Issue - meetings
Register of Parish Councillors' Interests
Meeting: 21/03/2011 - Parish Councils' Forum (Item 40)
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The Head of Legal, Equalities and Democratic Services - Mrs. C. Felton - referred to the report enclosed with the agenda for the meeting and informed the Forum of the Monitoring Officer's Liaison Meetings which had taken place with Parish Council Clerks / Executive Officers, together with the arrangements being made for parish councils after the District / Parish Elections in May 2011. These include the creation of a Parish Councillor database and matters relating to individual parishes Codes of Conduct.
She also stressed that, following the Elections, Parish Councillors had 28 days to complete and return their Register of Interests Form, as failure to do so was considered to be a breach of the Code of Conduct and that this was a serious issue which would be investigated prior to any action being taken. Mrs. Felton added that copies of each Parish Councils Code of Conduct would be held by the Council in order that the Standards Committee would be aware of the provisions each Parish Council had adopted from the Model Code of Conduct.
Finally, she stated that the District Council were eager to work with the parish councils in terms of the provision of training and development for parish councillors and that it would be of more assistance to arrange for Code of Conduct training during June / July 2011; that is, as soon as possible after the May Elections.
Mr. J. Cypher, Chairman of Alvechurch Parish Council and an Independent Parish representative on the District Council's Standards Committee, backed up Mrs. Felton's comments and emphasised the importance of Parish Councillors' Register of Interests submission and adherence to their Parish Council's Code of Conduct. He added that the Standards Committee take adherence to Codes of Conduct very seriously and referred to cases where action has been taken where, for example, a Register of Interests Form had repeatedly not been submitted.
Mrs. Felton then responded to several additional comments and questions from Members of the Forum.