To recommend to Council a revised code of conduct.

The Chairperson noted that the Local Government Association (LGA) had issued the Model Councillor Code of Conduct and it was recommended that the code be adopted as amended to take account of local amendments, as set out at Appendix 3; the principal differences between the council’s existing code of conduct and the model code were set out at Appendix 4, this had been published in supplement 2 to the agenda.  It was also noted that town and parish councils may choose to adopt the principal authority’s code, to adopt the LGA model code, or make their own code.

The Chairperson reported that Councillor Liz Harvey had written to committee members before the meeting with detailed reasons to consider suggested amendments to the Guidance on Member Model Code of Conduct Complaints Handling, Appendix 2.

In response to questions from committee members, the Interim Head of Legal Services explained:

i.             the current process in relation to complaints and appeals;

ii.            the reasons why the LGA was recommending that no appeals should be heard as part of the internal process for determining code of conduct complaints;

iii.          that it was not proposed that the council should have a pre-assessment committee and the existing initial assessment stage, involving officers and independent persons, would be retained;

iv.          where matters could not be resolved by the Monitoring Officer, the arrangements for formal investigations and for referring matters to the Standards Panel;

v.           that the independent persons were split into two teams, with one team looking at the initial assessment and another which could be accessed by the subject member, but there could be an addendum to specify that the local arrangements would involve at least two independent persons;

vi.          the current lack of effective sanctions that could be imposed by monitoring officers;

vii.         the growing number of complaints about parish councils and the resource implications for the principal authority;

viii.       the process in Herefordshire had been shared with the Committee for Standards in Public Life and with the LGA; and

ix.          parish councils were encouraged to invite the principal authority to provide training on code of conduct issues and complaints.

The Chairperson, referring to the correspondence from Councillor Harvey, read out the suggested amendments to the section on Sanctions in the Guidance on Member Model Code of Conduct Complaints Handling; this is reflected in resolution b) ii) below.  The Interim Head of Legal Services detailed the reasons for the wording and confirmed that there was no impediment to Herefordshire Council adopting the guidance with local amendments, adding that it could not require parish councils to accept it.  The Chairperson noted the ongoing discussions between the government and the LGA, and the Interim Head of Legal Services summarised the recent responses of government to LGA recommendations.

In response to a comment from a committee member, the Chairperson drew attention to the local amendment identified in Appendix 4 to retain ‘any body … is not open to the public without formal membership’ in the ‘Other Registerable Interest – ‘Table 2’ Interests’ section.  It was suggested that clarification be sought on whether an occupation as a social influencer should be included in the list.

Resolved: That

a)               the Local Government Association (LGA) model code of conduct, as amended by local arrangements as set out at Appendix 3, be approved for adoption by Herefordshire Council at the annual Council meeting on 20 May 2022; and

b)               the LGA model arrangements for dealing with code of conduct complaints be adopted and applied to new complaints received after 20 May 2022, subject to:

i)          an addendum to specify that the local arrangements will involve at least two independent persons; and

ii)         the adoption of an amendment to the section on Sanctions as follows:

‘Note that where the subject member is a parish or town councillor, the matter is referred back to their council to say that a breach of the Code has been found and with a recommended sanction. The town or parish council must then meet to consider whether to impose that sanction or to replace it with another relevant sanction. They cannot overturn the finding that there has been a breach of the Code and if they wish to impose a different sanction they should seek advice from the clerk and/or the monitoring officer. The panel should also ask the parish or town council to report back to the monitoring officer within three months to confirm that they have met to discuss the sanction, and if necessary, to write again once the sanction has been fulfilled.’

Action(s):

Action 151:     Clarification be provided as to whether an occupation as a social influencer should be included in the list of ‘Other Registerable Interests – ‘Table 2’ Interests’.