Gifts and Hospitality Policy for Employees and Elected Members

S75 Equality And Good Relations Screening Form

General Information

Service/
Function
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Policy/
Procedure
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Project
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Strategy
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Plan
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Guidance
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Is this an existing, revised or a new function, service, policy, procedure, project, strategy, plan or guidance?
Existing ☐ Revised ☐ New ☒

Operational Area	Corporate Services
Title	Gifts and Hospitality Policy for Employees and Elected Members

Brief Summary

Outline for all Council Employees and Elected Members the guidelines and fundamental principles for the provision and acceptance of gifts and hospitality;
Provide advice on how hospitality either provided by or accepted by Council Employees and Elected Members should be approved and recorded;
Outline roles and responsibilities for Employees and Elected Members at all levels within the Council.

What is it trying to achieve? (intended aims and outcomes)

The main aims of the Gifts and Hospitality Policy are to:

Ensure consistency of approach when dealing with gifts and hospitality;
Ensure compliance with Council policy and procedures including Codes of Conduct, the Anti-Fraud, Bribery and Corruption Policy.
Ensure compliance with the Seven Principles of Public Life and the Northern Ireland Assembly Five Principles of Conduct. (Appendix 1)
Establish guidance for all Employees and Elected Members to follow to ensure that the Council can demonstrate that no undue influence has been applied by an external organisation dealing with the Council; and
Protect Council Officers and Elected Members from criticism and misunderstanding and to protect the Council from allegations of impropriety. Compliance with the policy will help the Council demonstrate good governance and accountability.

Who owns and who implements each element of the function, service, policy, procedure, project, strategy, plan or guidance?

Elected Members and Officers are required under their Codes of Conduct to declare gifts and hospitality. The need for the policy originates from this requirement. The Director of Corporate Services is responsible for ensuring that policy is in place, register of gifts and hospitality is maintained and procedures are in place for monitoring same.

Elected Members should:

familiarise themselves with the Code of Conduct for Elected Members, and any updates that are issued;
comply with this policy and guidance;
consult with the Chief Executive if in doubt as to the application of this policy and guidance; and complete the documentation for the register of gifts and hospitality.

Officers, agency, secondees, consultants and contractors who may be working on Council's behalf should:

familiarise themselves with the Code of Conduct for Council Employees, and any updates that are issued;
comply with this policy and guidance;
consult with their line manager or Democratic and Central Services Manager, if in doubt as to the application of this policy and guidance; and complete the documentation for the register of gifts and hospitality.

Directors should:
Ensure that employees, agency, secondees, consultants and contractors who may be working on Council's behalf are completing the register for gifts and hospitality; and carefully consider and where appropriate, advise on the acceptance and provision of gifts and hospitality in line with policy and guidance.

Other policies etc. which have a bearing on this function, service, policy, procedure, project, strategy, plan or guidance?

Strategies:

Code of Conduct for Local Government Employees
The Northern Ireland Local Government Code of Conduct for Councillors
Anti-Fraud, Bribery and Corruption Policy
Raising Concerns Policy

Available Evidence
Evidence to help inform the screening process may take many forms. Public authorities should ensure that their screening decision is informed by relevant data.
What evidence/information (both qualitative and quantitative have you gathered to inform this function, service, policy, procedure, project, strategy, plan or guidance? Specify details for relevant Section 75 categories.

It is proposed that all Section 75 categories will be considered via:

Quantitative evidence has been sourced via the NI Census in 2011 and the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey 2020.

Section 75 Category	Details of Evidence/Information The policy is purely administrative/ procedural in nature and will have no bearing in terms of its likely impact on equality of opportunity or good relations for people within the S75 categories.
Religious Beliefs	As above
Political Opinion	As above
Racial Group	As above
Age	As above
Marital Status	As above
Sexual Orientation	As above
Men and Women Generally	As above
Dependants	As above
Disability	As above

Screening Questions
1. What is the likely impact on equality of opportunity for those affected by this function, service, policy, procedure, project, strategy, plan or guidance?

Section 75 Category		Positive impact	Neutral	Negative impact	Reason
Gender	Women	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐	The policy is purely administrative/ procedural in nature and will have no bearing in terms of its likely impact on equality of opportunity or good relations for people within the equality and good relations categories.
	Men	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐
	Transgender men/women	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐
	Other please specify	☐	☐	Major ☐ Minor ☐
Race (As used in the 2011 census)	Asian	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐	As above.
	Black	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐
	Chinese	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐
	Mixed race White	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐
	Other please specify	☐	☐	Major ☐ Minor ☐
Disability	Long term health impairment could include mental health problems, asthma, heart conditions, chronic fatigue etc.	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐	As above.
Sexual orientation	Heterosexual, lesbian, gay men, bisexual, others	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐	As above.
Age	Older People	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐	As above.
Age	Younger people and children	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐	As above.
Political Opinion		☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐	As above.
Religious Belief		☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐	As above.
Marital Status		☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐	As above.
Dependants		☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐	As above.

Screening Questions 2. Are there opportunities to better promote equality of opportunity for people within any of the Section 75 categories?

Section 75 Category		If Yes, provide details	If No, provide details
Gender	Women		The policy is purely administrative/ procedural in nature and will have no bearing in terms of its likely impact on equality of opportunity or good relations for people within the equality and good relations categories.
	Men
	Transgender men/women
	Other please specify
Race As used in the 2011 census.	Asian		As above.
	Black
	Chinese
	Mixed race White
	Other please specify
Disability	Long term health impairment could include mental health problems, asthma, heart conditions, chronic fatigue etc.		As above.
Sexual orientation	Heterosexual, lesbian, gay men, bisexual, others		As above.
Age	Older People, Younger people and children		As above.
Political Opinion			As above.
Religious Belief			As above.
Marital Status			As above.
Dependants			As above.

Screening Questions
3. To what extent is the policy likely to impact on good relations between people of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group?

Section 75 Category	Details of policy impact	Level of impact major/minor/none
Religious Belief	The policy is purely administrative/ procedural in nature and will have no bearing in terms of its likely impact on equality of opportunity or good relations for people within the equality and good relations categories.	None.
Political Opinion	As above.	None.
Racial Group	As above.	None.

Screening Questions
4. Are there opportunities to better promote good relations between people of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group?

Section 75 Category	If Yes, provide details	If No, provide details
Religious Belief		The policy is purely administrative/ procedural in nature and will have no bearing in terms of its likely impact on equality of opportunity or good relations for people within the equality and good relations categories.
Political Opinion		As above.
Racial Group		As above.


Additional Considerations
Generally speaking people can fall into more than one Section 75 category. Taking this into consideration, are there any potential impacts of the function, service, policy, procedure, project, strategy, plan or guidance on people with multiple identities? (For example: disabled minority ethnic people, disabled women, young Protestant men, young lesbians, gay and bisexual people.) No.

Provide details of data on the impact of the function, service, policy, procedure, project, strategy, plan or guidance on people with multiple identities. Specify the relevant Section 75 categories concerned.
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Disability Considerations Is there an opportunity to better promote positive attitudes towards disabled people by altering this function, service, policy, procedure, project, strategy, plan or guidance? ☐ Yes ☒ No

If yes, please give further information and examples: --

Is there an opportunity to encourage participation by disabled people in public life by altering this function, service, policy, procedure, project, strategy, plan or guidance? ☐ Yes ☒ No

Please give further information and examples: --

Screening Decision Likely Impact ☐ Major ☐ Minor ☒ None If the decision is to subject the policy to an equality impact assessment (i.e. likely impact – Major), please provide details of the reasons for this: -- If the decision is not to conduct an equality impact assessment (i.e. likely impact = Minor) the Council should consider if the policy should be mitigated or an alternative policy be introduced: No mitigation required.
If the decision is not to conduct an equality impact assessment (i.e. likely impact = None), please provide details of the reasons for this: The policy is purely administrative/ procedural in nature and will have no bearing in terms of its likely impact on equality of opportunity or good relations for people within the equality and good relations categories.

Mitigation
When the Council concludes that the likely impact is ‘Minor’ and an equality impact assessment is not to be conducted, the Council may consider mitigation to lessen the severity of any equality impact, or the introduction of an alternative policy to better promote equality of opportunity or good relations. Can the policy/decision be amended or changed or an alternative policy introduced to better promote equality of opportunity and/or good relations? ☐ Yes ☒ No
If YES, give the reasons to support your decision, together with the proposed changes/amendments or alternative policy: ---

Timetabling And Prioritising
If the policy/decision has been ‘screened in’ for equality impact assessment, then please answer the following questions to determine its priority for timetabling the equality impact assessment. On a scale of 1 to 3, with 1 being the lowest priority and 3 the highest, assess the policy in terms of its priority for equality impact assessment.
Priority Criterion	Rating (1 to 3)
Effect on equality of opportunity and good relations	N/A
Social Need	N/A
Effect on people’s daily lives	N/A
Relevance to the Council’s functions	N/A

Monitoring
Please outline proposals for future monitoring of the policy/decision: The policy will be reviewed biannually or sooner to ensure it remains reflective of legislative developments.


Approval And Authorisation
Screened By Position/Job Title Date	Date
Democratic and Central Services Manager	20/10/2021

Approved By Position/Job Title Date
Director of Corporate Services	21/10/21

*Sources:

Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey (NILT), Queen’s University Belfast and the Ulster University NI Life and Times Survey - 2019 : ORIENT2 (ark.ac.uk)
https://www.ark.ac.uk/election...;

Northern Ireland Statistics website: www.nisra.gov.uk
2019 Mid Year Population Estimates for Northern Ireland | Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (nisra.gov.uk)
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