The Code of Conductin Practice

Confidence in Local Democracy

Zoom15 June 2020

Legislative Framework

• The Localism Act 2011 (took us back more or less to the pre-2000 position)

– Abolition of the Standards Board– General duty to promote and maintain high standards of

conduct – Each council has its own Code – Code must be consistent with the “Nolan” principles and

the rest of the 2011 legislation, but no national model– Must have in place “arrangements” for dealing with

alleged breach of the Code – Sanctions available are very limited

Acceptance of Office• Declaration

I [ (name) ] having been elected to the office of [ (office) ] of[ (council) ] declare that I take that office upon myself, and will

duly and faithfully fulfil the duties of it according to the best of my judgment and ability.

Signed ……………………………………..Dated ……………………………………..

• No direct reference to the Code

General Principles of Public Life

Seven Principles of Public Life

SelflessnessHolders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest.

IntegrityHolders of public office must avoid placing themselves under any obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence them in their work. They should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends. They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.

Seven Principles of Public Life

ObjectivityHolders of public office must act and take decisions impartially, fairly and on merit, using the best evidence and without discrimination or bias.

AccountabilityHolders of public office are accountable to the public for their decisions and actions and must submit themselves to the scrutiny necessary to ensure this.

Seven Principles of Public Life

OpennessHolders 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.

HonestyHolders of public office should be truthful.

Seven Principles of Public Life

LeadershipHolders of public office should exhibit these principles in their own behaviour. They should actively promote and robustly support the principles and be willing to challenge poor behaviour wherever it occurs.

Principles based, not rules based

Register of Interests

• Includes your interests and those of your partner/spouse• Public record of your interests• Must complete within 28 days of taking office• Must notify Monitoring Officer of any changes within 28

days• Allows others to know what interests you have and whether

they might give rise to a possible conflict of interest• Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI) and “other” interests• Criminal offence – Fine up to Level 5 on Standard Scale and

disqualified from office for up to 5 years

Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

• An employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain

• Payments for expenses in carrying out your duties (other than from the council)

• A contract between you and the council• Any beneficial interest in land in the area• Any licence to occupy land in the area for a month or

longer

Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

• Any tenancy where the landlord is the council and the tenant is a body in which you have a beneficial interest

• Any beneficial interest you have in securities of a body where that body has a place of business or land in the council’s area and that interest exceeds £25,000 or 100th of total share capital

Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

• You must not (unless you have a dispensation):

• participate in any discussion of the business at the meeting, or if you become aware of your disclosable pecuniary interest during the meeting participate further in any discussion of the business, or

• participate in any vote or further vote taken on the matter at the meeting.

Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

• Leave the room?

• Where your council’s or authority’s standing orders require this, you must leave the room. Even where there are no such standing orders, you must leave the room if you consider your continued presence is incompatible with your council’s code of conduct or the Seven Principles of Public Life.

Personal or “Other” Interests

• Code specific• Inherited provisions from pre-2012 Codes

– If a member of the public with knowledge of the relevant facts would reasonably regard your interest as so significant that it is likely to prejudice your judgement of the public interest…

– might reasonably be regarded as affecting the well-being or financial standing of you or a member of your family or a person with whom you have a close association to a greater extent than it would affect the majority of the Council Tax payers

Personal or “Other” Interests

• Likely to be come under “other” interests– All the things that come up at parish councils!– The housing development opposite your house– The grant to the village hall, where you are a

member of the VH management committee– Business relates to a distant family member, who

is also a councillor– Setting the precept!?

Dispensations

• Possible to apply for a dispensation• Granted by the council (or devolved to the Clerk)• May be granted when:

– without the dispensation so great a proportion of the council or authority would be prohibited from participating in that business as to impede the council’s or authority’s transaction of that business

– without the dispensation the representation of different political groups dealing with that business would be so upset as to alter the likely outcome of any vote

– the granting of the dispensation is in the interests of people living in the council’s or authority’s area

– it is otherwise appropriate to grant a dispensation.

General Obligations

• The Code of Conduct applies to you:– Whenever you act in your official capacity as a

member of the council– Or claim to act, or give the impression you are

acting, in your official capacity or as a representative of your authority

– What about when someone asks you in the pub about a decision the council made on a planning application?

– What about tonight?

General Obligations

• Treating others with respect:

Ideas and policies may be robustly criticised, but individuals should not be subject to unreasonable or excessive personal attack. This particularly applies to dealing with the public and officers.

General Obligations

• Bullying and intimidation

You must not bully any person including other councillors, council officers or members of the public. Bullying may be characterised as offensive, intimidating, malicious, insulting or humiliating behaviour.

General Obligations

• Disclosing confidential information

You must not disclose confidential information, or information which you believe to be of a confidential nature.

General Obligations

• Disrepute

You must not bring your office or authority into disrepute while acting in your official capacity (or at any time through criminal activity that leads to a criminal conviction).

Predisposition, Predeterminationand Bias

• Not part of the Code but from Common Law– Predisposition is OK - Holding a view for or against an issue

but must also have an open mind as to the merits of the arguments for and against, before and up to when they make the final decision at the appropriate meeting of the council

– Predetermination or bias occurs when a Cllr is closed to the arguments for or against an issue and makes their decision on the issue (expressed before or during council debate) without taking full account of the arguments.

Complaints under the Code

• Anyone can make a complaint• Complaint made to local Standards Committee via

the Monitoring Officer (forms on district council web sites)

• Committee includes parish council sector representative and Independent Persons

• Reviewed by Monitoring Officer (with IP)– Request further information– Dismiss– Informal resolution– Investigate or Refer to Police

Complaints under the Code

• If investigated, committee will hear the complaint and may dismiss or uphold. If complaint upheld then sanctions may be applied:– Censure or reprimand the member;– Publish its findings in respect of the member’s conduct;– Report its findings to the Council for information;– Recommend to the Council removal from Committees or Sub-Committees– Instruct the Monitoring Officer to arrange training for the member;– Recommend to Council that the member be removed from all outside appointments to

which he/she has been appointed or nominated by the authority– Withdraw facilities provided to the member by the Council, such as a computer, website

and/or email and internet access; or– Exclude the member from the Council’s offices or other premises, with the exception of

meeting rooms as necessary for attending Council, Executive, Committee and Sub-Committee meetings.

Complaints under the Code

• Sanctions– Toothless system– Brings Code into disrepute– Doesn’t address the behaviour– Doesn’t act as a deterrent so doesn’t protect councillors

and staff– Doesn’t raise ethical standards in public life

• Although evidence suggests that it does!!!

Scenario 1

• Planning

– You are at a council meeting and the next item on the agenda is to discuss a planning application. The address is 8 Church Street. You live much further down the road at 46 Church Street. The application is for a two-storey extension to the side of the property.

– Would you need to declare an interest?

Scenario 1a

• Planning

– You are great friends with the person who lives next door at 10 Church Street who you know is actively objecting to the planning application.

– Would this affect your interests?

Scenario 2

• Social Media

– Your council makes a decision to support an application for 50 houses in the village. After the meeting you tweet a photo of a Nazi concentration camp along with the words “A vote for these councillors in 2021 means more of the same“

– Have you breached the Code?

Changes to the Code?

• Nationally• Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL)

Review of Local Government Ethical Standards -published on 21 January 2019

• Implementation requires priministerial focus and parliamentary time

• Locally• Unitary Councils will have a new Code (2020/21)• New Monitoring Officer (& Deputy MOs)

The Code of Conductin Practice

Confidence in Local Democracy

Zoom15 June 2020