COUNCILLORS will be trained to spot when they may have a conflict of interest - as part of an action plan to tackle concerns raised by a damning independent report.

An auditors' report into City of York Council's handling of a £400,000 payout to the former chief executive highlighted a number of issues.

They include the inadequacy of the business case presented to councillors for the payment, a misleading statement about the settlement agreement and questions over council leader Keith Aspden chairing a secret meeting to agree the payout without declaring a conflict of interest. At the time, the former chief executive had filed an employment tribunal claim against the council and Cllr Aspden personally.

The council has created an action plan to address the auditors' recommendations in the Public Interest Report. It will be discussed at an extraordinary full council meeting on Tuesday.

Actions include

  • reviewing the layout of business cases for payouts to staff
  • extra training for council officers - including on the importance of keeping clear records
  • regular reviews of the council's constitution
  • instructions on all council meeting agendas to help councillors spot if they have a conflict of interest
  • a revised code of conduct
  • further training for councillors - particularly on managing conflicts of interest

Councillors will be asked to approve the action plan and agree to a council committee getting regular progress updates.

The council says that the report about the £400,000 payout for the secret meeting could have been clearer, but that if the payment had not been agreed at that time "further costs would have been incurred".

It adds that if the payout had not been agreed at the meeting, the former chief executive's employment tribunal case would have moved forward - costing the council even more money.

The report says: "Council officers have previously acknowledged that there were some aspects that could have been done better, and this was recognised in comments made at the Audit & Governance Committee on March 31 2021.

"It is accepted that the report presented to Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee in February 2020, could have been more consistent in terms of the rationale for the severance."

But it adds that a restructure of the council's senior management team will save around £200,000 a year in the long-term future.

The meeting takes place on May 4 at 6pm and can be watched live at youtube.com/user/cityofyorkcouncil