Agenda item

Councillor John Getgood, Leader of the Labour Group on the Council, has accepted the Committee’s invitation to attend this meeting, to discuss ethical governance issues.

An extract from the Minutes of his last visit to the Committee, in December 2008, is attached as an Appendix.

The Committee welcomed Councillor John Getgood, Leader of the Labour Group on the Council.

Councillor Getgood stated that he shared Councillor David McBride’s comments at the March Standards Committee meeting about the good relations between councillors and officers in the borough; he too supported the Member/Officer protocol, and hoped that it would develop a higher profile for the future.

Whilst believing that the outcome of the Standards Board investigation into concerns about ex-Councillor Willetts’ conduct was appropriate, he did express the view that a firmer handling of some of his behaviours in certain public settings such as Council meetings might have helped to contain the situation more successfully; although it was accepted that this was only one aspect of a series of complaints which covered exchanges with staff in other settings. He also acknowledged that there had been repeated efforts to bring home the impact and gravity of these behaviours to ex-Councillor Willetts by successive Chief Executives (as well as by his own Group) over an extended period of time which had not had any sustained effect on his conduct.and that various protocols had been put into place to try and manage his contact with officers at different levels. Whilst no-one had been happy with the length of time taken to bring the investigation to fruition, it was accepted that this was a complicated and difficult process, and that to achieve an appropriate outcome all relevant information had to be carefully and systematically gathered to build an overall picture of the gravity of the situation.

Councillor Getgood also raised some concerns over the acceptance of any hospitality from developers or potential contractors because of the danger of public suspicion about the effect this might have on finely balanced decisions. The Committee noted that detailed guidance was awaited over the next month or so on the implementation of the Bribery Act which had been passed earlier this year, which would cover hospitality amongst other things. The Committee discussed other related issues such as the desirability of publishing material from the Register of interests and details of both hospitality offered and/or accepted. It was agreed that  these issues should be pursued further at either the Committee’s September or November meeting (depending on when guidance was received) in the light of the wider Bribery Act guidance, and alongside other government guidance on increasing transparency of information available online about public expenditure, hospitality and remuneration.

The Committee discussed other issues with Councllor Getgood such as the ethical dilemmas and issues involved in establishing ways of working within a Council with such a large majority party, in order to balance ward representation and wider scrutiny roles, and to ensure that issues were raised effectively for consideration by decision-makers. The Committee noted the Council’s efforts to build in safeguards for minority groups, such as early adoption of a ‘councillor call for action’ approach in allowing requests for items to go onto scrutiny agendas, and the speaking rights for minority parties not sitting on the Executive enshrined within recent constitutional changes. Councillor Getgood felt that officers were even-handed in providing briefings when requested. The issue of whether committee reports flagged up ethical issues explicitly enough was touched on, and it was decided that this could be revisited during the November discussions on the wider ethical governance framework.

The Committee thanked Councillor Getgood for his attendance, and for stimulating discussion on such important ethical issues.