## Register Of Members' Interests General Guidance Notes


## 1. Your Details

 
Please include details of all local authorities of which you are an elected 
member. 

## 2. Employment And Business

 
You should show every employment, office, trade, profession or vocation that you have to declare for income tax purposes. Give a short description of the activity concerned: for example, "Computer Operator" or "Accountant". 
 
Employees should give the name of their employer.  If employed by a company, give the name of the company paying your wages or salary, not that of the ultimate holding company. 
 
Where you hold an office, give the name of the person or body which appointed you.  In the case of a public office, this will be the authority which pays you.  In the case of a teacher in a maintained school, the local education authority; in the case of an aided school, the school's governing body. 

## 3. Sponsorship

 
You should declare the name of any person or body who has made any payments to you in the last year towards your expenses as a councillor, or towards your election expenses, or towards any activities related to your role on 
the Local Government Association (the LGA).  You do not need to declare the amounts of any payments - only the name of the person or body making them. 

## 4. Contracts With The Lga

 
You should describe all contracts, of which you are aware, which are not fully discharged, and which are: a) contracts for the supply of goods, services or works to the LGA or on the 
LGA's behalf; and 
b) between the LGA and either yourself or a company in which you are a 
renumerated director;  
c) between the LGA and either yourself or a firm in which you are a partner; 
 
You need not say what the financial arrangements are, but you should include the length of the contract. The requirement also covers shares and securities held in the name of other people in which you have a beneficial interest. 

## 5. Bodies Exercising Functions Of A Public Nature

 
Although it is not possible to produce a definitive list of such bodies, here are some of the criteria to consider when deciding whether or not a body meets that definition: 

 a)  
Does that body carry out a public service? 
b)  
Is the body taking the place of local or central government in carrying out 
the function? 
c)  
Is the body (including one outsourced in the private sector) exercising a function delegated to it by a public authority? 
d)  
Is the function exercised under legislation or according to some statutory power? 
e)  
Can the body be judicially reviewed? 
Unless you answer 'yes' to one of the above questions, it is unlikely that the body in your case is exercising functions of a public nature. Bodies included in this definition include regional and local development agencies, other government agencies, other councils, public health bodies, council-owned companies exercising public functions, arms length management organisations carrying out housing functions on behalf of your authority, school governing bodies. 

## 5. Registration Of Gifts And Hospitality

 
You must register any gifts or hospitality worth £50 or over that you receive in connection with your official duties as a member of the LGA, and the source of the gift or hospitality. You must register the gift or hospitality and its source 
within 28 days of receiving it. 
You do not need to register gifts and hospitality which are not related to your role as a member, such as gifts from your friends and family. However you should always register a gift or hospitality if it could be perceived as something given to you because of your position. If in doubt as to the value of a gift or hospitality you should register it, as a matter of good practice. You may have to estimate how much a gift or hospitality is worth. Also include any accumulation of small gifts you receive from the same source over a short period that adds up to £50 or over. 

## 6. Further Information On Changes In Circumstances

 
It is your duty to provide further information to the Association on any of the above matters in the event that any circumstances change; or the information you have already given changes; or you become aware of any further information which should be included in this Declaration; or you become aware of any errors in the information you have already provided. 

## 7. Sensitive Information

 
Where you consider that the information relating to any of your personal 
interests is sensitive information and the LGA's Corporate Legal Adviser 
agrees, you need not include that interest, or, as the case may be, a change to that interest. 

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"Sensitive Information" means information whose availability for inspection by the public creates, or is likely to create, a serious risk that you or a person who lives with you may be subjected to violence or intimidation. 

 
You must, within 28 days of becoming aware of any changes of circumstances which means that information exluded under the above paragraph is no longer 
sensitive information, notify LGA's Corporate Legal Adviser asking that the 
information be included in your authority's register of members interests. 

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