Code of Conduct - Potential Amendment

To address the substance of the recommendation, I wish to place on my record my thanks to my Vice Chairman, members and staff of the Committee for the diligent and rigorous work throughout this Council year. The Standards Brief does not always command the attention it deserves, but the Committee has discharged its responsibilities with seriousness and purpose. As we approach the end of the Council year, that contribution ought to be acknowledged. I turn to the matter before Council. The procedural history here can be stated briefly. At the full Council meeting on 9 July 2025, a motion concerning transparency of members' fees and allowances from outside bodies was referred, without discussion, to the Committee. It falls squarely within the Committee's remit, which includes keeping the Code of Conduct under review and issuing guidance on ethical standards. The Committee gave the matter careful consideration on the 16th of October 2025. We examined the alternatives open to us, which was leaving the Code unchanged, issuing non -binding guidance to Councillors, making the information available by other means on the Council's website, and deferring the question until the Government introduces a mandatory national code. Each of these options was weighed. Each of these options was weighed. The Committee voted to recommend the amendment now set in the report before you. The amendment itself is narrow in scope and proportionate in its effect. It requires members to declare within the Register of Interest any allowances or fees received from outside bodies, to which they have been appointed by the virtue of membership of this Council. Members already registered their membership of the Council. Members already registered their membership of the member of the Council. That is not new. What is currently not required is any indication of whether the remuneration is received or indeed whether it is not. the amendment would bring that information into a single publicly accessible location on the council's website. Chairman, I want to address what I consider to be the real significance of this proposal because I believe it has been somewhat overlooked. Members already list their outside body appointments in the register of interest. What they cannot practically do is to show the public what those appointments actually involve in financial terms. Under this amendment, a councillor who serves on an outside body for no remuneration whatsoever, and there are many who do, will for the first time be able to place a figure of zero against that appointment. Now that matters. It means the public can see in one place the full extent of the work that the elected members undertake beyond this chamber. Much of it unpaid, much of it unrecognised. Unrecognised. And where allowances are paid, I would observe that a review of outside bodies has established that only a small number of these organisations issued any remuneration at all. And where they do, the sums tend to be modest. In many cases, they are frankly minor. Far from suggesting any cause for concern, this reinforces what I believe most members of this council already know, that councillors serve on these bodies out of sense of public duty, not financial reward. This amendment allows that to be demonstrated transparently. I should inform this council, for the sake of completeness, that the government has committed to introducing a mandatory national code of conduct for councillors, replacing the current local choice arrangement. Now, legislation is anticipated within this parliamentary term, although no fixed time has been published. The eventual mandatory code may incorporate requirements similar to what we propose today, or it may go further. At present, the proposition remains uncertain. The committee considered whether to defer and took the view rightly that acting now was the proper course. If the mandatory code overtakes us, so be it. Now, Chairman, this is a straightforward and proportionate recommendation by the committee. The committee has balanced the modest imposition on members against the simplicity of making this information accessible in one place, on the register that the public already have access to. And perhaps the most important point is that it gives members of this council the ability to show the people they represent the full measure of their public service. This matter was referred to the Standards and General Purposes Committee, precisely so it can be examined, debated and determined by the body charged with the oversight of the Code of Conduct. The committee has proudly done that work. The debate has been held. The recommendation is now before you. And I commend it to the council and ask that we now proceed to a vote. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you. Thank you.