Executive member at county resigns over incomplete declaration of interests

A county council’s executive member for adult social care has resigned after it was discovered that her declaration of interests was incomplete.

According to a BBC report, Cllr Anna McNair Scott of Hampshire County Council had failed to disclose that her husband was involved in property development.

In her resignation letter she said: “This was a genuine oversight which I immediately sought to rectify.

“I wholeheartedly believe that my personal affairs presented no conflict of interest as executive member. I have nevertheless concluded that it would be distracting to the overall work of the county council for me to continue as Cabinet member at this time.”

The failure to provide a complete disclosure of interests was a breach of Hampshire’s members’ code of conduct.

The issues with Cllr McNair Scott’s declaration had emerged over the weekend, when she was attending the Adult and Children’s Social Care Conference in Harrogate.

Cllr Roy Perry, Hampshire’s Leader, had referred the issues, when they were raised, to the council’s chief executive and Cllr McNair Scott.

Praising her contribution to the council, he said: “I fully accept that the incompleteness of her declaration was, in her words, a genuine oversight, and at no time would she have taken any decision that could have been influenced by those undeclared interests. Nevertheless, I had no alternative but to accept her resignation from the Cabinet.”

In his resignation acceptance letter, Cllr Perry said he shared Cllr McNair Scott’s conclusion that, in the circumstances, it was “the correct and honourable thing” for her to resign her Cabinet role.