SECTION 2: PRESBYTERY CODE OF CONDUCT
1 Introduction
1.1 Purpose
This Code of Conduct for all members of Presbytery is intended to assist you to carry out your duties with confidence and to protect you and the Presbytery from any allegations of misconduct. It is intended to assist the smooth working of Presbytery. Those who are recognised ministers and deacons within the bounds, commissioned elders, and appointed balancing elders are also charity trustees for the Presbytery. While those who are corresponding members of Presbytery are not charity trustees, it is expected that Church of Scotland members would also base their conduct in Presbytery on this Code, and that those who are non-Church of Scotland would make themselves aware of this Code. This Code is supplemental, with respect to those serving in recognised ministry roles, to the “Code of Professional Practice and Good Conduct for the Ministries of the Church of Scotland” (found in the Ministers’ Handbook).
1.2 Vision
The charitable purpose of Presbytery is the advancement of religion. Our vision is a Presbytery which, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, encourages and enables our congregations to re-imagine and renew their life and work for mission in the 21st century,worshipping and witnessing in a sustainable and mutually supportive network of Christian communities, using well-equipped spaces strategically located across the Presbytery, served and led by ministry teams, with the knowledge and skills needed to inspire and equip our members for service and discipleship.
2. Key Principles
2.1 Charitable Purpose
You have a duty, as charity trustees, to understand the purposes of Presbytery as outlined in the paper “The Purpose of Presbytery” (see Appendix 1).
2.2 Selflessness
You have a duty to take decisions solely in terms of the interests of the Presbytery. Youmust not act in order to gain financial or other material benefit for yourself, family orfriends or for colleagues within the Presbytery.
2.3 Integrity and Honesty
You must not place yourself under any financial, or other, obligation to any individual ororganisation that might reasonably be thought to influence you in carrying out your duties as a Presbyter. You must declare any interests relating to your duties as a Presbyter and take steps to resolve any conflict in a way that protects the interests of the Presbytery.
2.4 Accountability
You are accountable in the first instance to the Presbytery and, ultimately, to the General Assembly. You have a duty to consider issues on their merits, taking due account of the views of others, and must ensure that Presbyters use the resources for which they are responsible prudently and in accordance with the law.
2.5 Transparency and Confidentiality
You should be as open as possible about all the decisions and actions that you take. You should be prepared to give reasons for your decisions and restrict information only when there are clear and lawful reasons for doing so. When information has to be confidential, you are required to ensure that you respect this.
2.6 Leadership
You have a duty to promote and support these principles through your leadership and example as a Presbyter, and to maintain and strengthen trust and confidence in the integrity of Presbytery in the conduct of its business.
2.7 Mutual Respect
You should treat one another with respect, recognising the diversity amongst Presbyters, listening to, learning from, and nurturing one another.
3. Being an Effective Presbyter
3.1 Your Duties
• You have a duty to ensure that Presbytery works effectively to make informed decisions.
• You should attend Presbytery meetings and meetings of any Committee on which youhave been appointed regularly or submit apologies if you cannot attend. If you cannotattend meetings for a period of six months or longer you should inform the Convener and Presbytery Clerk.
• You should prepare for meetings by reading papers, asking for clarification where anything is unclear and considering issues in advance, and give notice in advance to Committee Conveners of any question which is likely to require some research.
• You should actively engage in discussion, debate and voting in meetings, contributing in a considered and constructive way, listening carefully, challenging sensitively, and avoiding conflict.
• You should involve yourself actively in the work of Presbytery and accept a fair share of responsibility for that work.
• You should ensure that any potential, actual or perceived conflicts of interests are dealt with in accordance with the Conflict of Interest Policy.
• You should participate in collective decision-making, accept majority decisions, and not act individually unless authorised to do so, recognising that the option to record your dissent to a decision of Presbytery is always available.
• You should ensure that your Kirk Session is kept informed of the business of Presbytery, where that is appropriate. You should interact with the staff of the Presbytery in a respectful manner, recognising their role in serving the Presbytery, and not demanding more from them than that which is reasonably within their capacity to deliver (and see Section 7).
• You should utilise the Whistleblowing Policy if you have reasonable grounds for believing there is serious malpractice occurring or likely to occur within the Presbytery.
4. Social Media
4.1 Social Media Policy
The use of social media is welcome to facilitate the work of Presbytery. Presbytery has a Social Media Policy and Presbyters have an obligation to follow this policy in order to protect themselves, Presbytery and the Church of Scotland.
5. Financial Issues
5.1 Expenses
Where expenses are reasonably and properly incurred by you as a result of a decision made by Presbytery, these expenses can be reclaimed from the Treasurer of the Presbytery. This should be done timeously and with a copy of any receipts.
5.2 Payment of Remuneration
You must comply with the statutory rules that remuneration can only be paid by a charity to its charity trustees and “connected persons” to them if certain conditions are met; these conditions are set out in Section 67 of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. Remuneration includes salary received from the charity or payment made for services provided to it. “Connected persons” include:
• a person married to, the civil partner of or living with the charity trustee;
• the child (including stepchild), parent, grandchild, grandparent, brother or sister of the charity trustee (or the spouse of such person);
• a company where the charity trustee or connected person has a substantial interest;
• a Scottish partnership where the charity trustee or the connected person is a partner.
5.3 Gifts and Hospitality
Note that “gift” includes benefits such as relief from indebtedness, loan concessions, orprovisions of services at a cost below that charged to members of the public.You must never canvass or seek gifts or exceptional hospitality in your capacity as a Presbyter. As a general guide, it is usually appropriate to refuse gifts and offers made to you in your capacity as a Presbyter with the exceptions outlined below. If a gift which falls outside these exceptions is received by you, then you must declare this to the Presbytery Clerk.
Permissible gifts are:
• isolated gifts of a trivial character or inexpensive seasonal gifts (for guidance, accepting a gift with a value of more than £25 is normally viewed as inappropriate);
• normal hospitality associated with your duties and which would reasonably be regarded as inappropriate to refuse or hospitality provided by colleagues or congregations in the course of your duties; gifts received by you for the Presbytery; which are to be declared to the Presbytery
Clerk and will be registered and held by the Presbytery Office or their location noted.
6. Confidentiality
6.1 Your Responsibilities
As a part of your work as a Presbyter there will be times when you will be required to treat discussions, documents, or other information in a confidential manner. In a Presbytery meeting that part of the meeting may be held “in private”, but there may be other times when confidentiality is required. You may, for instance, receive information of a private nature which is not yet public, or which it may not be intended to be public. You must always respect and comply with any requirement to keep such information private. If you need further information or guidance on this, you should seek clarification from the Presbytery Clerk or from the Convener or Vice-Convener of the relevant Committee.
7. Other Organisations
7.1 Representing Presbytery
You may be appointed by Presbytery to be a member of another body or organisation. If this is the case, then you are bound by the rules of conduct of that body or organisation and should also observe the rules of this Code in carrying out the duties of that body.
If that appointment includes becoming a trustee for another charity, then that will require you to assume the full duties and liabilities of a charity trustee of that other body, and when serving on that body, you will be required by law to act in its best interests.
7.2 Conflicts Between Bodies
It is possible that a decision or action of some other body could conflict with Presbytery policy and that an actual or perceived conflict arise for Presbytery-nominated trustees. If this should arise you are strongly advised to seek guidance on your responsibilities from the Presbytery Clerk in the first instance, the Solicitor of the Church of Scotland may also be able to offer guidance, but independent legal advice may be desirable if you so wish. Where a conflict of interest is irreconcilable, you may have to resign from one of the bodies. It is acceptable, of course, to be a charity trustee of a congregation and of a Presbytery. Furthermore, one can also be a General Trustee or an Assembly Trustee of the national Church of Scotland.
8. Responsibilities to Staff
8.1 Guidance for Staff Interactions
• You should ensure that you have a clear understanding of the scope of authority delegated to members of staff.
• You should act fairly and in accordance with the principles of best practice in making decisions affecting the appointment, professional development, appraisal and discipline of staff.
• You should understand and accept the difference in roles between Presbyters on the one part and staff on the other and respect the responsibility on the staff for the day to day carrying out of the work of Presbytery.
• You should not act to undermine staff by word or action. If you have concerns about the performance of a member of staff, this should be addressed to the appropriate person:
– for Presbytery Clerk to the Convener of the Business Committee;
– for other staff members to the Presbytery Clerk.
9. Fit and Proper Persons Test
9.1 HMRC Requirements
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) require the managers of a charity to be ‘fit and proper persons’. Trustees, and others having the general control and management of the charity, are included in this definition. Although neither HMRC nor the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) require declarations of the managers of Designated Religious Charities, it would be sensible nonetheless to apply the same standards.
Trustees are therefore required to declare to the Presbytery Clerk any involvement in or conviction for:
• tax fraud;
• other fraudulent behaviour including misrepresentation and/or identity theft;
• attacks against or abuse of tax repayment system;
• being barred from acting as a charity trustee by a charity regulator or Court, or being
disqualified from acting as a company director.
Trustees are also required to declare whether they:
• are an undischarged bankrupt;
• have granted a Protected Trust Deed;
• have an unspent conviction for (a) a crime of dishonesty; or (b) offence under the
Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005.
Any such declaration will be reported to the Business Committee, who will consider whether any steps have to be taken to protect the charitable status of the Presbytery.
10. Breaches of this Code
10.1 Material Breaches or Complaints
If the Business Committee believe that there has been a material breach of this Code by a Presbyter, or if a complaint is made by another Presbyter or by an interested party alleging such a breach, the Business Committee will give consideration to this matter atthe first reasonable opportunity.
In such circumstances the Business Committee will ensure that appropriate pastoral support is immediately made available to all parties.
10.2 Process
In the event that the Business Committee consider that there has been a breach of the Code justifying action being taken, it will take whatever action is required. Possible courses of action include:
i. no further action required;
ii. reprimand, which shall be an expression of disapproval of particular behaviour
with counsel regarding future conduct;
iii. removal of the Presbyter from a committee or group, either temporarily or
permanently;
iv. referral to a Complaints Committee for further investigation using the existing
Complaints Procedure and Discipline legislation1
.
10.3 Appeal Process in Case of Outcomes 10.2 ii and iii
For the avoidance of doubt, an appeal process is already contained in the legislation that would be used under outcome 10.2 iv.
A Presbyter who is subject to such action will have the right of appeal to the Presbytery (via the Convener of the Congregational Support Committee) on the following grounds:
i. an error in law; 1 Discipline Act (Act I 2019) (As amended by Act 12 2020)
ii. irregularity of process, including breach of the principles of natural justice;
iii. decision influenced by incorrect material fact; and
iv. the severity of any sanction imposed.
The Convener of the Congregational Support Committee will determine how to handle any such appeal. This would initiate the setting up of a panel, hearing from the Presbyter and from the Business Committee before making a determination. Members of the Business Committee will take no part in determining the appeal.
If the Presbyter whose conduct is the subject of a complaint under these provisions is a member of the Business Committee, he or she shall immediately withdraw from active membership of the Business Committee until the matter is resolved. If it appears that the independence of the Business Committee may be compromised, the Presbytery may appoint other members to act for the time being in place of the Business Committee.