Agenda item

To agree the public minutes of the meeting held on 20^th February 2015.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 20^th February 2015 were approved.

Matters Arising

Item 5: Gifts and Hospitality – Ceremonial Officeholders

The Chairman advised the Committee that Mansion House had confirmed that gifts and hospitality in respect of The Rt Hon the Lord Mayor had been logged since 1^st April 2015 in the manner agreed by the Committee and officers were prepared to publish the first quarterly declaration on-line in June.  The Town Clerk would be speaking further with Mansion House to establish the on-line registration arrangements ahead of further discussions with the Secondary and the Chief Commoner in respect of their declaration arrangements.  The Committee would be further updated in due course.

Item 6: Update to the Members’ Declarations

The Town Clerk tabled a letter from Mark Boleat, Chairman of the Policy & Resources Committee, which had been received following circulation of a letter by the Comptroller & City Solicitor, upon instruction from the Committee at its February meeting that a communication be sent to those Members where partial compliance or non-compliance had been identified. 

The Committee considered the response and a number of comments were raised including the Chairman’s apparent misinterpretation of the Code of Conduct and the role of the Committee which, Members’ felt, had a duty to assist the Court in its statutory duty to promote and maintain high standards of conduct by Members and Co-opted Members of the Corporation, and in particular to assist Members in complying with the revised Code of Conduct which was approved by the Court of Common Council in October 2014. 

The Committee’s view, in respect of valuing gifts and hospitality, was that a common sense test should be adopted of whether a reasonable observer would conclude that the total cost to the provider of making the hospitality available to each person exceeded £100. The Committee considered that the perceived value of the hospitality to the Member personally, and the extent to which the Member had partaken of the hospitality on offer, were not the correct tests. Nor did the Committee think that it was correct to distinguish between events which were intended to be of a business or social nature, so long as the Member had been invited in their capacity as a Member.

A number of the Co-opted Members stressed the importance of public perception, transparency in public life and the reputational risks that arise from an inconsistent approach to what are now widely accepted principles of transparency in central and local government. Whilst noting the special arrangements for the Lord Mayor in respect of the registration of gifts and hospitality, it was also noted that no special arrangements applied to the Chairman of the Policy & Resources Committee and that, therefore, he should not be treated differently from other Members and should be fully compliant with the Code of Conduct.

Whilst the Committee considered that it was its duty to monitor, at reasonable intervals, the register of interests and to assist Members by drawing to their attention what appeared to be obvious omissions or inconsistencies, it recognised that it was ultimately the Member’s responsibility to comply with the statutory and local requirements of the Code and noted that the first prosecution of a former leader of Dorset County Council for the failure to comply with the pecuniary interest rules had resulted in a conviction and a significant fine.

The Committee recognised that the Chairman’s position entailed a considerable amount of hospitality and suggested the publication of a non-confidential appointments diary as a viable solution to reduce the administrative burden. 

In light of the Committee’s views, it was agreed that a further communication should be sent to the Chairman, setting out the Committee’s position in respect of the registration of gifts and hospitality.

Resolved:- That –

(i) the minutes of the last meeting of the Standards Committee which took place on 20th February 2015 be approved; and

(ii) the Town Clerk speak further to the Chief Commoner and the Secondary and Under Sheriff regarding the registration arrangements for other ceremonial officeholders including the Chief Commoner and the Sheriffs; and

(iii) the Comptroller and City Solicitor send a further communication to the Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee, in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Standards Committee, setting out the Committee’s position in respect of the registration of gifts and hospitality.