Agenda item

(Monitoring Officer) To discuss changes made to the Councillor Code of Conduct and action to be taken by Local Council’s to adopt the new code.

The Committee received a report from the Deputy Monitoring Officer (EFDC) regarding revisions to the Code of Member Conduct. He advised that the Epping Forest District Standards Committee had looked at the Code of Conduct earlier in the year, as part of an overall review of the Council’s Constitution. They had agreed two areas of change to the Code which Epping Forest District Council would like all of the Town and Parish Councils to adopt so that the whole District was covered by the same code.

The two areas highlighted and in need of revision were:

(a)        Dealing with Non-pecuniary interests; and

(b)        Revisions to the Nolan principles.

Dealing with Non-Pecuniary Interests

A recent Investigators report on a Standards complaint case highlighted that the Code did not take effect unless there was a pecuniary interest and remained silent on predetermination in non-pecuniary interest cases. Having rechecked with the Public Law Partnership a later version of their Model Code has the following provision:

“Public Perception

If you have an interest which a member of the public with knowledge of the relevant facts would reasonably regard as so significant that it was likely to prejudice your judgement in the public interest and you are present at a meeting of the Authority at which such business was to be considered or was being considered you should:

(i)         Disclose the existence and nature of the interest; and

(ii)        Withdraw from the room or chamber where the meeting considering the business was being held”.

This addition gives guidance on non-pecuniary interests and deals with the subjective assessment that each Councillor must make on items where they may be open to accusations that they are predetermined.

This wording has been included in our new code at Paragraph 11.2 of the Council’s Constitution.

The Nolan Principles

Since the last review of the code, the Government had published a further report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life. That report reviewed the principles that the Nolan Committee originally put forward. There were suggested minor wording changes as a result of their review, which left the headings unchanged but the descriptions had changed.

Within their report the Committee highlighted the following reasons for the changes.

• The description of the present formulation of honesty refers to holders of public office having a duty to declare any conflicts of interest. The avoidance of conflicts of interest fits more obviously into our current understanding of integrity. Most people today would expect honesty to have a much broader meaning, focusing on truthfulness. This had particular resonance at the present time since a number of issues of current concern had involved allegations of inappropriate behaviour being covered up.

• Discussion around the importance of public office-holders making decisions on merit, tended to refer more frequently to impartiality than to objectivity. The Committee thought it would be helpful to include impartiality in the description of the meaning of objectivity.

• Equality of opportunity had become even more of a central tenet of thinking about ethics and values in the period since the principles were first established. The Committee thought it would be helpful to make clearer that objectivity required giving full regard to the importance of equality of opportunity and fair treatment, irrespective of individual characteristics such as disability, race, gender or sexual orientation.

• Public office-holders needed to show courage in speaking up about difficult issues, speaking “truth to power” and making or sticking by difficult decisions. The Committee saw this as a key element of ethical leadership and had therefore amended the description of leadership accordingly.

            RESOLVED:

(1)        That the changes implemented by the Epping Forest Standards Committee to the Councillors Code of Conduct be noted; and

(2)        That the Council adopts the new Code of Conduct accordingly.