Agenda item

At its meeting on 20^th February 2015, the Standards Committee approved a number of actions in respect of the Members’ Declarations with a view to ensuring that all Members had appropriately responded to the 2014 annual update process.

This report of the Town Clerk sets out how those actions have been progressed since the Committee’s last meeting and also proposes new arrangements in respect of the future management of the Members’ Declarations.

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk in respect of a further update about the Members’ Declarations following the Committee’s decision on 20^th February 2015 that the issue of partial or non-compliance be escalated and the Comptroller & City Solicitor circulate relevant correspondence to certain Members in respect of the annual update and partial or non-compliance. 

With reference to Appendix 1 of the report, the Chairman advised the Committee that the vast majority of Members were now compliant with the requirements of the Code of Conduct and the annual update request, although a further seven to ten Members still appeared either not to have responded to the request for confirmation that no updates were required or they had not yet updated their Members’ Declaration.   A copy of the letter that was sent to some Members by the Comptroller & City Solicitor in respect of incomplete declarations (i.e. no pecuniary interests or gifts and hospitality registered) was tabled for information and the Committee then proceeded to review Appendix 1 and comment on potential non-compliance by some Members who were known to have non-pecuniary interests but whom had not yet made the relevant declarations. 

With regard to what further action could be taken in respect of partial or non-compliance, the Comptroller & City Solicitor tabled a short note detailing a number of possible courses of action that could be considered if the Standards Committee remained dissatisfied with the responses from certain Members to the reminder in relation to the registration of interests.    The list of further actions included the circulation of a further reminder from the Monitoring Officer highlighting the Committee’s dissatisfaction and the importance of compliance.  The Comptroller suggested that each letter could be tailored to an individual Member and indicating that if a response was not received within a specified timescale the Member would be requested to meet with the Chairman of the Committee and the Chief Commoner.

It was suggested that whilst it was helpful that a number of anomalies in registration had been identified by the Chairman of the Committee, this was ultimately based on his own knowledge, and consequently this there might be other omissions which had not been identified.  Furthermore, it was suggested that this potentially masked a bigger problem around understanding of the registration requirements.  However, the Town Clerk outlined the efforts that had been made to communicate the new requirements to all Members. There was widespread agreement about the points raised and it was noted that Members had been afforded a number of opportunities to comply with the Code and respond to the annual update request.  Consequently, it was suggested that a more robust approach should now be adopted to ensure that all Members were compliant within a short period of time and a more significant form of action taken if non-compliance continued.

A Co-opted Member referred to the recent prosecution of a member of a local authority who failed to declare a pecuniary interest and suggested that the example be brought to the attention of those Members who remained partially or non-compliant with the registration requirements.  It was felt that Members should be reminded of the implications of not declaring interests but that the traditional approach for Standards Committees was to encourage and support Members in respect of the governance framework rather than to enforce the regime and investigate non-compliance.  A Co-opted Member suggested that the Committee should act as a watchdog rather than a bloodhound.

The Committee was unanimous that the current evidence of non-compliance warranted further action and it was widely agreed amongst Common Council Members that a potential meeting with the Chief Commoner and the Chairman would reflect the severity of the matter.  A number of Members commented on how the Code of Conduct had been debated at length by the full Court on a number of occasions, both formally and informally, and that, having been approved in October 2014, the Committee was simply acting on the will of the Court to ensure compliance with both the statutory and local requirements as set out in the Code of Conduct.  Consequently, it was agreed that further correspondence should be circulated by the Chairman of the Committee to those Members who appeared to be non-complaint or partially compliant with the City Corporation’s registration requirements.  It was further agreed that all the relevant forms, guidance and a copy of the Member’s existing Declaration should be circulated with that communication and it should be specified that if a satisfactory response was not received within two weeks, the Member would be asked to meet with the Chairman of the Standards Committee and the Chief Commoner (with the Comptroller & City Solicitor in attendance).  That communication would also highlight the possibility of formal proceedings in the event of continued non-compliance. 

Resolved: - That –

(i) the update in respect of the annual update to Members’ Declarations be noted; 

(ii) a letter be circulated by the Chairman of the Standards Committee, on behalf of the Committee, to those Members that remain non-compliant or partially compliant with the registration requirements in respect of the Code of Conduct and that they be invited to update their Members’ Declaration within a period of two weeks, after which time they will be invited to meet with the Chairman of the Committee and the Chief Commoner; and

(iii) the proposal in respect of the future arrangements for managing Members’ Declarations, including the testing and implementation of on-line registration by Members via their intranet page; and the introduction of separate categories of non-pecuniary interests within the on-line form be approved.