The Annual Governance Statement is a statutory document which explains the processes and procedures in place to enable the council to carry out its functions effectively.
The Code of Conduct code should deal with councillors’ obligations about their conduct including the registration and disclosure of their interests. Complaints about councillors’ conduct are dealt with by the principal authority.
The Freedom of Information Act requires every public authority to have a publication scheme, approved by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), and to publish information covered by the scheme. The ICO has now created a model publication scheme that all public authorities must use. The model publication scheme is a short document (say two pages long) setting out your high-level commitment to proactively publish information. The model publication scheme commits you to publish certain classes of information. It also specifies how you should make the information available, what you can charge, and what you need to tell members of the public about the scheme.
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