CANCELLED Code of Conduct Refresher for Councillors

All parish and town councils must adopt a Code of Conduct that sets out the standards expected of members. The Local Government Association recently produced a model code that has been adopted across most of the country, including by Worcestershire’s county and district councils. It is recommended that all the county’s parish and town councils do the same.

From the introduction to the model Code:

“The role of councillors across all tiers of local government is a vital part of our country’s system of democracy. It is important that as councillors we can be held accountable, and all adopt the behaviours and responsibilities associated with the role. Our conduct as an individual councillor affects the reputation of all councillors. We want the role of councillors to be one that people aspire to. We also want individuals from a range of backgrounds and circumstances to be putting themselves forward to become councillors.

As councillors, we represent local residents, work to develop better services and deliver local change. The public have high expectations of us and entrust us to represent our area, taking decisions fairly, openly, and transparently. We have both an individual and collective responsibility to meet these expectations by maintaining high standards and demonstrating good conduct, and by challenging behaviour which falls below expectations.

Importantly, we should be able to undertake our role as a councillor without being intimidated, abused, bullied, or threatened by anyone, including the general public.

This code has been designed to protect our democratic role, encourage good conduct and safeguard the public’s trust in local government.”

This session will identify the requirements of the Code and what it means in practice. We shall have a quiz to test your knowledge on when to declare and when not to declare. The handout will be sent out in advance so there is plenty of time to look up the answers, although there won’t be any prizes active participation is a must!

PLEASE ENSURE YOU HAVE THE AGREEMENT OF YOUR COUNCIL TO PAY THE COURSE FEE

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