Committee:THE
STANDARDS COMMITTEE
Date:21
January 2019
Title:Allegations
against members
Author:Monitoring
Officer
Purpose:
For information
Background -
The
purpose of this report is to inform the Committee of the Ombudsman's
decisions on formal complaints against members.
A
complaint that a County Councillor had failed to register land
ownership as an interest and had failed to declare this when
discussing
a
planning application with officers.
The
Ombudsman investigated the complaint and reached the following
conclusion:
It
appears that the member was in breach of the code by failing to
register
the interest and by failing to declare this when e-mailing planning
officers.
The
content of the e-mail blurred the line between the member's role
as
an individual and his role as a member of the Council.
Despite
the Member's arguments to the contrary, the Ombudsman was
of
the opinion that had received sufficient training on the Code of
Conduct and if unclear about any aspect, it was his responsibility to
seek further advice from the Monitoring Officer.
Having
considered the public interest test, it was decided that no further
action was necessary in this instance as the individual was a new
member
at the time, that this was the first time his conduct had been
brought
to the Ombudsman's attention, and that he had since completed
the
registration of interest correctly.
He
would write to the member to emphasise the importance of keeping
separate
his private and public roles and that he should seek advice
from
the Monitoring Officer if he needs more training on the Code of
Conduct.
Complaint
201805374
Complaint
by a member of the public that a member of the Community
Council
had:
made
a false statement in order to undermine support for a local campaign
led by the complainant.
used
her influence on a committee of the local hall to prevent the
complainant
from hiring the hall.
The
Ombudsman resolved not to investigate the complaint for the
following
reasons:
The
complainant had not submitted sufficient evidence to support
the
complaint, but even had she done so, the Ombudsman was not of the
opinion that the Code of Conduct would have been breached.
It
was unclear whether the Member was,at the time, acting as a Member.
Even if she were doing so, the Ombudsman was not satisfied
that
she had prevented the complainant from hiring the hall.
Analysis of the Complaints -
Below is an analysis of the nature of this year's
complaints to date:
Member of community council - 8
Member of Gwynedd Council - 3
Member of Gwynedd Council and community council - 0
Nature of the complainant
Councillor - 3
Member
of the public - 7
Officer - 1
Nature
of the allegation
Overall conduct - 4
Declaration
of Interest - 7
Outcome
No
Investigation - 10
Investigation–No
evidence of breaching the Code of Conduct - 0
Investigation
– Evidence
of breaching the code but no further steps
required - 1
Investigation
– referral to the Standards Committee - 0
Investigation
- Referral to the Adjudication Panel for Wales - 0
Open Cases -
The
situation in relation to other cases is as follows:
Ombudsman
considering an investigation - 2
Ombudsman
investigating - 0
Recommendation -
The Committee is asked to note the information.
