Agenda item

(In accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct as contained in the Council’s Constitution, Councillors Chris Baron and David Hennigan had previously declared Non-Registrable Interests in relation to this item.  Their interests were such that they remained in the room and took part in the discussion and voting thereon.)

As part of the Ethical Governance framework, the Director of Legal and Governance (and Monitoring Officer) gave an update regarding Gifts and Hospitality, Politically Restricted Posts and Members’ Code of Conduct Complaints.

Gifts and Hospitality

Following on from the Committee on Standards in Public Life best practice recommendation 5, which stated that local authorities should update their gifts and hospitality register at least once per quarter and should publish it in an accessible format, the Committee had previously agreed the following:

·       to develop a Register on the Council’s Website.

·       to introduce quarterly reporting through Committee

·       produce a Guidance Note for Members (in line with the annual reminder).

In relation to the register, the Council ‘Modern.gov’ report management software was currently being upgraded and would feature a facility to enable Gifts and Hospitality to be recorded on it and published in a similar way to the Register of Members’ Interests. It was envisaged that the upgrade would be completed by the end of August and Committee would receive a summary update thereafter.

Politically Restricted Posts

The Council was required to hold a list of designated politically restricted posts which included Chief Officers, Service Managers and officers falling under the ‘politically sensitive’ designation. The list should be reviewed regularly to ensure it remains up to date with the last review being undertaken by the Council in June 2018. Members were advised that work would commence shortly with HR to update the list and once formalised, consultation would be undertaken with the Council’s Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) and its Trade Unions as per the agreed process. 

Members’ Complaints

There had been 8 new complaints since the last update and 6 previous complaints had now been completed.  In accordance with the schedule attached to the agenda, any outstanding complaints were still going through due process and would be reported on in due course.  It was acknowledged by Committee that there was often an upsurge in complaints following an election and these would be dealt with by officers as soon as practicable.

A Members asked why a particular complaint was still not concluded after 2 years and Committee were advised that the case was complicated and had proved difficult due to the status of the complainant and the fact that various solutions had been suggested but not furthered.

During a short discussion Members expressed their concerns that many of the complaints were frivolous and politically motivated and were wasting officers’ time.  It was agreed that it was an opportune time to review the complaints process to consider if any changes could be made to speed up the process and equip officers with options to disregard any such complaints more swiftly.

It was also acknowledged that some complaints from the public about Members were just frustrations following service requests not being expedited quickly enough by the Council.  These types of complaints needed to be fed back into their appropriate Directorates and expectations managed accordingly.

RESOLVED that

a)    the update regarding Committee on Standards in Public Life best practice recommendation 5 regarding gifts and hospitality, be noted;

b)    the Monitoring Officer (being the appointed proper officer for the purposes of maintenance of the list) be authorised to carry out a review of the existing list of politically restricted posts with the support of HR and thereafter consult with the Trade Unions in respect of the revised list before reporting back to the next meeting of the Committee with any changes, deletions or additions for approval;

c)    the updated position in respect of Members’ Code of Conduct complaints as set out in Appendix 2, be also noted.