Draw the line on gifts and do so publicly

SOME councillors and chief executives should be utterly ashamed of the fact that they accepted gifts of a substantial value from contractors and business acquaintances.

After 40 years-plus of business dealings with contacting entities as a professional buyer, I would never, ever entertain any such expensive gifts for fear that it came with a “favour” at a later point in time. While I appreciate that gifts are well meant by some companies, others see it as an opportunity to “grease a palm” and sometimes the line is very unclear. Most private companies and public bodies have very clear lines on what gifts are acceptable and often place a limit of £10 and £20 on such items – not the near-£500 a time taken by one chief executive and an original Disney cartoon for another that may be worth thousands.

Professional bodies such as the Institute of Purchasing and Supply have written guidelines for their members that rightly limit gifts to those, effectively, that are only of a trifling nature.

Are these public bodies beyond these ethical standards? Do they not have any standards at all, or where do they draw these limits? If a £500 gift is acceptable is it then acceptable to be gifted a holiday abroad of the same value, or perhaps to the Bahamas for a week, or two, or a month? Where is the limitation for these people? Some of the public policies suggest you ask your line manager if you’re in any doubt on whether to accept. In that case, who does the chief executive ask?

As public servants, they should have clear and limited guidelines laid down for what they could accept, this patently not so at present. Clearly, they have difficulty in knowing professionally where to draw the line without stricter rules. It’s never a question of only being above board, it’s being clearly seen as being above board in every respect. Nigel Thomas Risca