Report of the Monitoring Officer

The Fire Authority considered the report of the Monitoring Officer (MO) reporting on the third stage of the review of the Fire Authority’s constitutional arrangements and proposing further amendments to the Member’s Code of Conduct and associated Guidance, Procedure and Officer Delegations for publication in the Authority’s Constitution.  The DCFO highlighted the considerable work that had been done on the proposed amendments and hoped that Members felt they represented a clear update and improvement.

Members thanked officers for the report and the considerable work undertaken.  It was suggested that an alteration be made to refer to the expectation that confidentiality be maintained after a member leaves office as opposed to ending when they cease to be a member of the Fire Authority.  The Authority agreed to this proposal.  It was further agreed that those Members who were appointed to the LGA would raise this with them given the proposed wording had been based on the LGA’s Model Code of Conduct document.

Members queried whether it was clear enough that any complaints must be specifically about conduct in their role as a Councillor and that all members had the right to a private life.  The Senior Lawyer confirmed that there was extensive caselaw supporting elected representatives right to a private life and was amenable to change the wording of this section to reflect this with more clarity.  The Fire Authority agreed to the incorporation of that amendment also.

There was also a suggestion that a slight change be made regarding social media and the potential issues that surrounded having two separate accounts as for some platforms this would potentially be a breach of their guidance.  The Senior Lawyer confirmed that they were happy to make this amendment to reflect the need to adhere to the rules of the platform in use.  The Fire Authority agreed to this change.

There was also a query regarding the training of FA Members on the use of social media.  The CFO confirmed that whilst there was a brief session given to FA Member as part of their induction programme specifically regarding Fire & Rescue matters, the wider agreement for training was that it would be conducted by the Constituent Authorities. 

RESOLVED: That the Fire Authority agreed to:

1.             approve with immediate effect the changes to the East Sussex Fire Authority’s Constitution outlined in section 2 of the report, and in Appendices A to D inclusive, with the addition of two minor amendments to the wording of the Code and one to the Guidance, all three of which were indicated to officers and agreed at the meeting

2.             authorise the Authority’s Chief Fire Officer & Chief Executive to take all steps necessary or incidental to the implementation of the changes agreed by the Authority, and to amend and re-publish the constitutional documents to reflect those amendments; and

3.             note the intention to bring a further report to the Fire Authority in February 2022 proposing additional updates to the Constitution in the form of revisions to the Authority’s Financial Regulations.