Agenda item

The report of the Borough Solicitor and Monitoring Officer invites the Committee to i) approve and recommend to Council the adoption of a new procedure for the investigation of complaints under the Council’s new Code of Conduct as required by the Localism Act 2011; and ii) recommend to Constitution Committee additional Terms of Reference for the Audit and Governance Committee for adoption by Council on 19 July 2012.                 

Principal authorities would, under the Localism Act, be responsible for investigating complaints that a member of the Borough Council or a Town/Parish Councillor in their area had breached their Code of Conduct.  This would require the authority to have in place a procedure for dealing with complaints. 

As a result of discussions by both the Committee and the Issues and Ideas Working Group, it has been agreed that responsibility for standards matters should transfer to the Audit and Governance Committee, which Council had approved on 16 May 2012 i.e. 

That the Audit and Governance Committee establish, on an ad-hoc basis, a Sub-Committee with delegated powers to deal with standards issues, with effect from the next meeting of the Council in July 2012

The Terms of Reference for the Committee, now submitted, suggested the formation of three sub-committees to deal with complaints; an Initial Assessment Panel to determine the validity of the complaint against agreed criteria, a Local Resolution Panel to determine/resolve minor breaches of the Code and a Hearings Sub-Committee to consider reports from an Investigative Officer should an external investigation been deemed necessary.  A draft procedure together with an explanatory flowchart and the assessment criteria to be followed were presented to Members by the Borough Solicitor. 

In general, the proposals found favour with the Committee; however the following matters were debated:

i)              Notification of complaint:  Members considered that the Subject Member, against whom the complaint had been made, should be notified of the fact and provided with a copy of the complaint form BUT that s/he should be directed not to make contact with the Complainant until such time as the complaint process had been concluded. 

ii)            It was felt that permitting only one witness to attend a hearing was too restricted and whilst the procedure should be managed, Subject Members should be permitted to bring no more than 3 witnesses plus a supporter if required.

iii)          The present procedure did not allow for the right of review by the Complainant or Subject Member following the making of a decision.  Contrasting opinions were expressed as to whether this option should be made available; the Committee deciding on balance that, as the new process was designed to be more stream-lined than at present, it should not be included.    

iv)          Where no evidence of failure to comply with the Code was found, it was requested that the Monitoring Officer maintain a record of complaints received so as to identify vexatious complainants at an early stage.

v)            For consistency, it was agreed that a decision notice should be published following a meeting of the Local Resolution Panel.                

RESOLVED:

That –

a)           Subject to the inclusion of the amendments listed above, the procedure relating to the investigation of complaints under the new Code of Conduct at Appendix 1 of the report together with the criteria used to evaluate complaints set out in appendix 3 be recommended for adoption by the Council on 19 July 2012; and

b)           Constitution Committee, at its meeting on 5 July 2012, be invited to approve the Terms of Reference set out in appendix 4 for formal adoption by Council on 19 July 2012.