Standards Committee
Part 1
July 2011
Item No.
7
Subject
Member / Officer relationships
Purpose:
To ask Standards Committee to consider reviewing the attached document as part of
the Ethical Standards Audit but also as part of the review of the constitution.
Author
Head of Law and Standards
Ward
General
Summary
The Council’s Constitution includes a Protocol for Member/Officer Relations. It intends to
deal with issues such as
Personal relationships
Professional Relationships
How to deal with enquiries
Mutual respect
Complaints
Relationships with the Leader and or Chairpersons
Members’ representational roles.
The protocol then looks at issues around neutrality , the rights of access for members
who are not members of committees and the use of Council facilities.
Members of the Standards Commikttee may consider this protocol forms part of the
thinking around the ethical standards agenda.
It is suggested that the Committee may wish to review the document in that context . It
will also assist in the ongoing review of the constitution.
Proposal:
To consider a possible review of the Protocol.
Contact
Head of Law and Standards
Action by
Head of Law and Standards / Chief Democratic Services Officer
Timetable
Immediate
Protocol for Member/Officer Relations
This document constitutes the Part 5, Section 3 of the Council Constitution
Revised October 2007
Members Relationships With Employees
Personal Relationship
a)
Mutual respect between Councillors and employees is essential to good local government. However,
close personal familiarity between individual councillors and employees can damage this relationship
and might prove embarrassing to other councillors and employees.
b)
Members and officers should not only seek to avoid actual impropriety they should also at all times avoid
any occasion for suspicion or any appearance of improper conduct.
c)
Members should declare to the leader or to the Party Whips, any relationship with an employee, which
could be considered as influencing their work as a member. This might be a family relationship, a
business relationship, or another close relationship, which might be considered such as might influence
your decision-making.
d)
Officers also have a duty to declare any such relationships to their Manager or to his or her Head of
Service, where appropriate.
e)
Members should not accept any Cabinet position or sit on any Committee which is responsible for the
Service Area where an employee does significant work where a member’s relationship with such an
employee might be considered as such as might jeopardise the work of the Council or of the Service
Area in question.
f)
The provision of this part of the Code does not absolve members or employees from their statutory
duties in relation to disclosure of personal interests.
Professional Relationships
a)
Elected Members are those individuals who are responsible to the electorate for decisions made by the
City Council. It is the members, and not the employees whose policies and decisions will influence the
well being of the citizens of the City Council and whose performance will be subject to public
accountability by way of election.
b)
It is expected that members and employees will act in an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust in their
efforts to provide the best possible provision for citizens of the City.
c)
Employees serve the Council through its Cabinet, Overview and Scrutiny Forums, Committees, SubCommittees and other groups. Members should not do anything which compromises, or is likely to
compromise, the impartiality of the Council's employees. A member should not ask an employee to
breach Council procedures or policy when acting on behalf of constituents.
d)
Although employees will not improperly disclose information received from the Council, officers cannot
conceal, nor treat as confidential any information that it is proper for them to disclose. There is some
information that officers have a duty to disclose.
e)
Members should be aware of the requirement for officers:

to serve all members of the Council;

to avoid close, personal familiarity with members; and

to inform Mangers at anytime that a member asks for, or seeks to influence an employee to deal
with a matter outside the Council procedures or outside of policy. Any request to act illegally or
improperly will be reported to the Monitoring Officer or to the Head of Finance and Scrutiny
(Acting as Section 151 Officer) if financial impropriety is suspected.
Enquiries by Members
The City Council has adopted response times for dealing with correspondence. Members' enquiries will be
responded to in five working days. It might be that a substantive response will not be able to be given within
that time frame. If that is the case, the enquiry will be acknowledged within five days and the member will be
informed why his or her enquiry cannot be responded to within the agreed timescale.
"Mutual Respect" (As identified by the Nolan Committee)
a)
Employees will always work within the agreed policies of the Authority and will at all times seek to work
efficiently and effectively.
b)
However, members of the Authority have a right to criticise reports or actions taken by employees.
Members should, however, seek to avoid personal attacks at public meetings and ensure that their
criticism is constructive and well founded.
c)
Members should avoid undermining respect for employees at Cabinet meetings, Committee meetings or
in any public forum. Such action is damaging both to the effective working relationship and to the public
image of the Council.
Complaints
a)
Members who have a complaint or complaints about an officer or about Council services should in the
first instance make that complaint to the relevant Head of Service. Members have a duty to raise any
issue they have reason to think might involve fraud or corruption of any sort. The Section 151 Officer or
Monitoring Officer will take appropriate action if there is a basis to any allegations relating to fraud or
corruption but will also take appropriate action if frivolous or malicious allegations are made.
b)
In the event of an allegation being made, the member will receive an acknowledgement of his or her
complaint and will be informed whether the appropriate officer needs time to investigate or whether he or
she will take action. Members have a right to know if action has been taken to correct a matter but, as
an employer, they must not try to influence the level of disciplinary action to be taken against an officer
or insist or be seen to insist that an officer is disciplined.
c)
Members have a right to be told the outcome of any disciplinary case but no entitlement to detailed
information about the hearing.
d)
If a member is not satisfied that action has been taken to correct matters, he or she might refer the
incidents to the Monitoring Officer.
e)
Members should not sit on any appeal that hears a case in which they have been involved.
f)
Members shall not be involved in staff appointments below Head of Service level and should not, in any
circumstance, seek to influence any appointments or any matters relating to the management of staff.
Officer/Leader/Chairperson
a)
It is clearly important that there should be a close working relationship between the Leader, the
Chairperson of an Overview and Scrutiny Forum and the Chairperson of any Committee and the Director
or Head of Service and other senior officers of any Service Area which reports to the Cabinet, Forum or
Committee. However, such relationships should never be allowed to become so close, or appear to be
so close, as to bring into question the officers ability to deal impartially with other members and other
party groups.
b)
Whilst the Chairperson of an Overview and Scrutiny Forum or Committee (or Sub-Group) will routinely
be consulted as part of the process of drawing up the agenda for a forthcoming meeting, it must be
recognised that in some situations a Head of Service will be under a duty to submit a report on a
particular matter. Similarly, a Head of Service will always be fully responsible for the contents of any
report submitted in his/her name. Any issues arising between a Chairperson and a Head of Service in
this area should be referred to the Head of Paid Service for resolution in conjunction with the Leader of
the Council.
c)
Finally, it must be remembered that officers within a Department are accountable to their Head of
Service and that whilst officers should always seek to assist a Chairperson (or indeed any member), they
must not, in so doing, go beyond the bounds of whatever authority they have been given by their Head of
Service.
Representational Role
a)
Whilst members have a representational role and will often be asked to take up issues on behalf of
constituents, they should not seek special treatment for any individual or constituent. If a member has a
special relationship with a constituent, outside Council policy he should declare that special relationship
when dealing with Council employees.
b)
Members should not seek to influence an employee or try to influence a decision which has been
delegated to that officer. Officers must make decisions which are objective and accountable and which
do not favour unfairly any one member of the public when judged against another.
Neutrality
a)
Officers will not normally attend meetings of the political groups. However, they will normally attend
when requested but cannot be instructed to do so. Members should not request officers to write reports
for any Group, although a councillor may present a draft Cabinet, Forum or Committee report or officer
briefing note. Any information made available to one party group should also be made available to any
other party groups on request.
b)
Officers should not be asked to meet with or advise a group of members with no locus within the
decision-making machinery. There will, naturally, be discussions between officers and members on
policy issues which are quite proper. Officers will often wish to seek political guidance in framing policy
proposals but reports for member decisions should give the advice dictated by professional expertise.
Members should therefore, not seek to influence unduly the content of reports to Cabinet, Forums or
Committees. Any party political group meetings are not entitled to re-write officer reports or to given
instructions on their content.
c)
Officers must be able to report as they see fit, although members are equally entitled to reject proposals
and recommendations that are put to them.
Councillors Who Are Not A Member Of A Particular Committee
Or Sub-Group
a)
As a councillor you have a right to see some information on Cabinet, Forum or Committee agendas,
which is judged to be exempt from disclosure to the public. This access is on a "need to know" basis.
b)
If you are not a member of the Cabinet or specific Forum, Committee or Sub-Committee you are not
entitled to see exempt information about the financial or business affairs of a particular person who is the
subject of a report, the proposed costs of acquiring property, goods or services or the identity of a person
or group tendering for a contract with the Council. You will have no automatic right of access to exempt
information, as defined in Part One of Schedule 12(A) of the Local Government Act 1972. Such
information is normally contained in Part Two of any agenda.
c)
Members of Overview and Scrutiny Forums may obtain any information concerning decisions of the
Cabinet and individual Cabinet Members, with the exception of confidential or exempt information,
unless this is relevant to a matter that the Forum intends to review or scrutinise. This includes access to
all background analysis and reports prepared by officers, as well as other information that the Cabinet or
the individual Cabinet Members considered in exercising their functions. The Monitoring Officer will
determine whether information should be disclosed to an Overview and Scrutiny Forum in accordance
with the relevant Regulations. If exempt information is released to an Overview and Scrutiny Forum, the
Forum will conduct any discussion of that information in private and shall not make the information
public, in order to respect the confidence in which it was given.
d)
The common law right of members is much broader and is based on the principle that any member has a
prima facie right to inspect Council documents so far as his/ her access to the document is reasonably
necessary to enable the member properly to perform his/her duties as a member of the Council. This
principle is commonly referred to as the "need to know" principle.
e)
The exercise of this common law right depends therefore upon the member's ability to demonstrate that
he/she has the necessary "need to know". In this respect a member has no right to "a roving
commission" to go and examine documents of the Council. Mere curiosity is not sufficient. The crucial
question is the determination of the "need to know". This question will be determined by the Monitoring
Officer.
f)
In some circumstances a member's "need to know" will normally be presumed. In other circumstances a
member will normally be expected to justify the request in specific terms.
g)
It is accepted by convention that a member of one party group will not have a "need to know", and
therefore a right to inspect, a document that forms part of the internal workings of another party group.
h)
Further and more detailed advice regarding members' rights to inspect Council documents may be
obtained from the Head of Law and Standards.
i)
If you attend any Cabinet, Overview and Scrutiny Forum or Committee meeting on which you do not
serve as a member you should leave at the time when the resolution is passed about the press and
public be excluded from the meeting as the remaining items involved the disclosure of exempt or
confidential information.
Use Of Council Facilities
Council Facilities
You must use any Council facilities provided for you in your role as member strictly for that purpose. Premises
and equipment must not be used for any personal, business related or party political matter nor on behalf of
any community group unless agreed with the relevant Officer.
Member Services
Member Services provide and assist councillors only in their role as members. They may be asked to help
with work such as case work, meetings and correspondence and the provision of briefing notes relating to
Council matters or members involvement with an outside body. You should not, however, ask Member
Services to assist you with a personal, business or party political matter.
Advice from Officers
Members should only ask officers to provide advice on matters clearly relating to those which arise from being
an elected member.
The Council can only provide legal representation to an individual councillor when the action is taking place in
the name of the Council and the individual deserves the protection of the Council. All matters should in the
first instance be raised with the Monitoring Officer.
Party Political Workers
Members often are assisted by political party workers. No such party worker has any entitlement to access to
Council facilities provided for the use of councillors or to information to which councillors have access in their
roles as councillors.
Information For The Leader's Office
a)
The Leader and Deputy Leader of any of the parties represented on the Council, together with the
various party Whips will have an important role in monitoring the conduct of members and ensuring
compliance with Council policy and other standards in public life.
b)
The Leader and Deputy Leader of a political group might have certain information to enable him or her to
ensure that members of his other political group are conforming to the high standards that the Council
are promoting.
c)
The Leader might wish to involve party Whips in sharing such information.
d)
Should a Leader and/or party Whips enjoy the privilege of access to certain information about party
group members, they must not abuse this privilege for party political purposes, nor in the pursuit of
personal objectives.
e)
The Leader of any party, in conjunction with the Party Whips, will have a major role in ensuring that
elected members of the Authority adhere to the law, existing Council agreements and Standing Orders,
the Standards in Public Life as identified by the Nolan Committee and this Code of Conduct.
f)
The above paragraphs apply also to any Deputy Leader of any of the groups represented on the Council.