Agenda item

Report of the Executive Director of Resources

The Committee considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources which provided an update on national issues in relation to the ethical behaviour of elected members and the local position in Coventry with regard to Code of Conduct issues.

The Committee had agreed that the Monitoring Officer would provide a regular update on cases relating to the Members’ Code of Conduct on a national basis. This was to facilitate the Committee’s role in assisting the Council with its duties under Section 27 of the Localism Act 2011 to promote and maintain high standards of member conduct. However since the abolition of the Standards Board for England, national statistics and case reports were no longer collated and therefore the cases reported were taken from general research.

The Committee discussed three cases from different councils and noted the outcome for each.

In terms of the local picture, the Committee noted that four new complaints had been received since the last meeting in July. All complaints had been handled in accordance with the agreed Complaints Protocol. One complaint was currently being reviewed under Stage 1 of the procedure and in relation to the other three complaints, as they all related to councillors acting in their private capacity; no further action would be taken.

All complaints were handled in accordance with the agreed Complaints Protocol. No findings had been made by the Local Government Ombudsman in relation to members of Coventry City Council. No complaints had been received in the Monitoring Officer in respect of Allesley, Finham or Keresley Parish councils.

The Committee had a brief discussion on the Complaints Protocol which was due to be reviewed and considered that sanctions available to the Committee needed to be tougher to act as a deterrent and restore authority for the work of the Ethics Committee. It was reported that at least one other council was lobbying the Government to bring back tougher sanctions for the breach of the Code of Conduct as they had been experiencing some problems. 

The Committee noted that majority of parish councillors had received training on the Code of Conduct and Declarations of Interests and a further short session on the code would be arranged in the autumn.

Five training sessions were held for city councillors and a total of forty three councillors attended the sessions, leaving just nine councillors yet to be trained. It was agreed that a letter would be sent to the Group leaders as a reminder that this training was still outstanding for those members. 

RESOLVED that the Ethics Committee:

1.  Notes the cases determined under the new regime nationally and requests that the Legal Services Manager, Place and Regulatory in consultation with the Chair of the Ethics Committee, shares the case update with all elected Members; and  

2.  Notes the local position relating to the operation of the Council’s Code of Conduct.

3.  Requests that a joint letter from the Chair and the Legal Services Manager, Place and Regulatory be sent to the Group Leaders as a reminder that some members had yet to be trained on the Code of Conduct.