Issue - meetings

The report of the Legal Team Manager (Places, Regulatory and Compliance) outlines the implications of the Bribery Bill for Cheshire East Council. 

The Committee considered the report of the Borough Solicitor and Monitoring Officer which sought to update Members on the passage of the Bribery Bill into legislation.  

A report was first presented to the Standards Committee outlining the draft legislation in March 2010.  Having gone through due parliamentary process, the Bribery Act 2010 had come into force on 1 July 2011, its purpose to provide a more effective legal framework to combat bribery in the public and private sectors.

In introducing the report, the Deputy Monitoring Officer briefly identified the aims of the Act and outlined the new offences which had been created under it.  She confirmed that Councils were not considered to be commercial organisations for the purposes of the Act but that they must take reasonable steps to prevent instances of this kind.  None of Cheshire East Council’s current polices would need to be amended in light of the changes although the procurement procedures would reflect the new legislation.          

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.