Issue - meetings

To advise members of proposed amendments to the Members Code of Conduct and The Councils Whistle Blowing Policy.

To accept the information.

The report was presented by the Monitoring Officer.

The Committee was informed of statutory changes to the Members' Code of

Conduct, arising from the new Regulations that came into force at the end of

January this year.

It was highlighted that the changes were quite technical, of which details were

given, and it was noted that changing the Members' Code of Conduct and

Behavioural Principles was likely to be because of a recent decision by the

Supreme Court about equality. 

It was reported that this change placed the definition contained in the Equality

Act 2010 in the Code of Conduct, and therefore that the protection was now

on the basis of Protected Characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. 

It was explained that this tidied up the Code of Conduct but did not change

the rights and responsibilities of the members. 

In addition, it was stated that Wales had brought into force the duty to deal

appropriately with socio-economic circumstances under the Equality Act 2010.

It was therefore recognised that the Code had been amended so that there

was a duty not to discriminate based on socio-economic circumstances.

It was noted that the Full Council was required to adopt these revisions

formally into the Code. 

Reference was made to Cyngor Gwynedd's Response Plan, and it was

highlighted that the Cabinet had adopted the revised Whistleblowing Policy at

its January meeting this year as part of their response. As it was a document

in the Council's Constitution, the Monitoring Officer confirmed that it was his

duty to report, for information purposes, to the Full Council that the document

had changed. 

The importance for members of the Standards Committee to also be aware of

this change was noted. 

A question was asked around the protection of the Welsh language. As the

Welsh language was not a Protected Characteristic under the Equality Act

2010, it was confirmed that the Welsh Language Measure 2011 gave

protection to the Welsh language.  

DECISION

To accept the information.