Ealing Council is undertaking a review of its Members' Allowances Scheme, a key component of the council's constitution. The review aims to ensure efficiency, transparency, and accountability in the council's operations.
The review, scheduled for Wednesday, 16 July 2025, will examine Chapter 11 of the constitution, which specifically outlines the Members' Allowances Scheme. This scheme details the various allowances available to councillors, including basic allowances, special responsibility allowances, travel allowances, carers' allowances, and subsistence allowances.
The council's constitution, which is being reviewed at the meeting, sets out how the council operates, how decisions are made, and the procedures it follows to ensure efficiency, transparency, and accountability. The constitution is divided into chapters, each covering a specific aspect of the council's operations. The review will encompass various chapters, including those related to ethical governance, financial regulations, contract rules, and officer employment rules. The specific aspects being reviewed are detailed in the linked chapters of the constitution:
- Ethical Governance: Chapter 7 - Ethical Governance
- Financial Regulations: Chapter 9 - Financial Procedure Rules and Chapter 9 - Contract Procedure Rules
- Officer Employment Rules: Chapter 10 - Officer employment rules
The council's code of conduct for members, included in Chapter 7 - Ethical Governance, mandates that councillors act with selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty, and leadership. It also requires them to:
- maintain high standards of conduct
- treat others with respect
- not bully or intimidate
- not disclose confidential information
- not use their position improperly to gain an advantage
- take account of advice from the council's chief finance officer and director of legal and democratic services
- participate in training
The Monitoring Officer will conduct investigations into member Code of Conduct complaints and, as appropriate, make reports or recommendations in respect of them to the Standards Committee.
The financial regulations, also part of the review, are designed to ensure the council's compliance with statutory provisions, accounting principles, and professional practices. They address financial management roles, planning, risk management, resource control, income, expenditure, and financial systems.
Contract procedure rules aim to ensure openness, integrity, and accountability in the council's procurement processes, covering procurements of various values, tender awards, contract management, and exceptions to the rules.
Officer employment procedure rules govern recruitment, disciplinary action, and dismissal procedures.
The council's constitution commits it to providing leadership to the community and making decisions effectively, accountably, and transparently. It explains citizens' rights and how the council operates, including the roles of members, the council meeting, the cabinet, committees, officers, and decision-making processes.
The constitution is available for inspection on the council's website and copies can be purchased for a reasonable fee.