The Standards and General Purposes Committee of Buckinghamshire Council met on Thursday 16 October 2025 in The Paralympic Room, Buckinghamshire Council, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury. The meeting was scheduled to discuss the transparency of member fees and allowances for external bodies, and a review of member code of conduct complaints.

It was noted that the meeting may have been filmed for broadcast via the council's website.

Transparency of Member Fees and Allowances

The committee was scheduled to consider a motion referred to them by the Full Council regarding member fees and allowances for external bodies. The motion, submitted by Councillor Stuart Wilson and seconded by Councillor Robin Stuchbury, sought to increase transparency by requiring members to declare outside body allowances and expenses on their register of interests, including the monetary value.

The report pack noted that there was no legal requirement for members to list allowances or expenses received from outside bodies, and that it does not feature in best practice guidance or the national model code of conduct. However, it also noted that the council is free to amend its own code.

The report pack included the original motion, and an amended version proposed by Councillor Anja Schaefer and seconded by Councillor Jonathan Waters. The amended version suggested that the committee could ask the Monitoring Officer to devise a practical mechanism to make information about allowances, fees and expenses received by members from external bodies available to the public, alongside information about members' allowances received from Buckinghamshire Council directly.

The report pack set out several options for the committee to consider:

• No change and no action.
• No amendment to the code, but self-inclusion in the register could be an optional requirement.
• Wait for the outcome of the government's review into local standards, and the potential mandatory minimum code of conduct.
• Ask the Monitoring Officer to consider other methods of achieving transparency.
• Recommend amending the code to make it an obligation for members to declare the monetary value for allowances and expenses received from outside bodies on their register of interests.

The report pack noted that comparable authorities such as North Yorkshire, Somerset, Cornwall, Durham, Wiltshire and Shropshire do not require members to declare outside body allowances and expenses in their code of conduct.

Member Code of Conduct Complaints

The committee was scheduled to review member code of conduct complaints opened and closed in Quarter 2 (July to September 2025), as well as those currently open.

The report pack stated that seventeen complaints were considered in Quarter 2, nine for Buckinghamshire Council and eight for Parish/Town Councils. No breach of the code was found, though four remained open at the time of writing.

The report pack included annexes with more detailed information on the nature of the complaints. The most common cause of complaint was disrespect.

The report pack also included a comparison with the previous quarter for 2025/26, and charts comparing the types and origin of complaints.

Other Business

The committee was also scheduled to discuss its work programme for 2025/26.