Agenda item

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer submitted a report that updated the Standards Committee on the Code of Practice on Good Governance for Local Authority Statutory Officers, which had been produced collaboratively between SOLACE, CIPFA and LLG.

Members were advised that the report was self-explanatory, and they were advised of the function of the three bodies that together formed the golden triangle within local authorities. The Head of Legal and Democratic Services said that the code sought to strengthen the golden triangle and having a very strong golden triangle in a local authority was important and was the best way to ensure good governance.

Members were advised that this report was evidence of the council’s commitment to strengthening the golden triangle and showed a determination to ensure that each point of that triangle in senior positions were included in all decision making and were able to attend meetings of the Leadership Team. The code emphasised the need for that attendance and the report reiterated that the Nolan Principles were there for everyone who worked in a public role.

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services explained that formal adoption of the code by Council was an option and would demonstrate a serious intent by the local authority to reaffirm the important of emphasising that those three points were working effectively together.

Councillor Clements said that he was interested in the report that was referenced by the Local Government Association (LGA). He expressed a concern regarding the working of the golden triangle and commented on whether the code had been brought forward in response to the LGA report.

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services said there were new Officers in the statutory roles, and he would have to talk to the Chief Executive about the status of the report. He said that some of the commentary in the DMA report would be slightly out of date now.

Members were advised that the golden triangle was working well, and regular meetings were taking place between the Interim Chief Executive, the new Interim Section 151 Officer, and the Monitoring Officer.

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services said that the code was being prepared by SOLACE, CIPFA and LLG in any event, and the code was being adopted by numerous local authorities and by several local councils in the area and was therefore not being brough in as a direct response to the aforementioned LGA report. He said that having the code in place would ensure that Officers could refer to a useful and helpful external document if there was any uncertainty as to how the golden triangle should be operating.

The Chair thanked the Head of Legal and Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer for his report and said that she felt that it would be useful for this code to come to Full Council so that all Members had sight of the document.

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services said that in his role as the Monitoring Officer, he had a lot to do with the LLG and he used their website a lot and attended a lot of LLG events. He said that he did not have much to do with CIPFA and SOLACE, and having collaboration from all three organisations to produce one document was very useful.

Councillor Parsad-Wyatt said that he understood the rationale for the report. He said that having this structure in place now was useful to take the council into the future, would support the postholders that formed the golden triangle, and would ensure good governance. He agreed that taking the code forward to Full Council with the support of the Standards Committee would be useful.

Councillor Stowe asked if this matter would have to be considered by Overview and Scrutiny Committee first. The Head of Legal and Democratic Services explained that it would be for the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee to consider whether this would be a report for the committee to consider. He said that it was in the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s terms of reference to consider the formation of new policy or codes that were coming forward.

Members were advised that irrespective of whether it came before Overview and Scrutiny, it would still be added value to have the fact recorded that it went to Standards Committee and it was considered by Members as a good thing to bring forward. The code would be taken forward for formal adoption with the views of the Standards Committee and possibly the Overview and Scrutiny Committee as well.

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services said that he was happy to discuss with Members about suggestions in terms of how information was presented regarding the future operation of the golden triangle. He emphasised that some issues between Officers were Human Resources (HR) matters that might be sensitive and not appropriate for reporting to a public committee. The Independent Person suggested that the Member/Officer protocol may be a better way of monitoring relations between officers and members.

It was moved by Councillor Stowe and seconded by Councillor Parsad-Wyatt, that the recommendations detailed in report be approved.

After being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – that (A) Members consider the Code and provide any comments to the Head of Legal and Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer; and

(B)   the Standards Committee recommend to Council the formal adoption of the Code for Local Authority Statutory Officers.