Minutes:
The Director of Law and Corporate Governance submitted for information a copy of a recent article which appeared in the Winter 2007 Training Brief published by LGG setting out the implications, in terms of regulation of the conduct of Members, of the High Court’s overturning of the Mayor of London’s suspension from office by the Adjudication Panel for England.
Ken Livingstone had successfully argued that the words “in performing his functions” in Section 52 of the Local Government Act 2000 limited the scope of the Code of Conduct and that it was not intended that it should affect what a Member did in his/her private life. As a result of the High Court Judgement under the current Code of Conduct a Member who shoplifted or was guilty of drunk driving would not be caught by the Code if the offending had nothing to do with his position as a Member.
One of the consequences of the High Court judgment was that the Government in the revised draft Model Local Code of Conduct had revised paragraph 4 relating to Members bringing their office or authority into disrepute to include criminal offences. The Committee in response to Government’s Consultation Paper on the revised draft Model Code had indicated that confining action to criminal convictions was too restrictive and should be extended to include serious civil issues.
Resolved - That the information report now submitted be noted.