Councillors' register of interests to go online

3.10.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 21st Jul 2008

Councillor Roger Symonds

Up to now anyone wishing to check on B&NES Councillors' interests has been faced with a lonely trek to the Keynsham offices, where Councillors' declarations of interests can be inspected, by appointment.

However, following a statement Cllr Roger Symonds (Lib Dem, Combe Down) made to the last Council meeting, the Council's Standards Committee is to consider a report on giving the 'green light' for Councillors' interests to be published on the B&NES website. The Committee is asked to take a view on the recommendation and to decide whether Councillors should have an 'opt out' from having their interests displayed on the internet.

Councillor Symonds, who believes that easily available registers of Councillors' interests are important for the public to be able to judge whether there might be bias in the views of a Councillor, commented:

"It has become common practice in Councils across the country for members' interests to be made available on the internet. I am pleased that B&NES is at last looking at this issue and I urge the Standards committee members to give the 'green light' to making Councillors' interests available to more people. It is vital, particularly in these times of suspicion and mistrust of politicians, that information about Councillors' interests is available in the quickest and most accessible format possible."

Notes:

(1) Statement to Council on publishing the register of members' interests on the Council's website by Councillor Roger Symonds made to B&NES Council on 8th May 2008:

In December last year I realised that the Register was not to be found on the Council's web site, so I first took action to find out why and to try to make this information available to the public in electronic format.

Many other councils across the country do publish on their web sites - Bristol, Birmingham, Lambeth, Oxfordshire, Torbay, Warwickshire and Windsor and Maidenhead, to name a few.

The Register of Members Interests has long been a public document. We are urged to put more and more information on the net and to improve our communications with members of the public, so surely this is a natural step to provide a more convenient way for the public to access information.

Surely this will also help in the councils aim to improve communication with the public and as such should be implemented forthwith.

Perhaps the Chief Executive can inform Council what should be the next steps.

(2) This item is on the Agenda of Standards Committee in the Council Chamber, The Guildhall, Bath at 5.30pm on Thursday 24th July 2008.

Related Link:

Agenda papers for the Standards Committee meeting on 24th July 2008.