Agenda item

Consider new Code of Conduct for Councillors.  (Draft new Code and Guidance attached.)

2.1       Copies of the draft Code of Conduct for Councillors, as laid before Parliament, and the Guidance notes, had been circulated.  Parliament had approved the Code on 7 December 2022.  The Chief Legal Officer, Mrs Nuala McKinlay, explained that she would arrange to send out a copy of the new Code to all Members and thereafter organise a briefing for Members, with training if Members requested this.  The changes to the Code included the use of the first person (“I”) rather than “you”, which helped Members own and take responsibility for the Code.  The rules for behaviours had not changed but had been expanded.  It was Members’ responsibility to understand the impact their actions were having on others e.g. bullying.

2.2       There were changes to the rules around gifts and hospitality which had been tightened up and the default now was that Members would not accept these.  Members could accept those items which were deemed to be minor or token or low value or a civic gift or hospitality which could reasonably be expected and also agreed in advance by Council.  Previously officers held (and published) a copy of the Members’ Hospitality Register but that was no longer required as the Standards Commission expected Members not to accept gifts/hospitality.  If a Member did decline a gift, they would tell the Monitoring Officer who would keep a note of that.  If a Member considered refusing a gift would cause offence, then it could be accepted in terms of section 3.19 of the Code and handed over to the Council. 

2.3       A new category had been added to the Register of Interests which required a Member to register an interest if a close family member had transactions with the Council.  There was guidance to go with this part so the Council could properly identify in the accounts and had procedures in place to deal with this.  That part would come into force in May 2022 and forms would be updated to reflect this after the election.  The Declaration of Interest section had also now changed in an attempt to provide clarity.  This had been broken down into two steps:  Do I have a connection with this matter?  Is that a connection that is someone knew about it would object?  In response to a question, Mrs McKinlay confirmed that the Code applied to local authority Councillors and not to Community Councillors and the Standards Commission did not have power over Community Councils.  The Clerk to the Council added that the Community Council Scheme was currently under review, with aspects of it being strengthened, including on complaints.  In response to a question about different interpretations being made about the Code in different local authorities, Mrs McKinlay confirmed that there was a SOLAR Monitoring Officers Group which met regularly and discussed cases and interpretation of the Code to ensure there was commonality.  The Ethical Standards Commissioner and the Standards Commission were the ones to provide the most important interpretation.  The Monitoring Officers had gone back to the Commission asking for further guidance on the value of a gift as that had been picked up as an area of uncertainty. 

DECISION

AGREED:

(a)        to hold  a briefing for Elected Members on the new Code of Conduct; and

(b)        that details and guidance on the Code of Conduct would be included in the induction training for new Councillors after the May 2022 election.