As an elected representative, understanding how your personal life or business interests could affect your political role is essential for any new councillor.
Get it wrong and it could be the end of your political career, and your reputation.
To help you identify what might be considered an interest you need to declare and when to do it, we’ve developed a series of scenarios.
Read the scenario and note down your approach before revealing the advice of our consultancy team.
Your daughter chairs a voluntary group that receives a small grant from the Council. At a meeting to discuss their grant what should you do?
You do have a clear personal interest because she is a relative who holds a position in a charitable organisation that would be deemed to affect her “wellbeing”. It is a matter of judgement whether this is a prejudicial interest. Is your interest so significant that it would probably adversely affect your decision? Perhaps not, but it would probably be best to leave the meeting.
You are at a meeting discussing council housing rents and you are a council tenant, should you leave the meeting?
You have a clear personal interest in the matter being discussed and you should declare the interest at the start of the meeting or agenda item. However, you do not have to leave the meeting because in the case of housing your tenancy is not considered a prejudicial interest.
During the course of discussion on an item at a Committee you realise you should have declared an interest, should you leave the room?
While ideally you should declare your interest before the matter is discussed you should let the Chair know as soon as it is convenient to do so in the meeting. You can stay in the meeting unless your interest is prejudicial in which case you should declare your interest and leave immediately.
Your brother-in-law runs a shop which occupies premises leased from the Council. At a meeting to discuss sale and redevelopment of the site should you withdraw from the meeting?
Yes. You have a personal interest in the matter being discussed because the individual is related to you and the decision has clear implications for their financial position. In this case it seems clear that a member of the public would think your personal interest was so significant that it would probably adversely affect your decision. You should definitely declare your interest and leave the meeting.
In conversation you discover that a close friend has an interest in a business that recently applied for planning permission. At the Planning Committee you failed to register an interest because you were not aware of it at the time. What should you do?
Don’t panic! You need only declare the interests you know about and do not need to investigate the business interests of your relatives and friends. In this case it would probably be wise to declare the interest at the next meeting and seek advice from your Council’s monitoring officer.
You work for a company that from time to time has dealings with the Council. While you have declared this interest in the register, sometimes you attend meetings where decisions are taking place but ensure you never get involved in debate or vote on these matters. Is this correct?
No. If it could be considered that you have a prejudicial interest because of your employment by the company concerned. It is not enough to have made a declaration and ensure that you don’t discuss or vote on such matters. In the case of a prejudicial interest you must make a declaration at the meeting and leave the room.
Your wife is a member of the County Council while you are a member of the District Council and its Overview and Scrutiny Committee. As part of one of your inquiries you are scrutinising relationships with the County and some issues where your wife was involved in policy decisions. What should you do?
Your wife’s involvement gives you a personal interest that you must declare. You might even consider that the interest was prejudicial. However, unless the interest is a financial one, in the case of an overview and scrutiny committee you can remain in the meeting.
You are a UNISON representative at the local hospital where you work. You have been told this means that you can’t discuss items relating to Council staffing matters and trade unions even though on occasions this means that no members of your political group are present. Is this correct?
Declaring these interests in the register is mandatory. You also have a personal interest that you should declare and it could be regarded as prejudicial in which case you should absent yourself from meetings. However, as you think the political balance of a meeting would be upset by your absence you can ask your local Standards Committee for a dispensation.
You take the view that you are known and trusted by the people who have elected you to the Council over many years. You are well known locally and have always been open about your business affairs. You think it is right to represent them in the way you feel fit. What’s the problem?
There should be no problem for any member to comply with all the requirements of the Code of Conduct which is laid down in regulations approved by Parliament. Even if you are an experienced member you may find that the rules have changed since you were first elected. If you are unclear about the requirements, don’t take a risk; consult the Council’s monitoring officer.