Meeting documents

A report was submitted which provided additional guidance for Members and Officers around the circumstances in which gifts and hospitality might properly be accepted, and when they should be declined.

It was reported that the Code of Conduct for Members which had been adopted by the Council provided that if a gift or hospitality with a value of more than £50 was accepted, then there was an obligation to record this in a register.  It was noted that in practice, this forms part of the information which was published as part of Members’ individual profiles within the modern.gov system, and viewable on the Council’s website.

Since 2012, training had been provided to Members on the Code of Conduct including guidance for compliance, as part of induction and ad hoc training. It was noted that so far there had been no specific written guidance on the area of gifts and hospitality, but as other councils across the country had this as part of their Codes, it would support good corporate governance principles for WDC to adopt similar guidance.

Members were informed that supplementary guidance was not obligatory and Members were able to form their own judgments based on the Member Code of Conduct itself, and their individual understanding of the legal requirements and public perception.  However, as the Code of Conduct only currently dealt with the requirement to register gifts and hospitality valued at over £50, but did not deal with what considerations should be taken into account in deciding whether or not to accept a gift or hospitality when proffered, whatever its value, the guidance would support members in ensuring that their behaviour complied with the wider requirements of the Code.

A number of examples were given by Members of the Committee as to past gifts and hospitality received.  The Acting Chairman stated that if in doubt Members should declare gifts and hospitality received. 

In response to questions it was confirmed that the 9 points in Section 5 of the guidance were merely examples of when Members might properly accept gifts and hospitality, and not necessarily exhaustive. It was emphasised that in case of doubt, advice from the Monitoring Officer / Deputy Monitoring Officer should be sought.

It was agreed that an additional bullet point be added to Section 5 of the guidance to read "5.10 If in doubt you should contact the Monitoring Officer / Deputy Monitoring Officer." It was also suggested that Section 5 should read "For clarity, and whilst not an exhaustive list, you may accept gifts and hospitality in the following circumstances: 1)……"

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL: That subject to an additional bullet point to be added to Section 5 of the guidance to read "5.10 If in doubt you should contact the Monitoring Officer / Deputy Monitoring Officer." and that Section 5 should read "For clarity, whilst not an exhaustive list, you may accept gifts and hospitality in the following circumstances: 1……" the Guidance at Appendix 1 be adopted as an Appendix to the Member Code of Conduct.