Issue - meetings

That the Committee note the changes being recommended by the Standards Committee to Full Council for adoption.

            In presenting the Chief Officer (Governance) explained that the Codes and Protocols within the Constitution were continually reviewed to ensure that they were up to date and relevant.  This document formed part of the Employees Contract of Employment and would be enforced through disciplinary action.  It was explained that the statutory Code of Conduct for employees was different to the Members Code of Conduct.  The Chief Officer then referred to the report and clarified that the text in bold was the statutory text with the non-bold text referring to extra information or requirements included by County Council over the years.  The Code had been reviewed with a number of changes recommended following debate by the Standards Committee and those were summarised at point 1.04 of the report.  Information was provided on the changes and additions which related to behaviour, standing for election, public statements criticising the Authority, use of IT and dress code which had also been included.   

  In response to a question from Councillor Alasdair Ibbotson on section 2.3 of the proposed code the Chief Officer (Governance) suggested the following wording be included  

 “Close personal familiarity between employees and individual councillors in the workplace could damage the relationship and prove embarrassing for other employees.”    It was suggested that further wording be included for when Councillors and employees were in a relationship stating that it was incumbent upon the employee to declare that to their line manager.

In response to Councillor Ibbotson’s second point concerning section 5.01, the Chief Officer felt it was appropriate to fully debate all of the issues and comments that members had.  It was confirmed that the comments from this committee would be presented to full Council.  He also confirmed that if there were any concerns or the need to double check with committee members then this would be carried out by email to ensure all comments were included prior to the finalisation of the report.

In response to a question from Councillor Bernie Attridge on the reporting mechanism for the Officer Code of Conduct, the Chief Officer confirmed that paragraph 8 of the Code required officers to declare an interest where their private lives could conflict with their public duty.  He outlined the differences between the Officer’s Code and Members Code and explained how this was covered within paragraph 8.  This was about the potential in case the need arose.

            Councillor Alasdair Ibbotson moved the recommendation with a small change  “ that the Committee note the changes being recommended by the Standards Committee to Full Council for adoption.”

            The Chief Officer suggested that this was changed following the meeting to incorporate the changes suggested around paragraph 2.3 and 5.1.

The recommendations within the report were approved as moved by Councillor Alasdair Ibbotson and seconded by Councillor Antony Wren .

RESOLVED:

That the Committee note the changes being recommended by the Standards Committee to Full Council for adoption.