Conflict-of-interest and asset-disclosure rule

Conflict-of-interest and asset-disclosure rule

Purpose

Office-holders should decide in the interest of the polity, not their own. This rule requires them to declare interests that could reasonably be thought to influence them, to step aside from decisions in which they have such an interest, and to publish their assets so that unexplained enrichment can be noticed.

Definitions

• Office-holder: a member of any decision-making body, a person exercising delegated powers, and senior staff listed in the schedule.
• Interest: a financial or personal stake held by the office-holder, their spouse or partner, their dependants, or a business or organisation in which any of them has a controlling or significant role.
• Gift: any benefit, hospitality or loan on non-market terms.

Article 1. Register of interests

1. Within 30 days of taking office every office-holder files a declaration listing: employment and paid activities; shareholdings above a threshold; land and buildings, other than their main home; debts above a threshold; unpaid positions in organisations; and gifts received in connection with office.
2. Changes are declared within 30 days.
3. The register is public and searchable. The home address and information about minor children are withheld.

Article 2. Declaring and stepping aside

1. An office-holder who has an interest in a matter before their body declares it before the matter is discussed.
2. If the interest is specific to the matter, the office-holder leaves the discussion and does not vote. An interest shared with members generally, such as being a resident affected by a general rate, does not require stepping aside.
3. In case of doubt the office-holder asks the integrity officer, whose written advice is published with the minutes.

Article 3. Gifts

Office-holders may not accept gifts worth more than a modest threshold set each year from anyone who has, or is likely to have, business before their body. Gifts below the threshold are declared if they total more than three times the threshold in a year from one source.

Article 4. Breaches

1. Any member may complain to the integrity officer about a suspected breach.
2. A decision taken with the vote of an office-holder who should have stepped aside may be annulled by the body itself or on appeal, if that vote may have changed the outcome.
3. Deliberate failure to declare is misconduct for the purposes of the recall and removal procedure.

Article 5. Asset declarations

1. Office-holders in the schedule's higher category file, on taking office, each year, and on leaving office, a declaration of assets and liabilities by category and value band.
2. The integrity officer compares successive declarations and may ask an office-holder to explain a significant increase in wealth that is not accounted for by declared income.
3. Declarations are published in value bands; exact figures are held by the integrity officer only.

Article 6. After office

1. For 12 months after leaving office a former office-holder may not lobby their former body or take paid work with a person to whom they awarded a contract or licence in the previous two years, without the integrity officer's written clearance.
2. Clearances and their conditions are published.

Article 7. Integrity officer

1. The integrity officer is appointed by a two-thirds majority for a single term of six years and is removable only for misconduct.
2. The officer publishes an annual report giving numbers of declarations, late filings, advice given, complaints and outcomes.
3. Sanctions for breaches are graduated: a published reprimand; suspension of pay or allowances; and, for deliberate or repeated breaches, referral for removal.