minutes

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 26 January 2011 (Minute Nos. 617 - 619) were taken as read, approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

declarations of interest

No interests were declared.

election of vice-chairman

part a minutes for confirmation by council

review of polling districts and places

The Corporate Services Director introduced the report which set out the results from the recent consultation regarding the current arrangements of polling districts and places. The Council was required to undertake a review of polling districts and places by the end of 2011, to ensure that all electors in the Borough had reasonable facilities for voting and that, as far as was reasonable and practicable, facilities for voting were accessible for disabled people. He reminded Members that Swale was also currently part way through an electoral review.

The Corporate Services Director referred Members to Appendix I in the report which outlined the responses to the consultation.

Discussion ensued regarding the polling place in Sheerness West Ward. Some Members considered that the polling place should not be extended and that they were happy with the current polling place. The Electoral Services Officer explained that the headmaster at the school had asked the Council to explore alternative options to avoid closure of the school on election day.

In respect of St Michael's Ward, a Member considered that local residents were happy to use the Wyvern Hall as a polling station as it was a familiar venue. He did not consider it was necessary to extend the polling place and considered that the proposed alternative venues would be more difficult for electors to find.

Councillor Harrison proposed and Councillor Worrall seconded, that recommendation (5) be altered to read: That the existing arrangements for Sheerness West Ward continue, and the matter be investigated further and reported back in the new year.

officer code of conduct

The Corporate Services Director introduced the report which set out proposed updates and revisions to the Officer Code of Conduct. This matter had been adjourned from the General Purposes Committee held in January 2011.

The Committee considered the report and appendices. The main points of discussion relevant to the Officer Code of Conduct are summarised below:

Clarity was needed as to whether The Code of Conduct applied to partnerships and joint working arrangements;
Certain suggestions were made on presentation;
Concerns were raised regarding how common in occurrence 'secret societies' were;
Consistency with the Officer Code of Conduct and the protocol of Member/Officer relationships needed to be developed;
An annual report should be submitted to the General Purposes Committee to allow the Officer Code of Conduct to be monitored;
The Code of Conduct should be distributed to all Officers, both new and present employees;
Consideration that income of the Officer should be stated on the Notification by Officer of Financial and Other Interests Form;
Important that the Code was reviewed regularly and that staff read and understood it.

The Corporate Services Director responded to the points raised. He explained that he would add additional information in respect of who the Officer Code of Conduct was intended for. With reference to the length of the document, he stated that the process and aim was to get one document which would then become the starting point for information being in one place which would then be forwarded to all staff.

The Corporate Services Director advised that the Officer Code of Conduct did already include partnerships and joint working and that an annual report on monitoring the Code could be written. He advised that the Officers' Interests Register was intended to mirror the Members' Interests Register, although he acknowledged that there could be data protection issues.

The Corporate Services Director reminded Members that the Officer Code of Conduct, as an appendix in the Constitution, needed to be formally ratified by Council and advised that the suggested amendments made above would be taken forward in the final report to Council.

In response to a query regarding the term 'spokespersons' in media releases, the Corporate Services Director confirmed that he would contact the Media and Communications department regarding this.