The Code

1. Relationships

The Public

You may have contact with members of the public as users of services, clients or citizens. You should always be courteous and helpful. You should deal fairly, equitably and consistently with each member of the public, and you must follow your council’s equal opportunities policy.

Councillors

The National Code of Local Government Conduct gives the following guidance on the relationship between councillors and employees –

23. "Both councillors and employees are servants of the public, and they are indispensable to one another. But their responsibilities are distinct. Councillors are responsible to the electorate and serve only as long as their term of office lasts. Employees are responsible to the council. Their job is to give advice to councillors and their council, and to carry out the council’s work under the direction and control of the council, their committees and sub-committees.

24. Mutual respect between councillors and employees is essential to good local government. Close personal familiarity between individual councillors and employees can damage the relationship and prove embarrassing to other councillors and employees."

These principles apply equally in this Code.

2. Contractors

You must be fair and impartial in your dealings with contractors, sub-contractors and suppliers.

If you are involved in the tendering process you must follow the Comhairle’s procedures and rules about tenders and contracts.

If you are an employee who has both a "client" and "contractor" responsibility in the tendering process, you must observe the requirement for accountability and even-handedness in undertaking these two roles.

If you have access to confidential information on tenders or costs for either internal or external contractors you must not disclose that information to any unauthorised individual or organisation.

3. Conflicts of interest

As a Comhairle employee you must not allow any private interest to influence your decisions.

You must not use your position to further your own interests or the interests of others who do not have a right to benefit under the Comhairle’s policies.

You may have a private interest which relates to the work of the Comhairle. That interest may be a financial one or one which a member of the public might reasonably think could influence your judgement. In addition, close family members or people living in your household may have financial interests in the work of the Comhairle. All such interests must be declared to your line manager.

If you are a member of an organisation or a club, and membership might result in a conflict of interest in relation to any aspect of your work with the Comhairle, you must declare this membership to your line manager. This applies equally to membership of organisations or clubs which are not open to the public, eg Freemasonry.

4. Openness and disclosure of information

The Comhairle’s decision making process must be transparent and open. The Comhairle must provide the public with clear and accessible information about how it operates. It must also ensure that there is an effective complaints procedure in place for the public to use when things go wrong. But there are exceptions to the principle of openness where confidentiality is involved, and information may be withheld if, for example, it would compromise a right of personal or commercial confidentiality. This does not apply where there is a legal duty to provide information.

You must follow the Comhairle’s policy on making information available to the public, and you must not break the law in this area.

5. Paid employment outside the council

The Comhairle will normally allow you to undertake paid employment outside the Comhairle unless there is a clear conflict of interest, or it is likely to have an adverse effect on the work of the Comhairle. If you want to undertake paid employment outside the Comhairle you must first obtain the Comhairle’s approval. This procedure is in your interests and will protect you. You are not allowed to use the equipment and resources of the council in any outside employment.

You must follow the Comhairle’s policy about fees which you may receive for a publication, broadcast, speech or lecture where you have used official information or your own work experience.

If you wish to use the equipment and resources of the Comhairle for the benefit of a voluntary or charitable organisation, you must follow your council’s policy on what assistance can be given to such organisations.

Additional Local Guidance

(a) Permission to undertake other paid employment must be obtained from your Head of Service, who will refer contentious or sensitive matters to the Chief Executive or the Comhairle.

(b) Fees received for a publication, broadcast, speech or lecture where you have used Comhairle information, experience or time should be divided with the Comhairle on a fair basis to be determined by your line manager, subject to the usual appeal provisions of the Grievance and Dispute Procedure. Where a fee is received in connection with a voluntary or charitable group, that group should receive all of the fee.

(c) You must obtain the permission of your Head of Service before using Comhairle equipment and resources for the benefit of a voluntary or charitable organisation.

6. Hospitality

You should not accept offers of hospitality unless you can answer "Yes" to the following questions:

"Can I justify this?"

"Would accepting the hospitality lead to legitimate criticism?".

If you are in any doubt, you should seek the advice of your line manager.

You must follow the Comhairle’s policy on declaring offers of hospitality, and follow the current procedures for having any offers authorised.

You should only accept offers to attend social or sporting events where these are clearly part of the life of the community, or where the Comhairle would be expected to be represented.

You should not accept repeated hospitality from the same source.

If you are making a visit to inspect equipment, vehicles, land or property you must ensure that the Comhairle pays for the costs of these visits.

Additional Local Guidance

Hospitality accepted in connection with your work in excess of occasional working meals should be consistent with the national code and should be declared to your line manager. Each line manager should consider whether the hospitality accepted should be included in the Information Bulletin.

7. Gifts

You must not accept personal gifts, but you may keep items of token value, eg pens, diaries, or small tokens of gratitude, so long as this complies with the policy of the Comhairle.

8. Corruption

It is important that you are aware that it is a serious criminal offence for you corruptly to receive or give any gift, loan, fee, reward or advantage for doing or not doing anything, or for showing favour or disfavour to any person, in the course of your work with the Comhairle.

9. Use of resources

You and your colleagues serve the public, and you must remember this principle when you use Comhairle equipment, materials and resources, in order to ensure value for money. You must not breach the policy of the Comhairle on the personal use of Comhairle equipment.

Additional Local Guidance

The equipment and resources of the Comhairle (including the phone and photocopiers) must not be used for personal purposes without the express permission of the Head of Service as to its use and the appropriate charge. The Comhairle’s internet access may be used in an employees own time, subject to the normal safeguards.

10. Appointments

All councils have a Recruitment and Selection Policy based on the principles contained in the COSLA Code on Recruitment and Selection. All appointments must be made on the basis of merit. You must follow the Comhairle’s policy.

If you are involved in the recruitment and selection process, and have any kind of relationship which might affect your ability to be impartial, that relationship must be declared to your line manager. Your line manager will decide whether you can participate in the recruitment and selection process. The same procedure must be followed in other personnel procedures such as grievance or disciplinary procedures or job evaluation.

You must not lobby a councillor or another colleague either directly or indirectly to secure your own appointment or promotion, or the appointment or promotion of another person. If you have been lobbied by an applicant, another colleague, a councillor or any other person, you must report the matter to your line manager.

11. Contacts with the media

In your work with the Comhairle, contact with the media should only take place where this has been authorised by the council. You must follow the Comhairle’s policy in relation to contact with the media.

12. Political neutrality

The public expects you to carry out your duties in a politically neutral way, and this must be respected by councillors. The political activities of a small number of employees are restricted by law.

You must serve the Comhairle and all councillors, regardless of their political outlook. The Chief Executive and senior officers have ultimate responsibility to help ensure that the policies of the Comhairle are implemented. You must implement the policies of the Comhairle irrespective of your personal views.

If you are asked by a councillor to provide assistance with a matter which is clearly party political or which does not have a clear link with the work of the Comhairle, you should politely refuse and inform the councillor that you are referring the matter to your line manager.

Some employees will have a close working relationship with councillors of the majority political group (or groups) which form the administration of the Comhairle. Political groups may sometimes seek advice from council employees. You must follow the procedure below.

The following is an example of good practice in regulating access by political groups to the advice of employees:

The office bearers (of the group) must first approach the Chief Executive.

The office bearers must tell the Chief Executive what type of advice they are seeking..

The Chief Executive will decide whether attendance at the meeting is appropriate and which employee or employees should attend. Once the employee has given the advice to the group, the employee must leave the meeting before any decision is made.

Strict confidentiality must be observed by the employee. The discussion in one political group should not be disclosed to another political group or to any member of such a group.

13. Your rights as an employee

Public statements

As a citizen, you are entitled to express your views about the Comhairle, provided you do not make use of any private information gained through your work with the Comhairle. But you should not, in your work capacity, criticise the Comhairle either through the media or at a public meeting, or in any written communication with members of the public.

Access to your councillor

As a citizen, you are entitled to raise with your councillor any complaint which you have about the services of the Comhairle. If your complaint concerns any aspect of your work with the Comhairle, however, you must make use of the Comhairle’s grievance procedures.

Fair and reasonable treatment at work

You are entitled to expect fair and reasonable treatment from your colleagues, managers and from councillors. If you feel that you have been unfairly treated or have been discriminated against, you are entitled to make use of the appropriate Comhairle procedures.

There may be rare occasions when you feel that you have been required by a colleague, a councillor or a member of the public, or by an organisation, to act in a way which might be illegal, improper or unethical, or which is otherwise in conflict with the principles of this Code of Conduct. You must follow the Comhairle’s procedure for dealing with such concerns.

The following is an example of good practice which allows concerns of this nature to be raised confidentially inside the Comhairle.

If you are in this situation you must report the matter to your line manager. If, however, you feel that you cannot discuss the matter with your line manager then you must report the matter to the Chief Executive or another officer appointed by the Comhairle outwith your line management.

The Chief Executive or your line manager or the other person appointed by the Comhairle will then decide - in consultation, where necessary, with the Comhairle’s monitoring officer - what action is to be taken, including whether the issue which you have raised can be dealt with through the Comhairle’s grievance procedure.

The confidentiality of your concern will be maintained wherever possible.