This meeting of the Standards Committee was scheduled to include a report on complaints made about councillors in the previous year, a discussion about whether councillors should be allowed to participate in decisions on matters in which they have a financial interest, and proposed revisions to the way councillors' financial interests are recorded. The committee was also scheduled to be told about recent standards news items and to note the standards guidance that had recently been issued to councillors.

Revising the Register of Interests Form

This was a report about a proposal to change the form that Camden Councillors use to register their financial interests. The report explained that the form was last revised in March 2022, and that since then the council has identified some aspects of the form that it would like to improve.

Following a review of the current form and approach to registering the interests of a councillor’s spouse/partner or relevant others, this report recommends the reformatting of the form to enhance openness and provide a reminder to councillors and co-opted Members of their obligations. The main proposal in the report was to add new columns to the form so that councillors have to separately list their own interests, and those of their spouse or partner. You can see the existing form here: Appendix A_ Current Register of Interests Form and the proposed new form here: Appendix B_ Revised Register of Interests Form

General Dispensation for Members

This item considered the question of when councillors should be permitted to participate in decisions on matters in which they have a financial interest. The report explained that since 2012 the council has given all councillors what is known as a general dispensation allowing them to participate in decisions on housing, school meals and transport, and statutory sick pay, on the grounds that these decisions affect all councillors in the same way as members of the public. The report describes the legal rationale for this dispensation, saying:

although these are decisions that may impact on Members’ private interests and therefore may theoretically affect Members’ views, there is no strong reason to deviate from the same conclusion for the 2007 Code, namely that for these issues it is overall in the public interest that Members participate in such decisions The report asked the committee to renew the existing dispensation for another 4 years, and to extend it to cover Local Council Tax Support Schemes.

Annual Monitoring of Code of Conduct Complaints Against Members 2023-24

This report was provided by the Borough Solicitor, Andrew Maughan, and gave an update on the number and nature of complaints made against councillors in the previous year. The report explained that between June 2023 and June 2024, 11 complaints were received about councillors. The report reassures the public that Camden Councillors generally behave themselves, saying:

There are very few complaints made about Members in Camden, which is a positive indication of the conduct of Camden’s councillors. The low number of complaints has remained steady over recent years. The report goes on to explain that none of the complaints received in the past year were judged to require a formal investigation, and that none had been upheld by the Local Government Ombudsman. An anonymised summary of the complaints and the reasons they were not investigated was included in the report. Appendix A: Anonymised summary of complaints 2023/24

Update on Standards Matters - October 2024

This report was provided by Andrew Maughan, the Borough Solicitor, and summarised a number of standards issues that have been in the news since the last meeting of the committee.

• The report discussed the case of a councillor in Teignbridge who was investigated for their conduct after a finding by the Local Government Ombudsman.
• The report described a case in Newport, Wales, where it was found that a number of Town and Parish Councils were not publishing their registers of interest on their websites.
• The report drew the committee's attention to a statement by the National Association for Local Councils (NALC) that suggested that the current system of fining councillors for breaching the code of conduct does not work.
• The report described a case in Ashfield, where a councillor was fined £2,400 for failing to declare a loan he had made to another councillor who had used the money to buy a house.
• The report described a case in Hartlepool, where two councillors were censured for making what the council decided were untrue statements about council tax in a political leaflet.
• The report described a case in Tower Hamlets, where a sexual entertainment venue had their licence renewed by the council, and was paid damages and legal costs, after their owner complained that a councillor had sought to elicit a bribe in return for granting the licence.
• The report described a case in South Tyneside, in which the former leader of the council was found to have bullied officers, but no action could be taken against him because he was no longer a councillor.
• The report described a case in Warwickshire, where an investigation decided that no action should be taken against three councillors who had made what were described as harsh comments about parents of children with Special Educational Needs, because their comments were protected by the councillors' right to free speech.

Standards Information and Guidance Record

This was a report on all of the standards guidance that had been issued to councillors recently. Most of this related to reminding councillors to register their interests. The committee was asked if there are any other areas where they think councillors need guidance.