Issue - meetings
Updated Elected Member Code of Conduct
Meeting: 15/03/2023 - Council (Item 18)
18 Gloucestershire-Wide Code of Conduct for Elected Members 
PDF 86 KB
Purpose
This report sets out the proposed Member Code of Conduct.
Recommendations
The Council resolves to:
• adopts the Gloucestershire-wide Code of Conduct with effect from the 9th May 2023
• Council notes that the Monitoring Officer will carry out training prior to it coming into effect.
Additional documents:
- Annex A - Proposed Code of Conduct, item 18
PDF 310 KB
- Annex B - Current Code of Conduct, item 18
PDF 287 KB
- Webcast for Gloucestershire-Wide Code of Conduct for Elected Members
Minutes:
The Leader of the Council introduced the item as an item from the Constitution Working Group and the Audit Committee.
It was noted that a unified code would help to share resources between the different local authority tiers, and that Members of multiple local authority tiers would be clear on the standards that applied to their conduct in their roles on different councils.
The Leader of the Conservative Group seconded the item and felt that this was a much clearer code of conduct for all Members and that it was hoped that Town and Parish Councils would also adopt this.
Council noted that the code of conduct was based on the Local Government Association’s recommendations and put more responsibility on the Councillor to abide by the Code of Conduct.
It was noted that any member of the public who chaired a sub-group operated by a town or parish council would need to be aware of their responsibilities under the code of conduct. This was noted by the Director of Governance.
Council commented that the Code of Conduct should be adopted by town and parish councils in the district and that chairs of parish councils should be informed of its adoption by the Cotswold District Council. The Director of Governance commented that this was a good proposal and would take this away. It was also noted that the GATPC had been involved with this and considerations around making this training mandatory. It would also be added to the next Audit Committee agenda.
Council noted that this Code of Conduct would be part of members’ training following the election on 4 May 2023.
There was a query to the Monitoring Officer about requests to make the training mandatory and how this might be possible to enforce. It was noted that the Audit Committee had responsibility for standards and this would be discussed at the next Audit Committee meeting on 27 April 2023.
RESOLVED: The Council AGREED to:
ADOPT the Gloucestershire-wide Code of Conduct with effect from 9 May 2023
NOTE that the Monitoring Officer will carry out training prior to it coming into effect.
Voting Record – For 29 , Against 0 , Abstention 0 , Absent 4
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For |
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Abstention |
Absent |
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Andrew Doherty |
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Clive Webster |
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Andrew Maclean |
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Nick Maunder |
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Claire Bloomer |
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Richard Keeling |
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David Cunningham |
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Richard Morgan |
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Dilys Neill |
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Gary Selwyn |
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Gina Blomefield |
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Jenny Forde |
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Joe Harris |
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Julia Judd |
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Juliet Layton |
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Lisa Spivey |
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Mark Harris |
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Mike Evemy |
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Nigel Robbins |
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Nikki Ind |
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Patrick Coleman |
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Rachel Coxcoon |
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Ray Brassington |
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Richard Norris |
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Robin Hughes |
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Roly Hughes |
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Stephen Andrews |
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Stephen Hirst |
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Steve Trotter |
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Sue Jepson |
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Tom Stowe |
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Tony Berry |
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Tony Dale |
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