Motion 1 – Received 27th November 2023 @ 05:05

Mover: Cllr White               Seconder: Cllr Slade

TRANSPARENCY Council workers deliver services to the public using tax payers’ money, and as such the council expects these staff to exhibit exemplary standards of behaviour. They should behave with integrity and demonstrate an honest, open and transparent attitude to their work.

The Principles of Public Life apply to anyone who works as a public office-holder. This includes all those who are elected or appointed to public office, nationally and locally, and all people appointed to work in the Civil Service, local government and a range of other public bodies and services.

A 2019 Review by the Committee on Standards in Public Life ‘Local Government Ethical Standards’ “…identified a number of risks in the sector: the current rules Page 79 Agenda Item 16 around conflicts of interest, gifts, and hospitality are inadequate; and the increased complexity of local government decision-making is putting governance under strain.”

This motion seeks to identify best practice in Local Government transparency, in particular for Senior staff with formal delegated decision-making powers, or those staff appointed as Directors of organisations on the Councils behalf – and requires the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer to work with the administration and political groups to propose a suitable register of interests for senior staff.

This Council Notes:

1. The Principles of Public Life apply to anyone who works as a public office[1]holder. This includes all those who are elected or appointed to public office, nationally and locally, and all people appointed to work in local government;

2. Of these, the principal of Openness is that: Holders of public office should act and take decisions in an open and transparent manner. Information should not be withheld from the public unless there are clear and lawful reasons for so doing;

3. There is considerable variation in the codes of conduct of Local authorities; 4. Bodies such as the GLA have a registration of interests in a common format for Members and Senior Staff, which reflects the standard template used across the GLA Group;

5. The Local Authority’s constitution and its governance / financial framework vests a number of senior staff with delegated authority or roles where they ‘act as a director in a company that the Council owns or has shares in.

This Council Resolves:

1. That the Head of Paid Service and Monitoring Officer work with the Chair of Audit and Scrutiny, and Leaders of each Political Group to review the Council’s codes of Ethics & Standards for staff and compare these to best practice in the UK.

2. That the review should consider any relevant advice, guidance and reports from: the LGA, the Committee on Standards in Public Life, obligations and statutory duties on local government officers, the National Joint Council for Local Government Services (the Green Book) and the Constitution Salaries Conditions of Service (Joint Negotiating Committee for Chief Officers of Local Authorities) and other sources as may be considered relevant.

3. The review include the development of an appropriate register of interests (e.g. all directorships for senior staff) for senior staff.

4. Officers should report back to the next full council on the development of updated staff codes and the register of interests.

An AMENDMENT was MOVED by Cllr Worsfold and SECONDED by Cllr Kendall:

This Council Resolves:

1.    That the Head of Paid Service and Monitoring Officer work with the Chair of Audit and Scrutiny, and Leaders of each Political Group to review the Council’s codes of Ethics & Standards for staff and members and compare these to best practice in the UK.

2.    That the review should consider any relevant advice, guidance and reports from: the LGA, the Committee on Standards in Public Life, obligations and statutory duties on local government officers, the National Joint Council for Local Government Services (the Green Book) and the Constitution Salaries Conditions of Service (Joint Negotiating Committee for Chief Officers of Local Authorities) and other sources as may be considered relevant.

3.    The review include the development of an appropriate register of interests (e.g. all directorships for senior staff) for senior staff and ensure the requirement for members are aligned with this.

4.    Officers should report back to the next full council on the development of updated staff codes and the register of interests.

The AMENDMENT was ACCEPTED by the mover and seconder of the motion. 

The amended motion became the substantive motion and was discussed.  Cllr Laplain MOVED and Cllr Mynott SECONDED that this should be referred to the Constitution Working Group.  Members voted by a show of hands and this was CARRIED.     

Motion 2 and 3 were withdrawn.