Agenda item

This report seeks the endorsement of the Council to an amendment to the Employees Code of Conduct (“the Code”) introducing a requirement for all Council employees to declare the existence of criminal charges, cautions and convictions to their directorate lead for HR or the Chief Officer :HR

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Corporate Services seeking the approval of an amendment to the Employees Code of Conduct.  The amendment would introduce a requirement for all Council employees to declare the existence of charges brought by the Police, convictions in a court of law or the issue of a caution on any matter, and to report it immediately to their directorate HR lead or the Chief Officer: HR. 

This followed a decision by Corporate Management Team to review and amend the practice of carrying out three yearly Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) rechecks to posts where there was no statutory duty to do so.  During the time the Council had performed regular rechecks, there was no recorded case of an employee whose employment had been terminated due to new offences being detected by this service.  A budgetary saving had resulted from not undertaking the rechecks which had been included in the 2016/17 budget.  The imposition of a requirement on employees to disclose new convictions was expected to mitigate any risks which might arise.

The Committee noted a number of amendments made to the report in order to ameliorate the concerns expressed by Members at a previous meeting:

·                     The rationale of the proposals was to create a framework which placed an obligation on the employee to disclose, enabling the Chief Officer (with HR/Legal advice as appropriate) to determine whether or not an individual could continue in their role pending the conclusion of criminal proceedings.  It was emphasised that disclosure would not lead to automatic censure.

·                     While it was considered necessary to maintain the requirement for all charges, convictions or cautions (with the exception of offences resulting in a fixed penalty notice) to be disclosed, regardless of their nature, it was for the Council to decide, having undertaken a risk assessment, on an appropriate and proportionate response.

·                     To ensure a consistent approach across the Council to any disclosures made, it was proposed that employees would be required to report charges, convictions or cautions to their directorate HR Lead or the Chief Officer: HR.

·                     An additional recommendation had been added to provide for the new requirements to have retrospective effect from 1 July 2015 (the date at which the DBS rechecks ceased to be undertaken).

The Committee recognised that the Council had a duty to safeguard the interests of clients, customers and taxpayers by the introduction of such measures, so that any risks arising from disclosures could be properly assessed and mitigating action taken where necessary.  With the reference to the retrospective duty to report, it was suggested that a month would be a reasonable period for employees to make any disclosure once the amendment to the Code had been made and notified to staff.

RESOLVED

1          That the provision outlined in paragraph 5.7 of the report under the heading ‘Reporting of Criminal Charges and Convictions’ be added to the Employees Code of Conduct.

2          As a consequence to the proposed changes above, an additional offence (of failing to disclose) as detailed in paragraph 5.8 of the report be added to the Disciplinary Procedure as an instance of potential serious misconduct.

3          That the above resolutions have retrospective effect from 1 July 2015 (ie the point at which DBS rechecks ceased to be undertaken).