Local Code of Governance

Principle A – Integrity

6.1 The Council is accountable not only for how much it spends, but also for how it uses the resources under its stewardship. This includes accountability for outputs, both positive and negative, and for the outcomes it has achieved. In addition, it has an overarching responsibility to serve the public interest in adhering to the requirements of legislation and government policies.  It is essential that it can demonstrate the appropriateness of its actions across all activities and have mechanisms in place to encourage and enforce adherence to ethical values and to respect the rule of law.

6.2 The Council demonstrates this by:

  • Ensuring that members take the lead in establishing values for the Council and its staff that build on the principles of public life.
  • Ensuring members and officers behave with integrity and lead a culture of acting in the public interest.
  • Leading by example and using these values as a framework for decision making.
  • Demonstrating, communicating and embedding these values through appropriate policies and processes.
  • Ensuring that statutory officers and members can fulfil their responsibilities in accordance with legislative and regulatory requirements.
  • Dealing with breaches of legal and regulatory provisions effectively.
  • Ensuring corruption and misuse of power are dealt with effectively.

6.3 This value is specifically upheld in the following examples: