Agenda item

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Minutes:

At the request of the Lord Mayor the Monitoring Officer addressed Council and gave the following advice regarding the declaration of interests at the meeting.

 

Members did not need to declare interests that already appeared on their Register of Interests, which is a publically accessible and available document. The Localism Act 2011 expressly excuses a Member from having to re-declare interests that appear on the Register.

 

Over and above interests declared on the Register, Members had, following the Monitoring Officer’s written invitation issued in January, given details of items they wished to declare at the meeting and these were appended to the Council script and would appear in the minutes when published.  Therefore there was no need to verbally re-declare these at the meeting unless these were prejudicial ODIs or DPIs that would require the Member to leave the room and desist from voting. As always, the judgement remains one for the Member to make, with the Monitoring Officer only able to offer advice.

 

The Monitoring Officer advised that under the provisions of section 106 Local Government Finance Act 1992 any Member who was in two or more months of arrears of Council Tax should not vote on the items for consideration at the meeting. Criminal liability attaches to such a Member who does so.

 

The Monitoring Officer stated that he had been asked to grant one category of dispensation, without which in his opinion it might be necessary for those members to leave the Chamber. After consultation with the Standards Committee I thereby grant a dispensation to elected members who are council tenants (or have family members or close associates who are council tenants) to enable them to remain and participate and vote on both the Budget proposals and, crucially, the Housing Revenue Account proposals that come before the meeting tonight.  It was noted that the names of those members covered by this dispensation would appear in the minutes of the meeting. Members were asked to raise their hand if they wish to be granted the benefit of this dispensation and to declare why.

 

Councillor Clayton with the approval of the Lord Mayor sought to clarify that if a Member was a Council tenant or had a family member in that position a dispensation should be sought.  The Monitoring Officer confirmed this was the case.

 

In response to the above statement the following Members sought and received

dispensations:

 

Councillor Potter – Council tenant and family member who is a Council tenant

Councillor Aqbany - family member who is a Council tenant

Councillor Fonseca – family member who is a Council tenant

Councillor Shelton – family member who is a Council tenant

Councillor Joshi – family member who is a Council tenant

Councillor Byrne – family member who is a Council tenant

Councillor Mayat – family member who is a Council tenant

 

 

It was noted that Members had identified interests as below:

 

Councillor

Description of Interest

Councillor Alfonso

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Aqbany

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Bajaj

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Barton

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Bhatti

I am a holder of a concessionary fare card

Residential house where I live is built on land within the Council area (address given)

Wife disabled badge holder

Councillor Bhavsar

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Byrne

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Cassidy

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Chaplin

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Chowdhury

 - I work full-time for Bangladesh Youth & Cultural Shomiti which receives some funding from Leicester City Council

 - My son and daughter-in-law work as a teacher in Judgemeadow Community College and Montrose Primary School respectively

 - My wife also works part-time for Bangladesh Youth and Cultural Shomiti

 - I am a Director of Overseas Qualification Development Services

 - I hold a Leicester City Council Concessionary Bus Pass

Councillor Clair

My parents are in receipt of a social care package.

Councillor Clarke

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Clayton

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Cleaver

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Cole

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Connelly

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Cooke

I represent the City Council on the Braunstone Foundation Board.  The Foundation benefits from financial support from the Council for:

  • the Multi Access Centre
  • NLDC grants
  • Ad hoc funds secured as a consequence of successful bids for Council services that are being recommissioned – none currently.

Councillor Corrall

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Cutkelvin

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Dawood

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Dempster

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Desai

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Fonseca

Sister in law Council tenant, brother in law Housing Association tenant, brother in law holds a single allotment plot, son works for Bradgate Mental Health Unit

Councillor Glover

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Grant

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Gugnani

Member of Federation of Sikh Organisations, wife holds a Blue Badge Scheme permit

Councillor Joshi

I work for a voluntary organisation, my wife works for Reablement Team in Adult Social Care, sister is a Council tenant

Councillor Kamal

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Kitterick

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Mayat

Family member lives in a Council property

Councillor Meghani

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Moore

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Naylor

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Newcombe

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Osman

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Palmer

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor V Patel

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Porter

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Potter

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Riyait

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Russell

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Sandhu

Father is living with me and last year he applied for Disabled Facilities Grant last year but has yet to receive approval, member of UNISON

Councillor Sangster

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Senior

Council tax payer in Leicester no further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Shelton

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Singh

I am a member of Unison apart from this no further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Mrs Sood

Police Independent Advisory Group member, Chair Leicester Council of Faiths, Patron CLASP, mother in receipt of social care package, Sport England East Midlands Champion, Blue Badge holder, concessionary bus pass holder, carer’s support, Fibromylgia – honourable member, St Martins Guild – patron, Special Olympics – community patron, LE1 strategic board member on behalf of Council of Faiths, patron GNG girls football team, Girl Guides ambassador,

Sir Peter Soulsby

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Unsworth

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Waddington

No further declarations in addition to that listed on the Register of Interests

Councillor Westley

Member Unite union

Family members Council tenants

 

The Lord Mayor invited Members to declare any further interests they might have in the business on the agenda and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

 

No further declarations were given.