Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any disclosures of interest from councillors in accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct for members.

There were none.

The Panel is asked to consider excluding the press and public from the meeting during consideration of the following item on the grounds that it is likely to involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 2 (Information likely to reveal the identity of an individual) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

In making its decision, the Panel is asked to confirm that having regard to all circumstances, it is satisfied that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

In this case the proper administration of the complaints procedure in the public interest is that consideration of complaints should not be made public at an early stage, when the complaints may or may not be proved and may or may not be investigated.

The Panel considered whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following matter on the grounds that it was likely to involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

The Panel in making its decision had regard to all circumstances and was satisfied that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED that in the interest of having a frank and open discussion about the matter, the press and public be excluded from the meeting.

The report of the Monitoring Officer sets out an allegation made by way of a complaint against a borough councillor concerning a potential breach of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

The Assessment Panel is asked to make a determination in respect of whether or not any action should be taken.

The Panel considered the report of the Monitoring Officer setting out an allegation by way of a complaint received from an officer about Councillor D.

The Monitoring Officer detailed the allegations that had been made and the key considerations for the assessment panel.

The panel went on to consider the complaint having regard to the assessment criteria.

The panel considered the options open to it:

a)    ask the monitoring officer to direct that the complaint is investigated;

b)    direct the Monitoring Officer to take other appropriate action short of a formal investigation, for instance trying to secure an apology;

c)    take no action in respect of the complaint; this may be where the complaint appears to be trivial, vexatious, malicious, politically motivated or tit-for-tat.

The panel had regard to advice from the independent person and noted that Councillor D had declined to offer an apology to the complainant.

It was resolved that the Monitoring Officer:

1.    Be directed to write to Councillor C to remind them of the expected standards of conduct.

2.    Request, on behalf of the sub-committee, that a written apology be provided to the complainant.

3.    In the event that an apology not be forthcoming, instigates an investigation into the complaint, for consideration by a separate hearings sub-committee.

The sub-committee requested that:

1.    A generalised communication on the expected standards of conduct be distributed to members.

2.    Training sessions on the member code of conduct continue to be provided.

3.    A generalised communication across the organisation about the protocol for member-officer relations be distributed.