Agenda item

(Monitoring Officer)

(a)  To consider the attached schedule showing the current position of active cases; and

(b)  To consider the following requests from a Joint Parish Standards Committee Panel hearing:

(i) inclusion of the following statement in the EFDC Bulletin, sent to all  Parish Councils in the District, and passed to the Essex Association of Local Councils to be formally disseminated:

“Councillors should remember when taking Office as Councillor, they are acting in a public office and publicly representing their parishioners.  As such, they should consider their actions and words, and how they may be perceived by other members of the public before making statements or comments that may be taken out of context or before clear facts are known”.

           ( Note: As the District Council Bulletin is not sent to Parish and Town Councils, a letter has been sent to those councils and the issue was reported to the Local Councils’ Liaison Committee);

(ii) consideration should be given to including a section in the Code of Conduct suggesting members should be extremely careful about ensuring they are fully briefed on any specific issue / document before making public comment, and if a councillor is unclear he/she should seek clarification before making public comment;

(iii) the Panel would like it noted they were concerned regarding the following two issues, and ask that the Monitoring Officer addresses these issues in future:

 - there was no formal statement from the Clerk in the documentation regarding these cases, despite the fact that reference was made by the investigating officer that he had spoken with the Clerk.  The Panel feel that a formal statement should  have been made by the Clerk;

- none of the statements was signed by the relevant party making the statement.  A signature would enhance the probity of such documents.

(a)        Schedule Showing the Current Position of Active Cases

The Committee received an updated schedule (tabled) regarding allegations made about the conduct of district councillors.

The Committee noted that in relation to case reference EFDC 3/2003 the complaint had been considered by the Monitoring Officer and an Independent Person who had agreed that an investigation would not serve a useful purpose.  The Independent Person had requested that the member concerned should meet officers to discuss the matter and such a meeting had now taken place.

In relation to case EFDC 4/2013, following assessment and Independent Person consideration “other action” had been implemented with one member issuing an apology statement at a public meeting, issuing an apology letter and being required to attend the next Code of Conduct training and the other member issuing a letter of apology.

The Committee noted that with the conclusion of those two complaints there were currently no outstanding formal complaints.

(b)       Joint Parish Standards Committee Panel Hearing

The Committee noted that a Joint Parish Standards Committee Panel hearing had requested the inclusion of a statement in the District Council’s Bulletin and sent to all parish councils in the District and passed to the Essex Association of Local Councils for dissemination.  However, as the District Council Bulletin was not sent to parish and town councils, the statement had been incorporated into a letter sent to parish and town councils and the matter had been reported to the Local Councils’ Liaison Committee. 

Members noted that the statement had related to the need for councillors to remember when taking office as a councillor they were acting in a public office and publicly representing their parishioners.  As such they should carefully consider their actions and words, and how those might be perceived by other members of the public, before making statements or comments that could be taken out of context or before clear facts were known.

The Committee noted that the Joint Parish Standards Committee had also requested that consideration be given to including a section in the Code of Conduct suggesting that members should be extremely careful about ensuring that they were fully briefed on any specific issue/document before making public comment, and that if a councillor was unclear he/she should seek clarification before making public comment.

The Committee was informed thatr the Panel hearing also had expressed concern about two issues and had asked the Monitoring Officer to address these matters in future:

(a)        there had been no formal statement from the Clerk of the Parish Council concerned in the documentation regarding the case despite the fact that weight had been given by the Investigating Officer to a discussion with that Clerk; and

(b)        it had not been clear from the statements presented to the Panel that they had been signed by the relevant parties.

            RESOLVED:

            (1)        That the action taken in relation to the request of the Joint Parish Standards Committee to disseminate a statement be noted;

            (2)        That appropriate wording be included in the revised Code of Conduct in relation to making public comments;

            (3)        That Investigating Officers be reminded of the need to obtain statements from all the various parties and witnesses and that this requirement be incorporated into the Council’s Complaints Procedure; and

            (4)        That all such statements should be signed by the relevant parties and that copies submitted to hearings should indicate that the statements have been signed.