Agenda item

Report of the Monitoring Officer

The Chairman explained that this review had been initiated by the Government, namely the Committee on Standards in Public Life and that the review would consider whether the current structures, processes and practices in Local Government in England were conducive to high standards of conduct.  The Monitoring Officer advised that she had consulted all Borough and Parish Councillors, as well as the Senior Leadership Team, none of whom had made any specific comments and so she referred members to Appendix 2 of the report, in which she had drafted her initial thoughts in response to the consultation questions and these included:

Members of the committee would be aware of the serious concerns which the Monitoring Officer had raised with the Government and Information Commissioner about the publication requirements relating to interests of third parties (spouses and partners etc), which she considered to be wholly inappropriate given that they had not been elected to public office.  She also considered this requirement to be inconsistent with the Data Protection and Human Rights legislation and despite all members having complied with the requirements, this information had still not been published on the Council’s website.  The Monitoring Officer intended to write again on this point, in detail, separately, as this was of increasing concerns given the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulations which would take effect in May.  Her main cause for contention was that the requirements for third parties and publication were included as a late amendment to the Localism Bill before enactment and the amendment did not appear to have been subject to an Impact Assessment (as was the case with the unamended Bill).

The Code adopted by this Council (and the 5 Parish Councils operating in the Borough) exceeded the statutory minimum and since its adoption some 6 years ago there had been very few complaints about Borough or Parish Councillor conduct and even fewer instances where there had, following consideration of a complaint, been found to be a breach of the Code of Conduct.  She commented that one of the advantages of the current regime was that there was discretion to resolve complaints informally, which was helpful for less serious complaints as there could be a quicker resolution.  The most significant gap however, was the lack of sanctions to address any serious breaches, which were currently restricted to censure, apology or training, or, where appropriate and with support of the relevant Political Group Leader, removal from a Committee or External Body.  She did not consider that these sanctions were sufficient to deter serious breaches and neither were there additional sanctions available in the event that a Councillor who has been found to be in breach of the Code, refuses to accept the sanction (e.g. giving an apology). 

Asked whether any other sanctions were available, the Monitoring Officer advised that sanctions such as suspension and disqualification were removed on the basis that a Councillor’s tenure should be determined by the electorate.  She agreed with the sentiments of the committee that members of the public who raised concerns regarding conduct might be dissatisfied with the limited sanctions available.

Comments from members of the committee included:

·         There should be an option to suspend Borough and Parish Councillors when this option was available when dealing with breaches by Members of Parliament. 

·         Whilst the previous complaints regime was at times long and somewhat onerous, it was felt that the ability to hold a Councillor to account and allow the complainant to have their say was reassuring to the public and perhaps this option should be considered further. 

The Monitoring Officer would ensure that the key points raised by the committee, regarding inadequate sanctions and disproportionate nature of having to disclose interests of third parties (spouses and partners) would be included in the response, that would be finalised in consultation with the Chairman of the committee. 

Upon a vote it was unanimously

RESOLVED that authority be delegated to the Borough Solicitor / Monitoring Officer to finalise a response to the Committee for Standards in Public Life, in consultation with the Chair of Standards Committee.