South Ayrshire Council to change how gifts to staff are recorded

Bosses have now decided to record any presents worth £50 or more in a council-wide register. 

A new “clear approval process” for freebies is to be rolled out.

The employee code of conduct has been changed to tighten up the process. 

Some officers have huge influence and can spend public money as well as approve or recommend planning applications. 

Previously departments had separate registers with various rules for the handling of gifts and no proper overall policy. 

An internal audit revealed that approach was high risk. 

Now one register will hold all records and the same rules will apply for all. 

A council paper said if the new process wasn’t adopted it might leave staff accepting “inappropriate offers.” A worst case scenario could see them prosecuted under the Bribery Act.

Before the code of conduct was amended in December some departments may not even have had proper written policies on gift acceptance. 

Councillor Hugh Hunter, Conservative, said: “Clearly we can’t have one set of policies for one group of employees and a separate set for another group.

“It is good that the internal audit picked this up. 

“There will be one register everyone complies with and one set of policies. “This move brings measures of consistency. “

The new set of rules for gifts was presented at the most recent full council meeting in December and was approved by councillors.

The revised code of conduct said employees should not accept any personal gift or hospitality “unless they can fully justify doing so” or the present is of a token nature and will not attract legitimate criticism.

It added that “in particular, gifts and hospitality must not be knowingly accepted during the tendering period of a contract.”

Employees are allowed small items including cheap pens, calendars, flowers and other tokens of gratitude. 

They must record all gestures of gifts or hospitality even if declined within seven days of the offers.