Issue - meetings

This report considers the Councillor code of conduct, which has been reviewed by the Constitution Working group (CWG), and makes a recommendation for adoption.

The Committee received a report presenting the Councillor code of conduct, which has been reviewed by the Constitution Working group (CWG), with a recommendation for adoption.

The following matters were considered:

a)            Local Government Association (LGA) model code. The Vice-Chair informed the Committee that the proposed Code of Conduct had been produced by the LGA with input from numerous sources and had been adopted by many other councils. The Head of Legal and Monitoring Officer informed the Committee that he had contacted the LGA’s Head of Legal Services regarding the next scheduled review of the Code of Conduct and had been informed that this was likely to be undertaken in 2024.

b)            Code of Conduct Section 4, Dispensations (p236 of agenda pack). In response to a question from a member, the Head of Legal and Monitoring Officer clarified the role of the Monitoring Officer as a statutory officer in relation to standards matters. The Head of Legal and Monitoring Officer informed the Committee that the wording of the LGA Code adopted established best practice with regard to the consideration of dispensation requests.

Following consideration the Committee unanimously resolved to:

(1)      Recommend to Full Council that the Local Government Association Model Code of Conduct 2020 is adopted in its entirety.