Issue - meetings

To submit a report by the Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer.

It was resolved to recommend that the Full Council –

·        Adopts the Officers’ Code of Conduct included in Enclosure 2 to the report.

·        Adopts the Local Guidance to the Officers’ Code of Conduct included in Enclosure 3 to the report.

·        Authorises the Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer to make the necessary changes to the Constitution, including any consequential amendments, to reflect the adoption of Enclosures 2 and 3.

The report of the Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer incorporating amendments to the Officers’ Code of Conduct and the Local Guidance to the Officers’ Code of Conduct was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

The Chair reported that the current Code of Conduct and Guidance have been amended in response to recommendations made in the Internal Audit Report on Ethical Culture the relevant extract from which is included in Enclosure 1 to the report. The Code of Conduct itself has been updated in accordance with legislation with the changes being reflected in Enclosure 2.The Guidance has been updated so that it is more user-friendly as well as incorporating the new legislative requirements and is included at Enclosure 3. Both the Code and Guidance have been consulted upon with the Senior Leadership Team, the Heads of Service and the Head of Audit and Risk; the original guidance has been amended to incorporate the comments made during that consultation. If the Code and Guidance are both approved by Council they will be published on the Council’s Policy Portal and will be the subject of the Acceptance of Corporate Polices exercise whereby officers are required to click to accept and correctly answer questions in relation to the amended documents.

It was resolved to recommend that the Full Council –

•  Adopts the Officers’ Code of Conduct included in Enclosure 2 to the report.

•  Adopts the Local Guidance to the Officers’ Code of Conduct included in Enclosure 3 to the report.

•  Authorises the Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer to make the necessary changes to the Constitution, including any consequential amendments, to reflect the adoption of Enclosures 2 and 3.