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:
|
|
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.