Agenda item

The Monitoring Officer submitted for consideration the consultation document entitled “Communities in Control: Real People, Real Power Codes of Conduct for Local Authority Members and Employees” which had been published by the Department of Communities and Local Government in October, 2008.  The document invited comments on a number of proposals namely:-

·  Amendments to the Local Code of Conduct to clarify its application to Members’ conduct when acting in a non-official capacity and to reconfigure the Code into two distinct sections, the first dealing with Members in their official capacity and the second in their non-official capacity.

·  Associated amendments to the Relevant Authorities (General Principles) Order 2001.

·  The introduction of a Model Employees’ Code of Conduct which would form part of the employees’ terms and conditions of employment. 

The deadline for responses to the Consultation Document was 24^th December, 2008 and the government was hoping to implement the proposals so that they came into effect in line with the local government elections in 2009. 

The Monitoring Officer indicated that he was of the view that the proposed changes to the Local Code of Conduct for Members were sensible and a right balance had been struck in applying the Code to Members’ private lives only where a serious criminal offence had been proven.  It was also considered right and proper that local authority employees were subject to a similar code of conduct which mirrored, as far as practicable, the Model Code for Members particularly as some senior employees made decisions on behalf of the Council under the Scheme of Delegation in the Council’s Constitution.

A copy of a proposed draft response to specific questions posed within the Consultation Document was considered by the Committee and the following amendments were proposed.

(1)  That in respect of a response to question 2 the definition of “criminal offence” for the purpose of the Members’ Code should also include Police cautions.

(2)  That in respect of question 9 the proposed timescale of two months during which a Member must give an undertaking to observe the Members’ Code should be reduced to one month.

Resolved -   That the proposed responses to the questions raised in the Consultation Document now submitted be approved subject to the amendments outlined above.