Members' Code of Conduct
The Code of Conduct 
(PDF 40KB) can be found as part of the Council's Constitution.
What the Code is
The Member Code of Conduct is something that all Councillors and any other individuals who sit on Council committees must agree to abide by. A measure of its importance is that if any Member were not to sign such an agreement within 2 months of taking up office they would automatically cease to be a Member of the Council.
The Code includes provisions such as to 'treat others with respect' and not to 'do anything which may cause your auithority to breach any of the equality enactments'. It also has provisions relating to bullying and intimidation, as well as to disclosing confidential information and using one's position unfairly.
The Code of Conduct also defines and sets out the interests that a Councillor or other member must declare. These interests must be both registered in the Council's Register of Interests*** and declared at meetings considering related matters. The Register of Interests also includes any gifts and hospitality offered to the Member (this used to be a separate register).
Where the Code came from
The current Model Code of Conduct for Members (Councillors and) was issued by the Government on 4 April 2007 and all Local Authorities had until 1 October 2007 to adopt it. Each authority's Code must include the provisions of the Model Code of Conduct approved by Parliament but Authorities can choose to add their own local rules to the Model Code if they wish and if these additons do not negate the provisions of the model Code in any way.
The London Borough of Barnet formally adopted a Code of Conduct for Members at the Council Meeting held on 26 June 2007. This Code incorporated one local addition that mirrored that in the Council's previous Code Conduct. This local addition is to the effect that memberships of private clubs and similar organisations must be included in the Members Register of Interests.
Operation of the Code
Abiding by the Code of Conduct is the responsibility of each individual Member. However, matters related to the Members' Code of Conduct are the responsibility of the Council's Monitoring Officer and Standards Committee.
Breach of the Code
Any allegations that a Member has breached the Code of Conduct will be considered by a Standards Sub-committee. The sub-committee may decide that no action should taken, in exceptional cases may refer the case to the Standards Board for England or may instruct the Monitoring Officer to arrange for an investigation to be carried out.
For more information about this process please see: How to make a complaint about the conduct of a Councillor
