When a Parish Councillor is elected he or she must sign a Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

This refers to the Code of Conduct, which may be revised from time to time, to which all Councils must abide and to which all Councillors must sign up and they must also register their interests - in much the same way that elected District and County Councillors have had to do for many years.

This is a specimen  Declaration Form:

DECLARATION OF ACCEPTANCE OF OFFICE

I ............................................................having been elected to the office of ... PARISH COUNCILLOR ... , member of ... KINGS STANLEY PARISH COUNCIL ... declare that I take that office upon myself, and will duly and faithfully fulfill the duties of it according to the best of my judgement and ability.

I undertake to observe the code as to the conduct which is expected of members of Kings Stanley Parish Council which was adopted at its meeting on 30th May 2007.

Signed .............................................

Date ...............................................

This declaration was made and signed before me, ............................ Clerk to King's Stanley Parish Council

For ......................................................................... Monitoring Officer, Stroud District Council

When the Parish Council adopts its Code of Conduct, elected Members and co-opted Members must register their financial and other interests with the District Council's Monitoring Officer within 28 days of adoption or within 28 days of their election or appointment.

Read further below for SDCs Guidance Notes on filling in a Registration of Interest form correctly.

  KINGS STANLEY PARISH COUNCIL

Section 81 Local Government Act 2000 and The Local Authorities

(Model Code of Conduct) Order 2007

Register of Member’s personal interests

required under the Members’ Code of Conduct

Under The Local Authorities (Model Code of Conduct) Order 2007

 I, ………………………………………………………………………………………..

being a Member of ……………………… ……………….            Town/Parish Council give notice that I have no financial or other interests to declare. 

OR

I set out overleaf my financial and other interests that I am required to declare.

(Please state “None” where applicable).

Please read the accompanying notes when completing this form.

DECLARATION

I have not omitted information that ought to be given in this notice and have not provided information that is materially false or misleading.

I undertake to give further notice in writing to the Council’s Monitoring Officer of any change to the interests specified above within 28 days of my becoming aware of it.

Signed ……………………………..………..   Dated …………………………………...

Received

……………………………………………….    Dated …………………………………..

Monitoring Officer

2007 Town/Parish Members Interest form

JULY 2007

STROUD DISTRICT COUNCIL

 CODE OF CONDUCT – NOTIFICATION OF FINANCIAL AND OTHER INTERESTS

GUIDANCE NOTES ON COMPLETING THE REGISTRATION FORM

INTRODUCTION

·         It is hoped that the following comments will be helpful to Members in completing their notification forms, which will form part of a public register held by the Council’s Monitoring Officer.  Whilst the guidance should cover the majority of declarable personal interests for the purposes of the register, you should seek advice from the Monitoring Officer if you require further clarification.

·         You should complete the registration form with sufficient detail to identify clearly what the interest is.  Do not use abbreviations, initials or acronyms. You are personally responsible for the accuracy of the contents of what will be your register entry. You are in breach of the code if an interest is not registered with sufficient clarity. 

Every question on the form should be answered, even though the answer is “None”.

NOTE:

PARAGRAPH NUMBERS BELOW CORRESPOND TO PARAGRAPH NUMBERS ON REGISTRATION FORM.

1.      List all the bodies to which you have been appointed by your Town/Parish Council.  Give the full name of the body (not acronyms or initials).  Appointments or nominations may include local committees and charities, partnerships and companies in which the Council is involved, and other related organisations. Include nominations to any regional and national bodies such as local authority associations.

2.      (aa)  Include public bodies of which you are a member (e.g. County or District Council, school governor, health authority, government agency, other non profit organisation in public sector, local committee)

      (bb)  Include any charity of which you are a trustee or member (for example the National Trust) and any non profit making body such as a cultural, sporting, environmental or social association, club or organisation.  Any membership of a Masonic Lodge should be disclosed under this heading.

      (cc)  Include the name of any political party of which you are a member, any national or local body operating as a pressure group.  You should disclose membership of a professional organisation under this heading and of any trade union or trade association.

3.      Include all employments, whether full or part time, identifying the nature of each employment by use of job title or trade, occupation or profession.

4.      Include the name of the person or body employing you. If you are a director, give the name of the body or company appointing you.

5.      Include the name of the political party, or other person or body that has made a payment to you for election expenses.

      Include the name of any person or body (other than your Council) making any payment to you for expenses incurred by you in carrying out your duties as a member. (e.g. travelling expenses)

6.      If you own shares or other form of equity in a company or other body which has a place of business within the area of your Town/Parish Council or own land or property in the authority’s area, you will need to consider whether the interest is to be included. Identify the nominal value; this is the amount of the shares indicated on the certificate, not the market value. If this exceeds £25,000, you need to register the name of the company or body. If this is less than £25,000 but the holding is more than 1% of the total issued share capital, you need to register the name of the company or body.

      Information required does not relate to disclosure of Bank or Building Society Accounts, however large.

7.      You must include a clear description of the contract with your Town/Parish Council with which you, your firm, your company or a company or body registered under 6 above, is a party.

8.      This requirement is not intended to cover gifts and hospitality received by you in your private capacity (i.e. not as a member). The requirement covers gifts and hospitality received by you as a member. With some hospitality, for example, weddings and special events, you will need to consider in what capacity you are involved. You are advised to register all gifts that you accept as a member, and all hospitality (other than incidental refreshment of modest nature). You must register the nature and approximate value of the gift and hospitality, and the person or body giving it. You should register it as soon as possible after receiving it. Make sure you indicate the date when you register as this is important to determine how long you will need to disclose the receipt of the gift or hospitality in the event of any business of the authority relating to it. (three years from the date of registration)

9.     You must include a clear description sufficient to identify land you register. Land includes property and buildings on land and you should include the postal address. Beneficial interest includes freehold and leasehold (tenancy) interests and any legal rights you may have over property, for example a right of way or an option to purchase.  Please note that the registration requirement only relates to land/property within the area of the Town/Parish Council upon which you serve.

In most cases, the postal address will suffice in identifying property.  However in the case of agricultural land, such land must be described in a manner which is good enough to identify the location without anyone who wishes to inspect the register maintained by the Monitoring Officer being obliged to go to unreasonable lengths to achieve this.  For example, a description such as “Blackberry Farm, Slimbridge”, would be insufficient.  The description should read something like “approximately 62 hectares forming Blackberry Farm, and shown edged red on the enclosed plan”.  It would be even more helpful if OS. Field Nos. were also to be quoted!

The Monitoring Officer will be pleased to supply, on request, O.S. plans to assist in the ready identification of any land in which you have an interest.

10.  Include here any land or property leased (tenanted) from your Town/Parish Council by yourself, your firm or company, or body registered under 6 above.

11.  This includes grazing agreements, allotments, garage licences and other short term arrangements to use Town/Parish Council land or property.

SENSITIVE INFORMATION

The new Code of Conduct introduces a new provision regarding the disclosure of sensitive information on your register of interests.

If you consider that the information relating to any of your personal interests is sensitive information and the Monitoring Officer agrees, you need not include that information on the registration form although you should provide it to the Monitoring Officer explaining why you consider that the information is sensitive.

“Sensitive information” means information whose availability for inspection by the public creates or is likely to create a serious risk of violence or intimidation against you or somebody who lives with you.  According to the Standards Board for England, “sensitive information” may for example include your employment if this is for instance with the Special Forces or is in certain types of scientific research.

 JULY 2007

 Guidance notes for Town/Parish Council members on completing the registration form