Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Director of Strategy, Performance and Governance (copy enclosed).

The Committee received the report of the Director of Strategy, Performance and Governance giving details of conduct complaints received and dealt with by the Monitoring Officer or the Joint Standards Committee in response to the Committee’s request at the last meeting as follows:

(i)              the number of complaints raised since 2015;

(ii)           the number of referrals to Joint Standards;

(iii)         the outcome; and

(iv)          political affiliations of those involved in the aforementioned points.

Appendix 1to the report provided a breakdown of complaints given to the Joint Standards Committee in 2017, and the report provided a summary of the complaints made in 2017, 2018 and to date in 2019 and the political affiliations where complaints had been made against District Councillors.

The Committee agreed with Councillor M S Heard that the information provided still did not meet the full terms of that requested.  He explained that it was not the process proposed to be scrutinised but rather the matter of referrals since it appeared that most complaints had been dealt with by the Monitoring Officer under stage 1 of the process without reference to the Standards Committee.   The information going back to 2015 was sparse on detail in terms of total numbers, names, those dealt with at stage 1 and political affiliations.  

RESOLVED that Officers explore this further and liaise with Councillor M S Heard.