Issue - meetings

The Committee received and noted the Monitoring Officer’s annual report about decisions taken on standards allegations against borough and parish councillors for the 12-month period ending 31 December 2020.

The Committee noted that during this period, there had been 17 complaints in total, of which nine were regarding borough councillors and eight were in respect of parish councillors. By way of comparison, in 2019 the Committee noted that there had been eight complaints in total, of which seven were regarding borough councillors and one was in respect of a parish councillor.

Eight of the complaints had failed the initial jurisdiction test, two had proceeded to investigation.  Seven were subject to no further action. There were no outstanding complaints at the time of the report had been written.

The Monitoring Officer reported that there was no common theme amongst the complaints.

By way of clarification, the Monitoring Officer explained the various stages of the procedure in the Council’s arrangements for dealing with allegations of misconduct. 

The following points were raised by the Committee in the debate:

·     It was noted that a number of the complaints related to a failure to treat others with respect and bullying, but many of these pre-dated the adoption by the Council in October 2020, of the revised code of conduct, which clarified and defined bullying

·     Concern over the length of time taken to determine complaints, although it was noted that, occasionally, the delays were due to inaction by the parties to the complaint for various reasons

·     Concern over the lack of meaningful sanctions for errant councillors

·     It was noted that very few complaints resulted in a finding of a breach of the code of conduct

·     Those complaints that did not pass the initial jurisdiction test, perhaps because the complaint related to dissatisfaction with a decision taken which could not be a breach of the code, were still recorded and reported in this report

The Committee therefore

RESOLVED: That the cases referred to the Monitoring Officer under the Council’s arrangements for dealing with allegations of misconduct for the period 1 January to 31 December 2020, be noted.

Reasons:

·     To ensure members of the Committee and others to whom the report is circulated are kept up to date with standards complaints received and enable them to consider learning points for the future.

·     To seek to promote and maintain high standards of conduct amongst Members.