Lack of Statutory Register of Members Interests held by MO

Question

Hi

Following a FOI request to the Principle Authority, I am now aware that the Monitoring Officer does not hold any records relating to Statutory Register of Members Interests, which concerns any disclosable pecuniary interest that would ordinarily include Members employment, trade, profession, property and/or land within the parish, pertaining to half of the Members from my Parish Council since they have never submitted this information.

One particular Member has also not disclosed a specific pecuniary interest arising from the appointment of and consequential employment of his partner as the Parish Council’s Clerk.

Consequently, I am now concerned about past and future decisions made by the Parish Council.

However, would it be worthwhile reporting these matters to the Monitoring Officer, or would I be simply wasting my time and effort given the fact that the Monitoring Officer has always been aware of these breaches of the Localism Act?

Any advice would be most welcome.

Thank you.

Sam

Answer 1

Failure to declare a pecuniary interest is a criminal offence, punishable by a fine of up to £5,000 and disqualification for a period of up to 5 years.

Comments

Many thanks again DtC.

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I suppose the next question is 'who is responsible for initiating an investigation by the police?'. In a case that I am aware off, the DC monitoring officer was reluctant to take any action at all, and when a decision was made as to what action to take, it effectively had no teeth anyway.

Answer 2

The Localism Act 2011, section 29 (1) specifically states that "The monitoring officer of a relevant authority must establish and maintain a register of interests of members and co-opted members of the authority"

The fact that your MO doesn't hold these records is against the law in the first instance and the fact that the councillor has not declared an interest is also against the law as DtC has stated.

Shocking.