future meeting of the Standards Committee to discuss the investigation process including reasons for discontinuing cases and more details on the two-stage test. Resolved that: 1) The Standards Committee Annual Report 2025-2026 be approved and forwarded to Council for information.
The Head of Democratic Services presented a report to provide the responses received from the questionnaire seeking the views of Community / Town Councillors regarding their awareness and training needs relating to the Code of Conduct. Resolved that: 1) The findings from the questionnaire responses be noted. 2) The proposals set out in paragraph 18 be approved: i) The Monitoring Officer provide Members Code of Conduct Training annually. ii) The Monitoring Officer considers providing short Training Sessions (possibly pre-recorded Videos) or relating to key areas of the Code of Conduct such as Personal & Prejudicial Interests. iii) Community / Town Councils be reminded that the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (PSOW) has excellent online resources relating to the Code of Conduct https://www.ombudsman.wales/publications/ iv) Community / Town Councils be reminded to read the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (PSOW) Practical case studies and scenarios that are issued periodically. v) Community / Town Councils be reminded that One Voice Wales offers monthly training modules relating to all aspects of the role of a Community / Town Councillor. https://www.onevoicewales.wales/ vi) Community / Town Councils be reminded of the One Voice Wales Civility & Respect Pledge. https://www.onevoicewales.wales/blog/launch-of-one-voice-wales-civility-and-respect-pledge/ 3) The report be updated and forwarded to all Community / Town Council Clerks for dissemination to their Councillors. 4) The report findings and details of the toolkit be presented to a future meeting of the Community Town Council Forum and an invitation be extended to Members of the Standards Committee.
The Chair provided a verbal update from the National Standards Committee Chairs Forum held on 29 June 2026. The update included information relating to: • Adjudication Panel for Wales (APW) Tribunal reforms • Quarterly complaint statistics. • Ombudsman triage processes. • Training and Development of Standard Committee Chairs. • Recent Cases of interest. • Local Resolution Protocol Workshops including 2 papers reflecting on stakeholder feedback.
The Head of Democratic Services presented a “For Information” report to update the Standards Committee on decisions made by the PSOW in relation to allegations that Local Authority and Community / Town Councillors had breached the Code of Conduct. The report had been revised to include additional information requested by the Committee. It was requested that the reporting period be included on future reports.
Councillors must say when they have a personal link to something being discussed, such as a job, a property or a family member. A prejudicial interest is one strong enough that the councillor usually leaves the room and takes no part.
Declarations are read from the minutes once they are published.
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