f. Gifts and hospitality

EXTRACT from LGA Model Councillor Code of Conduct:

Gifts and hospitality

As a councillor:        

9.1 I do not accept gifts or hospitality, irrespective of estimated value, which could give rise to real or substantive personal gain or a reasonable suspicion of influence on my part to show favour from persons seeking to acquire, develop or do business with the local authority or from persons who may apply to the local authority for any permission, licence or other significant advantage.        

9.2 I register with the monitoring officer any gift or hospitality with an estimated value of at least £50 within 28 days of its receipt.        

9.3 I register with the monitoring officer any significant gift or hospitality that I have been offered but have refused to accept.        

In order to protect your position and the reputation of the local authority, you should exercise caution in accepting any gifts or hospitality which are (or which you reasonably believe to be) offered to you because you are a councillor. The presumption should always be not to accept significant gifts or hospitality. However, there may be times when such a refusal may be difficult if it is seen as rudeness in which case you could accept it but must ensure it is publicly registered.

However, you do not need to register gifts and hospitality which are not related to your role as a councillor, such as Christmas gifts from your friends and family. It is also important to note that it is appropriate to accept normal expenses and hospitality associated with your duties as a councillor. If you are unsure, do contact your monitoring officer for guidance. 

What does “hospitality” mean?

Hospitality can be defined as any food, drink, accommodation, or entertainment freely provided or heavily discounted.

How much detail should I include on the register?

Where you register gifts or hospitality you should include the name of the person or organisation who gave you the gift or hospitality; the date on which you received it; the reason it was given; and its value or estimated value.

How do I know if gifts or hospitality have been offered to me because of my role as a councillor?

The code says you must register any gift or hospitality received  in your capacity as a councillor  if the estimated value exceeds £50 or such other limit as agreed by your local authority.

You should ask yourself whether you would have received the gift or hospitality if you were not on the local authority. If you are in doubt as to the motive behind an offer of a gift or hospitality, we recommend that you register it or speak to the clerk or monitoring officer before deciding whether to accept it. You should also refer to the local authority’s policy on gifts and hospitality.

You do not need to register gifts and hospitality which are not related to your role as a councillor, such as Christmas gifts from your friends and family, or gifts which you do not accept. However, you should apply common sense when you consider how receipt of a gift might be interpreted. For example, if you are the chair of the planning committee and a birthday present arrives from a family friend who is also an applicant just before a planning application is due to be considered, then you need to think about how this would be interpreted by a reasonable member of the public.

What about gifts or hospitality I do not accept?

The code makes it clear that the presumption is that you do not normally accept gifts or hospitality.  While gifts or hospitality can be offered for benign reasons it is important for your reputation, the reputation of the local authority and the need to reassure the public that decision-making is not being improperly influenced that you do not accept gifts or hospitality wherever possible.

Simply accepting gifts or hospitality and then registering it does not mean that it may be seen as reasonable. Accepting an expensive meal from somebody who is negotiating for a contract with the council, for example, is not ‘made right’ by being recorded on a public register.

There will be times, however, where turning down hospitality or gifts could be seen as causing unnecessary offence. For example, if you have been invited as a ward councillor to a local festival or faith celebration along with other members of the community then it may be entirely appropriate to accept the hospitality. However, you should always exercise particular caution if the organisers are involved in ongoing negotiations with the local authority on a particular matter.

Where you are offered a gift or hospitality but decline it you should nevertheless notify the monitoring officer. That helps the authority to identify if there are any patterns and to be aware of who might be seeking to influence the authority.

What about gifts or hospitality that falls below the limit in the code?

You should always notify the monitoring officer of any gift or hospitality offered to you if it could be perceived as something given to you because of your position, especially where the gift or hospitality is from somebody who has put in an application to the local authority (or is about to) even where that hospitality falls below £50 or the limit set by the local authority.

While that would not be a matter for the public register it again allows the authority to be aware of any patterns.

Also, an accumulation of small gifts you receive from the same source over a short period of say a couple of months that add up to £50 or over should be registered in the interests of transparency.

What if I do not know the value of a gift or hospitality?

The general rule is, if in doubt as to the value of a gift or hospitality, you should register it, as a matter of good practice and in accordance with the principles of openness and accountability in public life. You may therefore have to estimate how much a gift or hospitality is worth. For example, if you attend a dinner as a representative of the authority which has been pre-paid by the sponsors you would need to make an informed judgment as to its likely cost.

What if I’m at an event but don’t have the hospitality or only have a small amount?

The best way to preserve transparency is for you to assess the hospitality on offer, whether it is accepted or not. This is because it would clearly not be in your interests to be drawn into arguments about how much you yourself ate or drank at a particular occasion. For example, you may find yourself at a function where relatively lavish hospitality is on offer, but you choose not to accept it. You may go to a champagne reception but drink a single glass of orange juice for example. 

As a guide you should consider how much a person could reasonably expect to pay for an equivalent function or event run on a commercial basis. What you have been offered is the value of the event regardless of what you actually consumed. Clearly where you are in any doubt the prudent course is to register the hospitality.

Is there a minimal threshold where I wouldn’t have to notify the monitoring officer?

The code is about ensuring that there is transparency and accountability about where people may be trying to influence you or the local authority improperly. However, in the course of your duties as a councillor you will be offered light refreshments or similar on many occasions. It is perfectly acceptable to have a cup of tea or biscuits at a meeting with residents at the local community centre for example and there may be times when an external meeting lasts all day and the organisers offer you a sandwich lunch and refreshments.

The Government’s guide to the Bribery Act for employers says that ‘the Government does not intend that genuine hospitality or similar business expenditure that is reasonable and proportionate be caught by the Act, so you can continue to provide bona fide hospitality, promotional or other business expenditure. In any case where it was thought the hospitality was really a cover for bribing someone, the authorities would look at such things as the level of hospitality offered, the way in which it was provided and the level of influence the person receiving it had on the business decision in question. But, as a general proposition, hospitality or promotional expenditure which is proportionate and reasonable given the sort of business you do is very unlikely to engage the Act.’

You should use your discretion and think how it might look to a reasonable person but always seek the views of the monitoring officer or clerk where you are a parish councillor if in doubt.

What are ‘normal expenses and hospitality associated with your duties as a councillor’?

As well as the minimal threshold hospitality above there will be times when you are paid expenses which include an element for food and drink as part of your role.

The focus of the code is on the source of the hospitality and its nature. Hospitality does not need to be registered where it is provided or reimbursed by the authority or where it is clearly ancillary to the business being conducted, such as an overnight stay for an away-day. Therefore, hospitality at a civic reception or mayor’s ball would not need to be registered.

However, the hospitality should be registered if it is provided by a person or body other than the authority and is over and above what could reasonably be viewed as ancillary to the business conducted. You might meet dignitaries or business contacts in local authority offices. However, if such meetings take place in other venues, such as at cultural or sporting events, this should be registered as hospitality.

If you are away at a conference and you are offered entertainment by a private company or individual or attend a sponsored event you should consider registering it.

What if my role involves me attending regular events or receiving gifts or hospitality?

Some roles in a local authority will inevitably involve being offered more entertainment than others because of the ‘ambassadorial’ nature of the role. For example, the mayor or chair of the authority will be invited to a large number of functions and the leader of the local authority may be attending events as political leader of the local authority.

Although the mayor or chair, for example, may attend many social functions, they are not exempt from the requirement to register hospitality as individual councillors. However, where the hospitality is extended to the office holder for the time being rather than the individual, there is no requirement under the code to register the hospitality against your individual register. The question a councillor needs to ask themselves is, “Would I have received this hospitality even if I were not the mayor/chair?” If the answer is yes, then it must be registered.

If matters are recorded on a mayor or chair’s register any entry on the register should make it clear that gifts or hospitality are being accepted because of the office held and, where possible, any gifts accepted should be ‘donated’ to the local authority or to charity or as raffle prizes for example.

Gifts that are clearly made to the local authority, for example a commemorative goblet which is kept on display in the local authority’s offices, do not need to be registered in the councillor’s register of gifts and hospitality. However, such gifts ought to be recorded by the local authority for audit purposes.