Principles underlying Member / Officer relations
Mutual respect between Officers and Elected Members is essential to good local governance. Inappropriate relationships between Officers and individual Elected Members can damage the reputation of the Council as well as individuals and should be avoided. Officers are reminded of the guidance contained within section 3 of the Code of Conduct for Employees ‘Political Neutrality’.
The following principles underpin the detail contained in individual sections which deal with specific aspects of Member/Officer relations.
- i) Elected Members and Officers will treat each other with courtesy and respect at all times in both formal and informal situations.
- ii) Council Officers will give impartial advice to the whole Council including all political groups, Committee and non-Committee Elected Members. Formal recommendations will only be made to the body empowered to take the decision in question.
- iii) Elected Members and Officers will not seek to use their positions to exercise inappropriate influence e.g. to secure an improper advantage for themselves or any other person.
- iv) Elected Members and Officers will at all times observe the requirements of the Council’s Constitution.
Amongst other things, this means that both Officers and Elected Members will refrain from shouting, aggression, threats (either explicit or implied), and references, which could reasonably be perceived as insulting. Formal and informal situations encompass: formally constituted meetings either inside or outside of the Council, telephone conversations, personal contact, e-mail, letters or references in the media. It does not mean that Elected Members and Officers may not hold or express differences of view, but that they should do so in accordance with accepted standards of courteous behaviour.
Additionally, in relation to issues within an Officer’s area of responsibility, Elected Members should recognise and respect the Officer’s expertise and professionalism – failure to do so may place the Council at risk of a formal legal challenge and/or damage to its reputation. Officers’ professional advice should not be ignored and should only be rejected for valid reasons. This does not mean that an Officer’s recommendations are not open to question or examination, but an Officer’s advice should not be rejected arbitrarily or for other than good reasons relevant to the issue in question. What amounts to a valid basis to reject advice cannot be generally defined other than as a reasonable belief based on adequate grounds that the judgement of the Officer is flawed in some way material to the decision to be taken. The adequacy of the grounds will vary according to the nature of the issue and the degree of expertise involved in making the relevant judgement.
Providing an outcome which is satisfactory to an individual constituent or group of constituents does not, of itself, constitute a valid reason for rejecting professional advice – the decision must be based on an objective assessment of the issues relevant to the matter in question, public approval only being a determining factor when the merits and demerits are finely balanced.
Members and Officers both have an important role in creating and stimulating a good reputation for the Authority. In particular they should:
- a) protect and promote the legitimacy of democratic local government;
- b) promote a positive relationship between Members and Officers and be careful not to undermine it;
- c) ensure criticism of the Authority when formally representing it is avoided; and
- d) ensure personal criticism of other Members and Officers is avoided.