Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer which provided Members with an update on activity since the last meeting in respect of complaints received by Durham County Council (for copy see file of Minutes).

Mr Harrison referred to the complaints listed at Appendix 2 of the report and asked why the Subject Matter and detail of Council were anonymised when previously they were not.  The Legal Manager – Governance and Elections replied that previously the report had been in the closed part of the Committee agenda, but to increase public knowledge of complaints which had been submitted, the report had been anonymised and brought into the open part of the agenda.

Mr Harrison considered that it was important for the Committee to be provided with details of both Councillors and Council’s so that trends could be identified if any particular Councillor or Council was regularly the subject of a complaint.  The Legal Manager – Governance and Elections informed the Committee that this information was available on Decision Notices which were issued for each complaint and these were public documents.  However, she would discuss this with the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to see what could be done to add value for the Committee.

The Legal Manager – Governance and Elections added that the Executive Director of the County Durham Association of Local Councils is consulted when problems arose with Parish Councils.

Resolved:

That the report be noted.