Agenda item

To present the Committee with an overview on the register of, and declarations of, interests made by Members from 1 January 2023 until 31 March 2024.

Members recalled that it had been agreed at the meeting of the Standards Committee held on 29 June 2016 that, as part of its annual work programme, the Committee would receive an annual report on declarations of interest and associated matters.  The report now before the Committee covered the period from 1 January 2023 to 31 March 2024 and provided statistics on:-

·      the number of declarations of interest made at meetings;

·      the number of offers of gifts and hospitality that had been registered by Members during this period; and

·      updates to the Members’ Register of Interests.

The data had been collated from the Committee IT system Modern.gov which the Council had started using as of August 2016 and from Members’ submissions.

Register of Members’ Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

The Committee was aware that the Council was required to publish the ‘Register of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests’ on its website in accordance with the Localism Act 2011 and The Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012, which prescribed the categories of interests.

It was confirmed that the Council’s website included a Register of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and Other Registrable Interests for all District Councillors and that this was updated, when an individual Member provided details of an amendment directly to the Monitoring Officer.  Any entry, which was relevant to a business item on an agenda, must be declared by the individual Member and they must subsequently remove themselves from the meeting, unless a prior dispensation had been granted by the Monitoring Officer.

The Committee was informed that there had been two requests for dispensation during this period.  Additionally, a dispensation for all District Members had been granted by the Monitoring Officer for the purpose of the report of the Assistant Director (Finance & IT) – Formal Confirmation of Council Tax Amounts for 2024/25 Following the Notification of the Precepts from the Major Precepting Authorities, which had been considered at the meeting of the Human Resources and Council Tax Committee on 26 February 2024.

Declarations of interest at meetings

Members were required to declare Personal and Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, Other Registerable Interests and Non-Registerable Interests at meetings and those recorded on the committee system, as declared by District Councillors for the period 1 January 2023 to 31 March 2024, were set out in the Appendix to the Monitoring Officer’s report.  Minutes of the meetings also recorded the declarations.

The Committee noted that the Appendix only referred to Personal Interests (which were in place prior to May 2023) and not ‘Other Registerable Interests’, which were set out in the current adopted Members’ Code of Conduct. This was because Members were still referring to Personal Interests when making such declarations at meetings.  That being so, the Monitoring Officer suggested that the Committee might wish to request that all Members be issued with a reminder.

The Monitoring Officer informed the meeting that, following questions as to interests that had been asked of her at the recent meeting of the Planning Policy & Local Plan Committee, she had agreed with the Chairman of the Planning Policy & Local Plan Committee that she would issue some guidance as to interests to the members of that Committee.

Use of Blanket dispensations

The Committee was reminded that this Council’s former Members’ Code of Conduct at paragraph 7.3, as agreed by full Council in January 2018, had contained blanket dispensations for any business of the Authority where that business related to the Council’s functions in respect of:

i.        housing, where the Member is a tenant of the Authority provided that those functions do not relate particularly to their tenancy or lease;

ii.      school meals or school transport and travelling expenses, where the Member is a parent or guardian of a child in full time education, or are a parent governor of a school, unless it relates particularly to the school which the child attends;

iii.     statutory sick pay under Part XI of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, where the Member is in receipt of, or are entitled to the receipt of, such pay;

iv.     an allowance, payment or indemnity given to Members;

v.      any ceremonial honour given to Members; and

vi.     setting Council Tax or a Precept under the Local Government Finance Act 1992

Since their introduction, only category iv and vi dispensations had been called upon at meetings of the Cabinet and full Council.

Members recalled that this Council’s current Code of Conduct which had taken effect in May 2023 did not include blanket dispensations and so, consequently, the Monitoring Officer had given a blanket dispensation for the purposes of setting the Council Tax under the Local Government Finance Act 1992, at the District Council’s budget meeting held on 13 February 2024 (minute 115 referred).

Declarations of offers/receipt of gifts and hospitality

Following the Standards Committee’s review of the Council’s Gift and Hospitality Policy for Members, new guidance and a notification form had been produced for all District Councillors in May 2016.  Reference to declarations of offers/receipt of gifts and hospitality had been included within the mandatory Members’ Code of Conduct training delivered by the Monitoring Officer in June and July 2023.  There had been one recorded declaration of offers/receipt of gifts and hospitality made by a District Councillor in the time period covered by this report.

Members’ Register of Interests

The Committee was aware that, pursuant to the Localism Act 2011, within 28 days of becoming a Member or re-election or re-appointment to office, Members were required to register with the Monitoring Officer the interests which fell within the categories set out in Table 1 of the Members’ Code of Conduct, namely, Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPIs) which were as described in “The Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012”.  Members should also register details of other personal interests which fell within the categories set out in Table 2 (Other Registerable Interests).

It was reported that, at the conclusion of the May 2023 District, Town and Parish Council elections, all Members had received the relevant Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and Other Registerable Interests form as part of their induction procedure, to complete and return to the Monitoring Officer, for inclusion on the Council’s website within a central register.  Registration and the obligations to disclose DPIs, Other Registerable Interests and Non-Registerable Interests and the effect on participation had been covered within the mandatory Members’ Code of Conduct training delivered by the Monitoring Officer in June and July 2023.

The Monitoring Officer responded to Members’ questions on her report which touched on the following matters:-

(1)    the advisibility of expanding on the reasons for a declaration of interest made at a meeting in order to help promote being open and transparent; and

(2)    the sometimes fine line between declaring an interest and leaving a meeting inquorate and unable to vote and the criteria for dispensations.

Having duly considered and discussed the contents of the report and in order to provide a timely update to the Committee as part of its agreed work programme:-

It was moved by Councillor J Henderson, seconded by Councillor Oxley and:-

RESOLVED that -

(a)    the contents of this report be noted; and

(b)   the Committee requests that the Monitoring Officer issue a reminder to all Members that, when declaring Interests at Committee et cetera meetings, they should use the correct terminology for such Interests, as detailed in Appendix B of the adopted Members’ Code of Conduct.