Agenda item
Minutes:
The Committee received a report setting out details of the number of complaints received against councillors since 1 April 2020, the nature or themes of complaints received and the outcome of those complaints. Except where a breach had been found to have taken place and a formal Decision Notice had been published no personal details would be provided.
Under the Localism Act 2011, the Council had a duty to promote and maintain high standards of conduct amongst its Members and co-opted Members. As part of this duty the Council was required to have a Code of Conduct for Members which set out the standard of behaviour of Members when acting as a Member or on behalf of the Council.
The Council’s Code of Conduct was at Section 2 Part H of the Constitution. Whilst Town and Parish Council could adopt the Buckinghamshire Council Code they did not have to. The Arrangements for Dealing with complaints under the Code of Conduct was at Section 3 Part H of the Constitution and applied to complaints against all councillors, including Town or Parish Councillors. Further guidance on dealing with complaints had been approved by the Committee on 2 July 2020.
In summary, the arrangements for handling complaints required an initial assessment to check whether the complaint could be considered (e.g. the complaint related to the conduct or behaviour of a councillor when acting in an official capacity) and whether it should be accepted (ie the nature of the complaint warranted it being considered further). Stage 1 of the process involved contacting the Subject Member for their response to the complaint and suggestions for resolution. If this was not accepted the complaint moved to Stage 2 when the complaint was formally considered by the Monitoring Officer or a Deputy Monitoring Officer. The Chairman/Vice-Chairman of the Committee would be informed of the complaint and could also consider the complaint together with an Independent Person. Stage 3 was implemented if the matter went to a formal investigation and could include consideration by a Sub-Committee or full Committee.
Appendix 1 detailed the cumulative total of complaints received since 1 April 2020. The Monitoring Officer had received 19 formal complaints with a further 2 carried over from legacy councils. 13 of these related to Buckinghamshire or legacy council members with 8 against Town or Parish councillors. Consultation with an independent person was due to take place to consider whether to progress in a few cases. None of the closed complaints progressed to a formal Stage 1 consideration, having either been rejected, considered not in the public interest to progress or informally resolved. Accordingly there had been no finding of a breach having occurred.
Although some of the complaints were duplicated, the main themes of the complaints related to disrespect followed up closely by disrepute and bullying. There were 3 complaints about personal interests, although 2 of these related to the same matter.
Members discussed the reporting format and information and it was agreed that future reports should provide case study examples of behaviours and how they had been dealt with. It would also be helpful to provide information on trends, for example, number of complaints that were currently at Stages 1, 2 and 3, and on the amount of time it was taking to deal with complaints.
RESOLVED –
That the report on dealing with complaints against Councillors since 1 April 2020 be noted.
Supporting documents:
PDF 243 KB