Issue - meetings

Report of the Cabinet Member Corporate Services

The Chair of the Standards Committee, Councillor Wilkinson introduced the report on the revised protocol for Member/Officer relations. The protocol which was adopted by the Council in 2010 had been reviewed and amended by a Member working group and approved by the Standards Committee for adoption by the Council.   The draft revised Protocol for Member / Officer Relations was attached at Appendix 1 and reflected changes to legislation and the Code of Members’ Conduct which had taken place since 2010 together with amendments arising from consultation with Members and Officers.

 He thanked Members and the Chief Executive who had inputted to the review and to Councillor Harman who had suggested consultation with the trade unions which had been carried out. He highlighted there had been some debate during the course of the review about the public interest test but the general conclusion that there was not a great need for change to the protocol.

A Member asked for reassurance that a member of staff reporting an issue to another member of staff would receive the same level of protection as a potential whistleblower. Councillor Wilkinson referred Members to section 13 of the report which set out the procedure for dealing with any complaints.

A Member raised an issue about Members access to information. It was largely up to the sender of information to take a decision on confidentiality and this led to over classification. The risk was that if sensitivity is over used there was a risk that it would be ignored. He had discussed the issue with the Chief Executive and was happy with the solution she had proposed to address this point. Another Member supported the presumption of transparency unless there were good reasons why not.

A Member requested that in future the Executive Summary included a summary of the modifications so that Members knew what they should be scrutinising.

Councillor Wilkinson advised that there had been some discussion at the working group about confidentiality and public interest. It had been highlighted that if a Member questioned whether a document could be released to the public and was advised it was confidential, they would then be a prime suspect if it was subsequently leaked. There was always a question about who guards the guards.  

Upon a vote the recommendations were approved with 1 abstention.

RESOLVED THAT

The revised Member-Officer Protocol be adopted for inclusion as Part 5C of the Constitution.