The Standards Committee meeting on 21 November 2024 included a report on recent complaints about Councillors' conduct. Also included for discussion were a proposed update to the rules about how Councillors work with council staff, and an amendment to the Councillors' Code of Conduct.

Annual Report on Member Standards and Conduct

The Standards Committee were asked to note the Annual Report on Member Standards and Conduct for 2023-24. The report included a summary of complaints that had been made about Councillors in 2023-24.

The report also provided a summary of training that Councillors had attended, and described the council's Personal Development Programme, in which 15 Councillors had participated in 2023-24.

Constitution Review - Protocol on the Member Officer Relationship

The Standards Committee were asked to approve an updated Protocol on Member Officer Relations for inclusion in the Council's Constitution. The protocol sets out the rules governing how Councillors and Council staff should interact with one another. It covered the following areas:

• How Councillors should make requests for information from staff
• How Council staff should communicate with Councillors outside of formal meetings
• The relationship between Councillors and junior members of staff
• What to do when relationships break down

The proposed updated protocol was drafted by council officers in Legal Services, Democratic Services and Human Resources, after considering:

• Guidance on the subject produced by the Local Government Association ¹ and London Councils ²
• The 2022 Charlie Adan report ³
• Best practice at Southwark, Kensington & Chelsea, Hackney and Cumberland Councils

The report noted that:

The current Protocol was drafted in 2006 and is located in Part 6 of the council’s Constitution.

The proposed changes included:

• Updates to ensure consistency of terminology
• The addition of a section describing The Seven Principles of Public Life, commonly known as the Nolan Principles ⁴
• The addition of new sections on Scrutiny and Working Relationships
• The inclusion of recommendations from the 2022 Charlie Adan Report ³

Amending the Code of Conduct for Members

The Standards Committee were asked to approve an amendment to the Councillors' Code of Conduct.

The change related to paragraph 2.1 of the code, which states:

You must not, at any time, even when not conducting or giving the impression you are conducting the business of [Islington] Council, conduct yourself in a manner which could reasonably be regarded as bringing your office or the Council into disrepute

The report noted that:

On review of the Code of Conduct, it was noted that paragraph 2.1 is a slight departure from the suggested wording in the Local Government Association Model Councillor Code of Conduct.

The committee were asked to approve an amendment to replace this paragraph with the wording from the Local Government Association's Model Code of Conduct.