Issue - meetings

To receive a report on the Audit & Standards Committee’s recommendations that have been referred to Council in relation to the revised Members’ Code of Conduct.

The Monitoring Officer

(a)  submitted a report which presented a revised Members’ Code of Conduct;

(b)  explained the revised Code was based on the new model code recently produced by the Local Government Association (LGA) following the recommendations made by the Committee on Standards in Public Life;

(c)   advised that the purpose of having a Code of Conduct for Members was to promote high standards of conduct and trust and set out what the public could expect from their representatives;

(d)  stated that the revised code had been locally amended to suit the needs of the Leicestershire authorities.

RESOLVED

Council:

APPROVED the locally amended Code of Conduct as set out at Appendix B in the report and be implemented from 1 April 2022.

(Unanimous)

The Monitoring Officer to submit a report presenting Members with a revised Members’ Code of Conduct for consideration prior to it being submitted to full Council on 16 December 2021 for approval.

Kieran Stockley, Assistant Director for Governance and Democracy introduced the report, the purpose of which was to present Members with a revised Members’ Code of Conduct for consideration prior to it being submitted to full Council on 16 December 2021 for approval.

Ms Stockley highlighted that the Localism Act placed the Council under a duty to maintain high standards of conduct.  The Council was required to adopt a Code, dealing with conduct expected of Members and co-opted Members.  The current Members Code of Conduct was adopted in 2012 and was last reviewed in 2017.  In 2019, the Committee on Standards in Public Life published a report and one of the main recommendations was for the Local Government Association (LGA) to create an updated non-mandatory model Code of Conduct, which local authorities could consider adopting or adapting.  The LGA aimed to develop the Code as a benchmark standard for all public office.  It was issued in January 2021 and updated in May 2021.

Ms. Stockley advised that throughout the year, she had met with Leicestershire Monitoring Officers to review the LGA’s model Code of Conduct and to determine whether any revisions were necessary, to reflect local issues (amendments to the model Code were detailed at paragraph 5.5 of your report).  Monitoring Officers sought to create a common Code across Leicestershire, including parish councils, working closely with the Leicestershire and Rutland Association for Local Councils (LRALC) and recognising Leicestershire’s 2 tier authority status (some Members being both district and county councillors).

Ms. Stockley highlighted that most councils had submitted Codes for approval in the coming month and early next year.  The Council’s locally amended Code had been approved by its Constitutional Review Working Group in October 2021 for submission to this meeting.

During discussion the following points were noted:

·         Should the Code be approved, the Council would deliver a programme of training to include parish councils who adopt the Code.

·         There was guidance within the Localism Act on provision for granting dispensations and this would be included in the training programme.

RESOLVED that the Committee:

1)    Endorsed the locally amended Code of Conduct;

2)    Recommended to Council that the locally amended Code of Conduct be approved and implemented from 1 April 2022.