Today I received this reply back from the West Berkshire Council monitoring officer:
My apologies for not getting back to you but there is very little I can add to my previous response.
However in answer to your specific questions regarding 'the procedure (as was)' as to the information requested from each councillor, each member was provided with a pre-printed form from Shaw & Sons (Cat. No. LGA1). The guidance notes to that form provide in respect of question 6: 'If you are employed or have been appointed give in this section the name of the person or body who employs you or appointed you. Please indicate whichever applies deleting the appropriate words in square brackets.'
Cllr Stansfeld followed the guidance in his response as far as I can see from his response. There was no request for details of the address of the body referred to under this section and as I mentioned previously there is no requirement to provide an address.
In regard to your second question you ask if councillors were expected to list all bodies who employ/appointed them. I would expect that any member who disclosed this information would disclose all such bodies. The completion of the form was a matter for each member, as I'm sure you are aware, and if they had any concerns they could have consulted myself as Monitoring Officer.
As far the other company you mention is concerned I have checked with Councillor Stanford and he is no longer involved with it. I am not responsible for the currency of his Linked in account so I am unable to comment as to whether it is out of date.
Once again apologies for not responding sooner
This seems like a reasonable response from the Council officer. I do note that he says "I would expect that any member who disclosed this information would disclose all such bodies" [my added emphasis] and there is just a hint that perhaps Cllr Stansfeld may have omitted mention of Prescience AG. He says he is no longer involved with that business - but from when was he no longer involved?
So the mystery continues.
Perhaps I ought to write to Cllr Stansfeld directly?
Email sent:
ReplyDeleteDear Councillor Stansfeld
You will have been aware that I have been trying to track down the company that the register of interests states that you are Chairman of. I understand the company is called FIDAS. I am usually pretty good at finding most things on the internet, but I have failed to find the details of this company. I would be very grateful if you could send me a postal or website address for this firm. Thank you.
Furthermore, Mr Holling informs me that you are no longer involved with Prescience AG although your linked-in account says that you are. Please can you tell me on what date you terminated your involvement with this company?
Many thanks. Sincerely yours