Follow up question in regards to RUles of Register of interest

Question

So in regards to this, it has mostly been resolved, but Should a councillor declare if they are a member of a charity for example the WI(one of our councillors is president of the WI and the WI is involved with the events committee no one else in the community has been asked to join the events committee but she hasn't declared it, there are other councillors who are also members, but on the basis that they get financial gain from the council from the people's tax's, i'm just wondering if it is something that should be declared?

Answer 1

Your standing orders should define who can take part in discussions and vote on matters  in which they have an interest . The Nolan principles call for integrity and openness on the part of councillors and they cannot go wrong if they adhere to those principles and err on the side of avoiding any accusations of bias or gain by their actions Integrity: the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.

Comments

Thank you, i actually don't know what there current Standing orders are or any policies as i'm not an actual councillor, and where the documents normally are, have not been available to the public since september. So in a lot of things i'm running blind trying to sort out issues that come to my attention whilst not having access, i have requested to see some documents such as the co-option policy only to be refused, they haven't even given me the compaints policy.
Some of the WI(who are not councillors) have been receiving expenses..i presume they are on the events committee but it hasn't been specificed in the agenda, as a majority of the councillors are WI members i just wonder if they should have it on their decleration of interest form. There are other expenses that don't add up, such as dog bags, i've seen non councillors already putting these up who are nothing to do with the council, yet the Clerk is currently claiming for them. I know the dog bags aren't to do with the council as i seen one of my colleagues installing them. I've still not been shown the financial records from last year where the clerk claimed money was missing.
On top of this i've been banned from asking questions in the usual places other than on here, i can't even access my account on the What do they know site..

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All of the council documentation, codes of conduct, financial and all policy documents and standing orders should be on the council's website for public viewing. If your requests for sight of documents to which you are allowed is being ignored or refused then sent a request in writing ( or via email) headed "request under the freedom of information act stating " EXACTLY the documents or specific information you require them to respond within the required period ( 20 working days).
Be very specific as to the documents you require.

Answer 2

No.  Not required - it is neither a disclosable pecuniary interest nor is it a non disclosable interest since they make no personal financial gain nor does it effect them substantially more than it does anyone else.

If they CHOOSE to declare an interest they will put themselves at the mercy of the council which will then resolve whether (or not) they may speak on relation to any debate, vote or leave the room.

They cannot be compelled to declare an interest and there is no sanction if they don't and then the MO (the only authority) later finds that they should have done.

What could they possibly stand to gain from taking part in the debate / vote?

Comments

Thank you, whilst the councillors themeselves don't gain anything specifically some of the WI members do receive money from the council which is why i was enquiring as it was on the agenda, but was not specified as to why this particular member was receiving this money, i think she may be on a sub committee but it just wasn't made clear at the meeting(this last meeting was also very rushed which was unusual for them.