On our parish council we have a councillor who is also on the village hall trust

Question

The pc rent the hall to the trust so at some of the pc meetings the hall is  on the agenda the pc who is on the trust refuse’s to declare an interest and also refuses to enter it on his register of interest form with the monitoring officer if this is reported to the monitoring officer is there any hope they will do anything

Answer 1

If the councillor is appointed to the trust by the parish council as part of his role as a councillor, there is no need for that to be declared but if his involvement with the trust is entirely separate from his role as councillor I would expect (depending upon the wording of your code of conduct - they're not all the same), that role to be declared.  It is of course entirely the responsibility of the councillor to decide whether to declare an interest, of course, but if you feel an interest should have been declared, you can refer this to the monitoring officer.

Comments

Hi he is not appointed to the trust by the pc I just do not see why he think he can not have to declare it on his register of interest with the monitoring officer

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We have the same situation-I'm the PC chair, and also on the Village Hall committee. Why do I need to declare an interest? I can do so during a meeting should the need arise, and have it minuted. It can be very useful to have someone who knows what's happening as regards the hall. It doesn't need to go on the register of pecunary interests, as it's not applicable. Short answer-they're probably not doing anything wrong-just because you don't like it, that doesn't mean it's breaking any rules.

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The register of interest is not just for pecuniary interests it is also for other registerable interests like what trust you are on read capalc code of conduct 2021  it may help you to understand what you need to register

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I did check with our Clerk-he said no need, just doit as I go when discussing issues.

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Register of interest also ask weather you are directed to charitable purposes

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I think your clerk, CWT, may not be correct.  If you are a member of a charity, community organisation etc. in a management role, even if you do not benefit personally, it can still be a registrable interest and should be declared on your declaration of financial interest form and at the relevant point in a meeting whenever the charity, etc. is discussed.  The exception to the need to declare this is when your appointment to the charity etc. is made as a representative of the council on that committee/charity etc.  I agree, it can be very useful to have a parish council representative on charitable and community bodies within the parish.

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CWT - At the end of the day it is not the clerk who is responsible for registering and declaring interests. That is your sole responsibility as councillor.  If it comes back to bite it will be you who gets bitten and not the clerk.

Answer 2

It may be worth their being "had a word with" A) to point out what and why it means to declare an interest B) why they do not feel this interest needs to be declared.
Sometimes the answer is better handled with adherence to the Nolan requirement or their office, especially the integrity requirement rather than going down the sometime ineffectual MO route.

Answer 3

I might be misreading, but if the Hall is a Charity (inferred from Hall trust), the the PC member is a Charity trustee and that is completely separate to the PC.

I think it should be in the register of interests - in the same way a job is - but whether there is a conflict is a case by case basis. There shouldn’t be as each hat is different (even if a ‘PC rep’), but their could be - that would be at the councillors discretion.