Is a Councillor a member of the public if they attend a meeting they have not been summoned to?

Question

A meeting is to be held of the staffing committee and press and public will be excluded from that meeting due to matters of a confidential nature. A Councillor who is not a member of the staffing wants to attend. As they are not a member of the committee, are they considered a member of the public?

Answer 1

As I see it a councillor has the right to attend all meetings of the council whether committee or main council. They may not participate in a specific committee meeting unless allowed to do so by the committee chair nor vote on matters of the committee. I would also say that they should be privy to confidential sections of the meeting from which members of the public are excluded( they are elected councillors and are not stripped of their position) because to do so would be a criticism of the councillors expected and required integrity without evidence.( Nolan principles)

Answer 2

There is no formal statutory regulation which can used to compel a non committee member Cllr to leave a meeting when it goes into closed session.
There are personal opinions but they are no more or less than a personal opinion.

Answer 3

What do your SO's say? Ours say non-committee members are treated as members of the public.

Answer 4

The NALC guidance on this is clear:-

"Sometimes councillors wish to attend meetings of committees (or sub-committees) to which they have not been appointed. This is a perfectly legitimate practice as councillors have the same rights to attend committee (or sub-committee) meetings as members of the public. However, where councillors attend meetings of committees (or sub-committees) to which they have not been appointed, they will not enjoy all the rights they enjoy as councillors. They will not have a right to participate in the meeting unless the meeting includes a public participation session. In England, a councillor (or non-councillor) member of a committee is not, without a dispensation, permitted to speak during a public participation session if he holds a disclosable pecuniary interest or another interest stipulated by his council’s code of conduct in a matter that is being discussed during the public participation session of a meeting."

Comments

This is the widely accepted NALC Position. Someone playing devils advocate posed:  "so on that basis they are not acting in a capacity as councillor so not bound by the code of conduct?" and didnt really have an answer. I think it would be helpful as part of next model standing orders for it to be explicitly stated mind as it comes up time and time again.

Answer 5

My understanding is councillors who are not members of the committee could attend a meeting of the committee, just as members of the public could, and could speak in the public part, but would not have a right to remain if the meeting went into confidential session.

Does this mean that during such a meeting, the conduct of the councillor would not be covered by the code of conduct? IMO, not necessarily. The councillor may only have the rights of participation of a member of the public at the meeting, but they are still councillors. It would depend on their conduct and the context of it. Ultimately, it would be up to a Monitoring Officer to decide.