PURPOSE

1. To facilitate debate among Members of the Standards Committee of a revised draft Member/Officer Protocol.

BACKGROUND

2. Members of the Standards Committee will be familiar, from the work undertaken on the ethical audit and from the item elsewhere on this agenda about the Statement of Internal Control, that an appropriate Member/Officer Protocol is extremely important to both the efficient running of the Local Authority and to the achievement of improving standards of ethics and probity.

3. The attached (Appendix 1) draft Member/Officer Protocol has previously been debated at Full Council without the benefit of the Standards Committee having seen a draft. The view of Members at Full Council was that the draft would benefit from further work.

4. The draft stands adjourned for discussion at a cross-party corporate governance working group on 22 July 2004.

PROPOSAL

5. Members of the Standards Committee are invited to consider the Member/Officer Protocol and to either endorse it or suggest areas for improvement.

6. Although dealing more with the role of officers (and therefore outside the core Terms of Reference of the Standards Committee) it is being proposed that two additional paragraphs are added to the draft.

7. To supplement the existing paragraph 6 :-

“Proper, open dialogue between Elected Members and members of staff of all grades and seniority is essential to good governance. In order to ensure that dialogue is mutually respectful, productive and contributes to the effective running of the Council, certain principles should be followed:-

Officers should never lobby Members or otherwise improperly seek to influence their decision-making, nor should they seek to act for personal rather than professional motives.”

RECOMMENDATIONS

It is recommended that Members of the Standards Committee endorse, with the amendments suggested above, the attached Member/Officer Protocol.

BACKGROUND PAPERS

Contact Point : John Lawson, F 823216 ([email protected])

JOHN LAWSON

Monitoring Officer

Appendix 1

DRAFT REVISED PROTOCOL ON MEMBER/OFFICER RELATIONS

1. Good Member/Officer relations, based on mutual respect and understanding, are essential to the effective operation of the Council.

Members’ Roles

2. The Constitution sets out 10 detailed job profiles reflecting the many and varied roles and responsibilities which Members may take on at various times whilst they sit on the Council.

3. In undertaking those roles and responsibilities, elected Members are required to operate within the law, the Constitution of the Council and within local and national codes and protocols. Members must always act in the public interest. Ultimately however, Members are accountable to the electorate through the ballot box.

Role of Officers

4. Officers are paid employees of the Council (not of elected Members). Officers are also required to operate within the law, the Constitution of the Council, local and national codes and protocols and must always act to achieve the objectives of the Council. Ultimately as employees, Officers are accountable under their contracts of employment. Some employees are in politically restricted posts and cannot stand for election, nor hold certain posts in political parties

5. Officers have a duty to provide information, advice and recommendations to elected Members. Such information, advice, etc can be given both formally and informally, but where significant or potentially controversial issues are at stake should be given formally and in writing.

6. Officers should never lobby Members or otherwise seek to influence their decision making, nor should they seek to act for personal rather than professional motives.

Member Decision Making

7. The principal focus of Member decision making is to determine policy and strategic objectives. Members will only exceptionally be involved in operational or managerial decisions designed to deliver those policies and strategic objectives. One exception to this principle is that members sitting in a regulatory capacity will take decisions which affect the rights of individuals, for example in relation to development control and licensing matters, to which specific codes of practice apply.

8. Member decision making is always formal, public and auditable on the basis of written reports and their advice from all relevant officers.

9. Accordingly, Members should not purport to give instructions directly to Officers on an informal basis, except to the small number of Officers employed specifically to provide support services to elected Members.

10. Members need to be aware that some, particularly more junior, members of staff can feel intimidated by direct approaches by Members, and in particular should avoid being in a position where they could be seen as asking an officer to act against Council policy, against the Officer’s professional judgement or otherwise under pressure from the member.

Provision of Information

11. Members have a need to know a wide range of information, but there are some limits to their rights. In order to protect the Council and those about who information is held, Officers are entitled to request Members identify the purpose for which they require information. Those purposes may only be in connection with the Members’ duties as an elected Member and not for personal, political or other purposes.

12. Equally on the rare occasions when a request by a Member for information is refused, the Member is entitled to request written reasons and that a copy of those reasons is sent to the Monitoring Officer for advice.

Officer’s Advice

13. Advice by Officers must be confined to Council business and must be sought and given, in a manner which will avoid compromising the political neutrality required of employees.

14. Many officers are willing to be contacted by members at home outside of normal working hours, but this step should only be taken in cases of genuine importance or urgency or by prior arrangement.

Group Briefings

15. Political Groups may request private and confidential briefings, including the provision of written information on matters of policy, which are or may become, the subject of discussion by the full Council, Executive or any Committee.

16. Attendance by Officers at Group meetings may be requested, but Officers will always have the option of declining to attend and give written advice as an alternative. It is not usually considered good practice for officers to attend such briefings alone.

17. Where an Officer attends a Group meeting, they have an obligation to notify the Monitoring Officer of the fact of their attendance and the subject of the briefing. The Monitoring Officer will then notify the other Political Groups that the briefing has been given.

Complaints and Criticism

18. Neither Officers nor Members should pass comment about Officers in a way which could be taken as personally critical of, or as undermining, that Officer. Similarly, it is never the role of an Officer to criticise or undermine a Member.

19. Complaints about elected Members should be made to the Monitoring Officer (or in serious cases, direct to the Standards Board for England). A breach of this protocol may be evidence of a breach of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

20. Complaints about Officers should be made to their Head of Service, or where necessary, to their Strategic Director or direct to the Chief Executive Officer. Such complaints will be dealt with by appropriate disciplinary, capability or other established procedure.

21. Except as part of an appointment or appeals panel, Members are prevented by law from becoming involved in matters relating to individual employees. Information about disciplinary, capability or other employment processes are one of the exceptions to the rights of Members to access information.

Executive and Select Committees

22. The Constitution of the Council establishes a separation of powers between the Executive and the Select Committees. Officers owe an equal duty to both the Executive and the Select Committees. Sometimes real or perceived conflicts may arise, for example, when a Select Committee wishes an Officer to explain their advice in relation to a controversial policy or decision. In such circumstances, conflict can be avoided by Officers advising impartially on the relative merits of alternative approaches.

Advice and Guidance

23. This protocol deals with general principles and is not designed to address particular circumstances. Advice can be sought from the Monitoring Officer and Chief Executive Officer whenever difficult situations arise. Some circumstances will benefit from deliberation by the Standards Committee of the Council, which has advising Members on standards of ethics and probity as one of its terms of reference.

Personal/Family/Financial Relationships

24. Usually it is incomparable with good member/officer relations for close personal, or any financial, relationships to develop between officers and Members. Very occasionally there may be exceptions to this rule, and/or that family relationships will exist.

25. Where there are unusually close relationships (and in the case of any financial relationships) guidance should be sought and the relationship notified in writing to the employee’s Director (or in the case of Directors to the Chief Executive Officer).