Agenda item

(a)       that recommendations 4, 6 and 7 be adopted voluntarily by the Council;

(b)       that the process to achieve a common agreement through the National Forum on the threshold for declarations of any gifts as suggested in recommendation 1, be started as agreed with the Monitoring Officer; and

(c)        that no action be taken on the remaining recommendations outlined in paragraph 1.04 of the report pending Welsh Government consultation and the national model in due course.  

The Monitoring Officer presented the report.  He provided background information and explained that the Standards Committee kept all the codes and protocols in the Constitution under rolling review to ensure they were up to date and pertinent. As the Code was mandatory the key question is whether it adequately covers behaviours that would be inconsistent with the Nolan principles or unacceptable. The Penn Review recommended some changes to the Code (as listed in the report) which would require legislation to implement. The Welsh Government would consult on what legislation was needed to implement the Code next year.

The Monitoring Officer advised that some of the suggested changes could be adopted voluntarily in anticipation of future changes to the Code, although they might need to be re-amended to reflect the national model in due course.  The Committee were asked to consider the summary of suggested changes as detailed in paragraph 1.04 of the report. 

David Davies commented on the additional burden placed on local authorities in recommendation 8, by requiring that any complaint should be considered for local resolution before it could be referred to the Public Services Ombudsman.  The Monitoring Officer responded to the comments made and referred to his response to the proposals in paragraph 2.01 of the report. 

Gill Murgatroyd spoke in support of the change in recommendation 4.

Councillor Antony Wren commented on the current threshold for declaration of Gifts, hospitality, or material benefit, and said that the impact of inflation needed to be considered.  The Monitoring Officer acknowledged the point made and suggested that local authorities across Wales could review collectively and agree a revised figure for consistency. 

The Monitoring Officer provided clarification in response to the questions raised by the Chair on recommendations 2 and 7.

The Monitoring Officer provided further information to the request from Councillor Andrew Parkhurst for clarification around recommendation 6.  The Monitoring Officer advised that the obligation was to report the criminal behaviour of others and the suggestion was that Councillors would be required to self-report if they were convicted of an offence. 

Mark Morgan supported all recommendations in principle except recommendation 8. 

Following advice from the Monitoring Officer in response to the further questions raised by members on recommendations 1 and 2, Mark Morgan proposed that recommendations 4, 6 and 7 be adopted voluntarily by the Council and this was seconded by Councillor Antony Wren.  It was also proposed that the process to achieve a common agreement through the National Forum on the threshold for declarations of any gifts, to introduce consistency as suggested in recommendation 1, be started as agreed with the Monitoring Officer.  The proposal was moved by Councillor Antony Wren and seconded by David Davies.  It was agreed that no action would be taken on the remaining recommendations outlined in paragraph 1.04 of the report pending Welsh Government consultation and the national model in due course.  

RESOLVED:

(a)       that recommendations 4, 6 and 7 be adopted voluntarily by the Council;

(b)       that the process to achieve a common agreement through the National Forum on the threshold for declarations of any gifts as suggested in recommendation 1, be started as agreed with the Monitoring Officer; and

(c)        that no action be taken on the remaining recommendations outlined in paragraph 1.04 of the report pending Welsh Government consultation and the national model in due course.