The Monitoring Officer advised the Committee
that in January 2019, the Committee for Standards in Public Life
(CSPL) concluded a review into ethical standards in Local
Government.
As part of its review, the Committee made a
wide-ranging set of recommendations.
This included a number of proposals in respect of the existing
legislative framework, as well as a recommendation that the Local
Government Association (LGA) should seek to recommend a model Code
of Conduct across authorities, which, if adopted, would help ensure
consistency for both Councillors and the public in terms of what
was expected from elected representatives.
Accordingly, in June 2020 the LGA commenced
consultation on a draft Code of Conduct; the Consultation invited
interested parties to answer a series of questions in respect of
the draft model Code.
The Chair advised the meeting that each
question as posed by the LGA would be taken in turn, with the
Committee being asked to agree a response on behalf of the
Council.
Once concluded, Members would then be asked to
consider the separate written response the Council would also
provide; a proposed draft of which was attached to the report as
Appendix D.
Considerable discussion took place on this
item with Members considering each of the responses in detail.
The Monitoring Officer also informed the
Committee that she had attended an LGA webinar on the topic during
the previous week and she summarised the discussions that took
place.
It was proposed by Councillor Margaret Marks,
seconded by Councillor Max Clarke and with the vote being
unanimous, it was RESOLVED that
Decision
1.
The Council’s response to the LGA draft Model Code of Conduct
Questionnaire, as attached at Appendix C be agreed as follows:
Question
|
Response
|
1
|
To a great extent
|
2
|
No
|
3
|
Personal (I will)
|
4 and 5
|
Great Extent for all except
point 5, confidential information, to which a comment should be
made that there needs to be an exception for councillors seeking
professional advice or for disclosures genuinely made in the public
interest
|
6
|
As a long list then
guidance
|
7 / 7a
|
To a great
extent, but within the additional
comments include that West Suffolk Council would like to see
respect feature more prominently than just being “respect for
a position”. The Committee recognised that the topics of
respect and civility are very important,
but could be problematic for the purposes of inclusion
within the Code.
|
8
|
Great Extent
|
9 /9a
|
Great Extent but in the
commentary note that the guidance on harassment should be expanded
to reflect that harassment is not just based on a protected
characteristic
|
10 / 10a / 10b
|
No; social media should be
integrated in the Code; and that in the commentary West Suffolk
Council would expect to see greater mention of it
|
11 / 11a
|
Not at all. The Committee are concerned that it is a potential
invasion of privacy for friends / relatives who may not want their
personal affairs to be disclosed simply as they are friends with /
...
view the full minutes text for item 6.
|