Co-option of friend and declaring interest

Question

We have a vacancy on our PC. I suggested to a neighbour and friend that she would make a good councillor and she has subsequently applied for Co-option. This is on the agenda for our next meeting. Given that she is my neighbour and friend, and that I made the recommendation, does this give rise to an interest that I should declare?  Even if it does not, would it be normal or best practice for me to withdraw from the the discussion and vote?

Answer 1

As a clerk I always referred my councillors to the Monitoring Officer to get FORMAL advice on possible conflicts of interest.

As a throw away comment I usually said "In my experience, if you think you have got an interest in X then its usually the case that you have".  Does that help?

Comments

Thank you.  My inclination is that I should probably not participate in the discussion or vote on this occasion.  However, it struck me that it must often be the case that co-option candidates are well known to other PC members, either as neighbours, friends, or through participation in other community groups, so there might be some members here who have experience of this situation so I thought it worth checking.  Thanks again.

Answer 2

I think it depends upon the process. If a vacancy has been advertised and she has applied, in the same way that anyone else could apply, there is no interest to declare, but for the sake of transparency, I suggest that you mention that you encouraged her to apply. You can still participate in the discussion and vote. On the other hand, if there was no open process to fill the vacancy, you have given her favourable treatment and it would be unwise for you to participate in the discussion and vote.

As you have mentioned, if everybody who discussed a vacancy with a friend or neighbour was ineligible to participate in the selection process, quoracy might become an issue.

Answer 3

There are 2 things YOU need to do which nobody else can do for you.
Firstly, read your councils code of conduct in relation to disclosable pecuniary and non registrable interests.  This is a good investment of 10 minutes since you really should understand this fundamental element of Cllr knowledge.
What you describe is NOT a disclosable Pecuniary interest and (I am sure you will find) it falls WAY SHORT of a non registrable interest.
If it is NOT a disclosable pecuniary interest  nor a non registrable then the answer is…..

There is no interest to declare - but that is the second thing you have to do….  Only YOU (not the clerk or the MO) can decide (and declare) when an interest exists

Are YOU “advantaged” financially or in any other way if your neighbour is co-opted? Unless they are paying you to vote for them…..?