Matthew Mannion, Head of Democratic Services, introduced the report on the Member and Officer Relations Protocol. He reported that this was a long-standing section of the Constitution and contained guidance on how members and officers should interact. It also included a section on Member to Member relations.

A number of earlier discussions and reviews, including one from Grant Thornton, had mentioned the Protocol, including suggestions that the Member to Member protocol should be a stand-alone section of the Constitution.

During discussion the Committee noted there had been occasions where there had been problems, including in Members attacking individual officers during formal meetings. However, it was noted that generally the Code was working ok but that there was likely to be scope to make any suggested improvements.

The Committee asked that feedback be sought from Members and officers on their perspective as to how effective it was. It was suggested that the language could be improved and consider whether case studies and similar could be useful to back it up.

It was agreed that consideration of the Protocol would be picked up by the new working group being established to look at the Model Code of Conduct, although to be dealt with after the group had reviewed the new Code of Conduct.

RESOLVED

1.    That the report be noted and that the Protocol be passed to the working group for consideration before reporting back to the Committee.