Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services which presented proposals for the revision of the Council’s Local Assessment Procedure for Code of Conduct complaints (for copy see file of Minutes).

Members considered the proposed revisions which were set out in the report. Councillor Bell made the point that when a complaint was made against a Councillor and the outcome of assessment was No Further Action, there was no re-course for the Councillor against the individual who had made the allegations. Despite a decision of No Further Action it could have implications for a Councillor’s reputation and at election time. The Head of Legal and Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer sympathised with the position but elected officials were subject to a greater level of scrutiny than members of the public and there was limited action that could be taken in these circumstances. However it was important that any complaint was examined in accordance with the Local Assessment Procedure and the decision notice should clearly give reasons why a complaint was not to be pursued.

Resolved:

a)    That the Equality Monitoring information be omitted from the Procedure with immediate effect;

b)    The views of Constitution Working Group be sought on the remainder of the proposed changes to the procedure before reconsideration at a future meeting of the Standards Committee.