Agenda and minutes

In attendance: Neil Asten (Independent Person) and Chris Taylor (Independent Person) were also present at the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Judith Barnes (Co-opted Member), Michael Hudson, Felicity Lusk (Co-opted Member), Anju Sanehi (Independent Person) and Tom Sleigh.

There were no declarations.

To agree the public minutes of the meeting held on 15^th May 2015.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 15 May 2015 were considered and approved as a correct record.

MATTERS ARISING

Item 6: Gifts and Hospitality – Ceremonial Officeholders

The Town Clerk reported that Mansion House had sought clarification regarding certain webpage links earlier this week in order to be able to publish the Lord Mayor’s register of gifts and hospitality online. It was reported that this would be ‘going live’ later this week. The Town Clerk added that there would also be links between the Lord Mayor’s pages and the office holders existing register of interests.

In response to a question regarding the registering of gifts and hospitality for Sheriffs, the Town Clerk reported that there was no longer a stand-alone webpage dedicated to the Sheriffs on the City’s website and that further work was therefore needed to establish where any register might be published, particularly in the case of the Non-Aldermanic Sheriff, where they were not otherwise an elected Member.

In response to a further question regarding the Chief Commoner, the Town Clerk reported that the officeholder was always an elected Member and therefore already had a register of interests published online. The Committee were informed that the officeholder was also supported by staff to ensure that their register was kept up to date. The Committee were therefore of the view that there was no requirement for a separate register to be published in this case.

A Co-opted Member suggested that the importance of maintaining an up to date register of interests should be included within the Job Description for the Chief Commoner going forward.

Item 6: Update to the Members’ Declarations

The Chairman referred to an informal meeting that had taken place earlier in the day with the Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee. The Deputy

Joint report of the Town Clerk and the Comptroller & City Solicitor.

The Committee received a joint report of the Town Clerk and the Comptroller & City Solicitor providing Members with a further update on the annual update to the Members’ Declarations.

The Chairman informed the Committee that all nine of the Members who had been written to and asked to update their register of interests had now done so within the specified deadline. There was, therefore, no need for any further action  by the Committee.

The Town Clerk reported that two new Members had been elected within recent weeks and informed the Committee that it was hoped that declarations would be received by both and published online by next week. It was also noted that a further by-election would be taking place at the end of the week.

RECEIVED.

There were no questions.

Guidance to Members – Members’ Code of Conduct

The Chairman suggested that the Committee take this opportunity to review Paragraphs 19-27 of the Guidance to members in light of some issues highlighted at the informal meeting with the Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee earlier this morning and the general need to encourage a culture of transparency throughout the Corporation.

During discussion, the following points were made:

·        It was suggested that some preamble be added before paragraph 19 stating that the guidance around what should and should not be declared should not preclude Members from making any additional, precautionary declarations in order to encourage an ‘if in doubt, declare’ approach going forward. It was also suggested that the ‘public perception test’ should be referred to within this preamble;

·        It was suggested that paragraph 19 be amended to read “…that might reasonably be perceived to meet the thresholds set out in the Code”;

·        With regard to paragraph 20, it was agreed that the final bullet point regarding approximate values should be removed from the guidance but that reference should still be made to cumulative thresholds. It was then suggested that the first bullet point be expanded to read “description of the gift or hospitality (i.e. tickets to a theatre performance) including, where relevant, its value”. Finally, it was suggested that a note should be added to the third bullet point under paragraph 20 stating that Members should specify both the individual or organisation paying for an event and the individual or organisation from whom the invitation was received, if different;

·        Under paragraph 21, it was suggested that bullet point two (local government dinners) be removed from this list. It was also suggested that the final bullet point under paragraph 21 be removed;

·        It was agreed that paragraph 22 be removed