Staff code of conduct and political restrictions

Report: 10
Date: 13 December 2004
By: Clerk

Summary

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has been consulting on proposals for Model Code of Conduct for Local Government Employees and for changes to the political restrictions on those employees. This report outlines the consultation proposals.

A. Recommendation

That the report be noted.

B. Supporting information

Model code of conduct

1. The Local Government Act 2000 provided a new statutory framework to govern the conduct of members and employees of relevant authorities in England and police authorities in Wales. The Members’ Code of Conduct has been in place since 2002. The proposed code of conduct for employees is the other part of the equation that seeks to establish a common core of fundamental values to underpin standards of conduct in local government.

2. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) has been consulting on a proposed code and this report outlines the proposals for the Committee’s information. Following consultation, the Secretary of State can issue the code and it will then become part of employees’ terms and conditions of employment.

3. The consultation draft of the model code is attached as Appendix 1. On the whole it is uncontroversial and is analogous in many ways to the members’ code. There are a couple of issues, however:

• Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) are specifically excluded from the Code as the Home Office intends to produce a separate code of conduct for them. However, as currently drafted it would appear that the Code would apply to not just direct employees of police authorities but all police staff (not police officers), including those under the direction and control of chief officers (or the Commissioner in the case of the MPS)
• A Register of Employees’ Interests: if this followed the lines of the members’ code, an employee would be required to register, for instance, shares held over a certain value, land or property owned in the authority’s area, and membership of charities etc. The government has not yet decided whether this requirement should apply to all staff or just those above a certain salary level (for instance, the salary level that is applied in respect of political restrictions). Neither has it decided whether the register should be publicly available. It may be a harder job to convince a more junior member of staff than a senior officer that, for instance, details of their property ownership and membership of charities should be made public. If the Code were to apply to police staff then maintenance of a register for almost 13,000 MPS police staff would be a not insignificant task.

4. The Government does not yet have a timetable for taking the Code forward. The consultation period ended in November. There will now be a process of amending the model in the light of consultation as necessary, and consultation with local government associations and unions to agree an adequate lead in time for the Order that enables all employees to be made aware of its provisions in advance.

Review of restrictions on political activities of employees

5. The Local Government and Housing Act 1989 imposes restrictions on the political activities of local government staff. Essentially there are restrictions on the political activities of:

• Specified senior officers
• Those whose duties involve giving advice to the authority on a regular basis; or who speak on a regular basis to journalists or broadcasters on behalf of the authority
• Officers whose annual pay exceeds the amount specified in regulations – currently £32,127 – spine point 44 of the national Joint Council Pay Column

6. Amongst other things, officer in ‘politically restricted posts’ cannot stand for political office, be an officer of a political party or canvass on behalf of a political party.

7. In 1998 the European Court ruled in favour of the Government in a challenge to the political restrictions regime, brought by five Council workers on human rights grounds. However, during the Parliamentary passage of the Local Government Act 2000 the Government undertook to review the regulations, particularly to ensure that political restrictions on employees are set at the right level of seniority. The Government has indicated that it is unlikely to change the type of posts that are subject to political restrictions. It might however simplify the regime by increasing the salary threshold and consequently reducing the number of posts affected.

8. The Government may also consider changes to the nature of the restrictions. For instance:

• Allowing local government officers to participate in national politics (subject to the local authority’s consent), in a way similar to the rules which allow civil servants to take part in local politics
• By allowing a general exemption from political restriction for holders of certain posts, again similar to the process for civil servants

9. In terms of the relevance to the MPA, roughly half of the MPA’s secretariat and internal audit staff are caught by the political restriction regime, mostly as a result of the salary threshold. So a raising of the threshold would be welcome. The regime also applies to MPS police staff (as they are in fact employed by the police authority) and no doubt the MPS would also welcome a change.

C. Equality and diversity implications

An employee code of conduct would be a positive and explicit support to the MPA’s own requirements concerning staff behaviour. There are no specific issues about the possible changes to the political restrictions regime.

D. Financial implications

None

D. Background papers

• Government consultation papers on a model code of conduct and the political activities of local government employees

E. Contact details

Report author: Simon Vile, MPA.

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

Appendix 1: Model code of conduct for local government employees consultation draft

Authorities employ a wide range of staff and it would not be possible within a single code of conduct to provide a set of detailed requirements for every employee. In many cases, employees will be subject to detailed terms and

conditions of employment which are tailored to their particular job. What the Government’s proposed code of conduct seeks to establish, therefore, is a set of “core principles” which underpin the concept of public service and which are applicable to all employees, regardless of the precise nature of the job they do.

The Government proposes that the code should establish requirements in the following areas:

• honesty, integrity, impartiality and objectivity
• accountability
• respect for others
• stewardship
• personal interests
• registration of interests
• reporting procedures
• openness
• appointment of staff
• duty of trust

Honesty, integrity, impartiality and objectivity

1. An employee must perform his duties with honesty, integrity, impartiality and objectivity.

Accountability

2. An employee must be accountable to the authority for his actions.

Respect for others

3. An employee must –

1. treat others with respect;
2. not discriminate unlawfully against any person; and
3. treat members and co-opted members of the authority professionally

Any failure to comply with these provisions would be a breach of the conditions of employment.

Stewardship

4. An employee must –

1. use any public funds entrusted to or handled by him in a responsible and lawful manner; and
2. not make personal use of property or facilities of the authority unless properly authorised to do so.

Any failure to comply with these provisions would also be a breach of the conditions of employment.

Personal interests

5. An employee must not in his official or personal capacity

1. allow his personal interests to conflict with the authority’s requirements; or
2. use his position improperly to confer an advantage or disadvantage on any person.

This articulates further the requirement in paragraph 1. It deals with the need for employees to ensure that their personal interests do not conflict with their public duty. For example, it might be that an official’s spouse is an employee of a firm tendering to provide a service to the authority. It would be inappropriate for that official to take part in the tender assessment process. This paragraph reflects the fact that the activities of an authority’s employee outside the working environment are under public scrutiny in a way that that private sector employees are not; the Code therefore requires higher standards of conduct from them.

Registration of interests

6. An employee must comply with any requirements of the authority –

1. to register or declare interests; and
2. to declare hospitality, benefits or gifts received as a consequence of his employment

This provision deals with the registration of employees’ interests that may have a bearing on the way in which the functions of the authority are discharged. The Government has not yet come to a view about whether there should be a standard list of interests etc that, as with the Members’ Code of Conduct, must always be registered. It is possible that the list will be restricted to officers above a certain salary level.

Reporting procedures

7. An employee must not treat another employee of the authority less favourably than other employees by reason that that other employee has done, intends to do, or is suspected of doing anything under or by reference to any procedure the authority has for reporting misconduct.

This provision aims to address the need to protect employees who “blow the whistle” from victimisation. The Government considers that it is not necessary to go further and impose a duty on employees to report misconduct. However, to strengthen the protection afforded to employees who do report their concerns, the Government proposes that it should be a breach of an employee’s terms and conditions of employment if they victimise another employee who has used the authority’s reporting procedures to report the misconduct of others.

Openness

8. An employee must –

1. not disclose information given to him in confidence by anyone, or information acquired which he believes is of a confidential nature, without the consent of a person authorised to give it, or unless he is required by law to do so; and
2. not prevent another person from gaining access to information to which that person is entitled by law

Paragraph 8(b) reinforces the provisions in section 100H of the Local Government Act 1972 which introduced a criminal offence for anyone who intentionally obstructs a person from gaining access to information to which they are entitled. This part of the code applies, among other things, to the information to which a person is entitled by virtue of any regulations made under section 22 of the Local Government Act 2000, for example, access to committee meetings which are open to the public, written records of decisions made and reasons for those decisions, background papers and other relevant documents. It will also apply from January to information requested under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Appointment of staff

9. (1) An employee must not be involved in the appointment or any other decision relating to the discipline, promotion, pay or conditions of another employee, or prospective employee, who is a relative or friend.

(2) In this paragraph –

1. “relative” means a spouse, partner, parent, parent-in-law, son, daughter, step-son, step-daughter, child of a partner, brother, sister, grandparent, grandchild, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, or the spouse or partner of any of the preceding persons; and
2. “partner” in subparagraph (a) above means a member of a couple who live together.

Employees of authorities are, as a matter of course, frequently involved in decisions that bear on the appointment, promotion, discipline, and terms or conditions of employment of staff. The Government takes the view that it would be appropriate therefore to emphasise the need to ensure that such decisions are made impartially and objectively. The term ‘friend’ is not defined in the code. The Standards Board for England’s guidance on this point, in the context of the members’ code of conduct, is that:

“‘friendship’ connotes a relationship going beyond regular contact with colleagues in the course of employment… Social contact is likely to be a strong indicator of friendship, but not necessarily the only one.”

Duty of trust

10. An employee must, at all times, act in accordance with the trust that the public is entitled to place in him.

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