To receive a verbal report on the current position including training delivered to Borough Councillors and Parish and Town Councillors following the elections in May 2015.  

7.1             The Monitoring Officer explained that the Committee had been kept appraised of developments as the new standards regime had been implemented and at some point the Committee would need to review the Code of Conduct to ensure it was still relevant. One thing that she had not done yet was to publish the Register of Interest forms for all Borough and Parish/Town Councillors. The reason for this was that the requirement to declare the interests of a spouse/partner was, in her view, contrary to data protection and human rights legislation. The Monitoring Officer had always maintained the view that, when the requirement to include the details of a Councillor’s spouse/partner on the Register of Interest form had been implemented, it had not been subject to proper consultation and therefore was not valid. Unfortunately to date no other Monitoring Officers had wished to challenge the Government and as such there was no appetite from the Government to change the rules.

7.2             The Transparency Agenda currently being rolled out to Parish/Town Council Clerks said that their Councillors’ Register of Interests had to be published on the web so Clerks were starting to have concerns that this had not yet been done. The Monitoring Officer had reiterated that, ultimately, the responsibility for this lay with her, as all Members had completed their forms, and she had been comfortable with this. An apparent mistake in the law had meant that the new rules did not appear to apply to sitting Councillors so, in her view, she had not had to conform until after May 2015 anyway. This did, of course, mean that the issue now needed to be addressed following the Borough and Parish Elections when all Members had been newly elected.  In terms of the requirement to put the details of spouses/partners on a Councillor’s Register of Interest form, this had been included in the nomination packs for the elections so that people were aware prior to standing for election; the Monitoring Officer knew of some Councillors that had not stood again, or had been put off from standing, because of it which she felt was a shame.

7.3             Referring to a recent training session for Parish and Town Councils, the Monitoring Officer expressed the view that it had been well received; although the attendance levels had been disappointing. She was anxious that Clerks and Councillors better understood the role that the Borough Council played which was for conduct matters only and not for legal/procedural advice. The Parish representative on the Committee indicated that the training had been very helpful and he felt that many more Councils should have sent representatives. The Monitoring Officer concurred that some Parishes had sent a number of representatives and there had been good questions and participation from those that had attended. She had sent the slides of the presentation to those that had not been present in the hope they would offer some guidance but they would be more helpful to those that had attended as she had provided extra context at the session.

7.4             In respect of the legislation in terms of Register of Interests, a Member questioned whether a spouse had a right under the Data Protection Act not to give the information requested. She felt that there were many spouses that would not want to provide their information and, since it was not them that were putting themselves forward for public office, there seemed to be no reason why this should be a requirement. In response, the Monitoring Officer indicated that she shared that view. Unfortunately, it was not a matter of whether they wanted to have it disclosed; the test was that the Member had to declare it if the information was known to them. The whole point was that a Member should not participate in something that could affect themselves or their family but the Monitoring Officer did not think the change in rules was necessary as the guidance had been clear before and had worked well. The Monitoring Officer undertook to write to the Parish and Town Clerks in good time ahead of publishing the forms on the internet.

7.5             Accordingly, it was

                  RESOLVED          That the update provided on the Localism Act 2011 – Code                                     of Conduct Regime be NOTED.