Waverley Borough Council

Standards Committee

13 January 2020

Title:
Monitoring Officer’s Report

Portfolio Holder:	Cllr John Ward, Leader of the Council

Cllr Paul Follows, Deputy Leader of the Council

Head of Service:	Robin Taylor, Head of Policy and Governance
(Monitoring Officer)

Key decision:	No

Access:	Public

1. Purpose and summary
1.1 The Standards Committee last received a report of complaints submitted to the Monitoring Officer under the Member Code of Conduct in January 2019. This report summarises the complaints received since the last report, and also updates the Committee on a number of matters that fall within its remit.

2. Recommendation
2.1 It is recommended that the Standards Committee receives the report and makes any observations on it to the Monitoring Officer.

3. Reason for the recommendation
3.1 To ensure the Standards Committee are aware of the overall level and type of complaints submitted to the Monitoring Officer under the Member Code of Conduct over the past 12 months, and how these were dealt with.

4. Background
Introduction 4.1 The Localism Act gives councils an explicit duty to promote and maintain high standards of Member conduct. It requires the Council to adopt a Code of Conduct setting out the standard of conduct that is expected of Members when acting in their official capacity. Waverley Borough Council adopted its Code of Conduct in July 2012 and has subsequently revised it in July 2013, October 2016 and January 2019. The Code of Conduct is available on the Council’s website. 4.2 Each Town or Parish Council in the borough has its own code of conduct but these use the Waverley code as a template so are either identical or similar. Review of complaints January 2019 to January 2020 Complaints submitted since January 2019 4.3 Nine complaints have been submitted to the Monitoring Officer since January 2019. Of those: 2 complaints related to Town and Parish Councillors; and 7 complaints related to Borough Councillors. Complaints about Town and Parish Councillors 4.4 Of the two complaints submitted to the Monitoring Officer about Town and Parish Councillors since January 2019: 1 was closed when the complainant did not respond to my request to provide further information about their complaint; and 1 was informally investigated by the Monitoring Officer and it was concluded that there was no clear evidence of a breach of the code of conduct and therefore not a case for any further investigation to take place. The complainant subsequently wrote to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO). The LGSCO considered the complaint but concluded that it should not investigate because there was insufficient evidence of fault by the Council which would warrant an investigation. Complaints about Waverley Borough Councillors 4.5 Of the seven complaints submitted to the Monitoring Officer about Waverley Borough Councillors since January 2019: 4 were closed, either because the complainant chose to withdraw their complaint or because the complainant did not respond to my request to provide further information about their complaint; 2 were informally investigated by the Monitoring Officer and subsequently resolved informally; and 1 is a live complaint currently being informally investigated by the Monitoring Officer. Consultation with the Independent Person (IP) 4.6 Waverley participated in 2019 in a joint recruitment process with Guildford, Epsom & Ewell, Mole Valley, Reigate & Banstead, Spelthorne and Surrey Heath, to appoint a panel of at least three Independent Persons for a 4-year term of office commencing May 2019, with any of the appointed IPs being able to act for any of the councils. 4.7 The positions of Independent Persons were advertised on the websites of the 7 councils. Waverley also issued a news story and used the council’s social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to direct interest to the website. 4.8 Following the joint recruitment exercise, consideration of the applications from 4 of the current IPs and 3 new applicants, and after interviews with the 3 new applicants, the Monitoring Officer recommended to the Standards Committee that all 7 Independent Persons be appointed as Independent Persons for the 7 councils, for a 4 year term from May 2019. 4.9 I am required as Monitoring Officer to formally consult and consider the view of the Independent Person before deciding to commence a formal investigation. I have not been required to do so during the past 12 months as all new complaints have been withdrawn, dealt with informally or are still live at the informal stage. However, within the past 12 months, I sought the view of the IP on one occasion at the informal stage and considered their view before making my decision as Monitoring Officer. Further comments and observations 4.10 Further comments and observations on complaints: Alleged breaches of the first general obligation of the code, namely to always treat others with respect, continued to be the most common feature of complaints made to the Monitoring Officer. In the past 12 months, a greater number of complaints cases were closed prior to informal investigation either at the request of the complainant or because the complainant chose not to respond to correspondence from me seeking further detail about their complaint than has been the case in recent years. As is indicated by the statistics above, were matters were investigated, it was possible to deal with the majority of complaints informally. Where a mutually satisfactory informal resolution was achieved it relied upon the willingness of those members alleged to have breached their code to constructively engage with the process at the informal stage. It was noted in last year’s report that a standards panel hearing would be held to consider the conduct of a Waverley Borough Councillor. That hearing took place on 1 February 2019, within the monitoring period of this report. Having invited and considered any representations from the subject member, the complainants, the Monitoring Officer, the independent investigator and the independent person, the panel of members concluded that there was evidence of a breach of the Waverley Members code of conduct. They instructed the Monitoring Officer to arrange training for the subject member on member / officer protocols and working relationships. The panel decision was reported to Full Council on 12 February 2019. The subject member appealed the decision of the panel and the appeals panel met on 15 April 2019 to consider the appeal. The appeals panel rejected the appeal and upheld the decision and recommendation of the original panel. The recommended training was subsequently undertaken by the subject member. Things written by elected members in emails or posted online have continued to feature heavily in complaints. Electronic communications can be created, widely transmitted, read and infinitely shared with an audience the original author may not have intended in just a few moments. This, combined with the absence of tone of voice and context, makes electronic communications far more likely to lead to allegations of code breaches than any other form, especially when sent in haste. The statistics above do not include cases where individuals have consulted the Monitoring Officer about complaining but decided not to complain as has happened on a number of occasions. They also do not include cases where advice has been given by the Monitoring Officer to elected members, members of staff, Town and Parish clerks and councillors, and residents, but where no complaint has been made. Borough and Town and Parish elections – May 2019 4.11 Elections for the Borough Council and for Waverley Town and Parish Councils took place on 2 May 2019. In signing their Acceptance of Office, councillors have given an undertaking to observe the Code and the conduct that is expected of them in the performance of their role as a borough councillor. 4.12 An Induction programme was delivered to all new and returning Borough councillors. This encompassed sessions on the Standards and the Code of Conduct, Member-Officer relationships, and Operating Safely as a Councillor, as well as sessions on councillors’ roles in relation to Planning matters. 4.13 The Monitoring Officer Team has also delivered this training to Godalming Town Council, Farnham Town Council, Haslemere Town Council and Cranleigh Parish Council. Gifts & Hospitality 4.14 In the past 12 months, 5 registrations of gifts to staff were made to the Monitoring Officer. None of the gifts received were significant in value (being of approximately £25 or less) and all were consumables – either bottles of drink or boxes of biscuits/chocolates.

5. Relationship to the Corporate Strategy and Service Plan
5.1 This report relates to the following elements of the Council’s Corporate Strategy 2019-2023: Open, democratic and participative governance’; and ‘The value and worth of all residents, regardless of income, wealth, age, disability, race, religion, gender or sexual orientation’.

6. Implications of decision
6.1 Resource (Finance, procurement, staffing, IT) There are no direct resource implications arising from this report.
6.2 Risk management The arrangements for investigating complaints against councillors and co-opted members under the Council’s code of conduct, is a key mechanism for mitigating against the risk of reputational damage, a lack of good governance and loss of public confidence. The Council’s Code of Conduct for Elected Members is based upon the 7 ‘Nolan Principles’ of public life, promoted by the Committee for Standards in Public Life, namely.
6.3 Legal The ethical standards regime has been governed by the Localism Act 2011 for a number of years now, and the Council’s Code of Conduct under the 2011 Act is well established and has been reviewed by the Council since first being adopted in July 2012. The Monitoring Officer continues to discharge his statutory functions in relation to ethical standards by reference to the Code of Conduct and the legislative framework.
6.4 Equality, diversity and inclusion There is a general obligation in the Code of Conduct in which Members undertake to “not do anything which may cause the Council to breach any of the equality enactments (as defined in Section 33 of the Equality Act 2010”.
6.5 Climate emergency declaration The vast majority of correspondence related to standards matters is sent, received and stored digitally so, aside from occasional face to face visits requiring local travel, there are limited climate implications. The exception to this since the last report was the public standards hearing held on 1 February 2019 which necessitated the printing of agenda papers for various parties and a greater than usual degree of travel by those involved.

7. Consultation and engagement
7.1 N/a
8. Other options considered
8.1 It is good practice to report regularly on the Monitoring Officer’s work in relation to the Code of Conduct and ethical matter.

9. Governance journey
9.1 This report is for the Standards Committee to note. The minutes of the Standards Committee will be reported to Full Council.

Background Papers

1 Feb 2019 Waverley Borough Council Standards Panel hearing papers https://modgov.waverley.gov.uk/documents/b9478/Full%20agenda%20pack%20issued%201%20Feb%202019%2001st-Feb-2019%2010.30%20Standards%20Panel.pdf?T=9

12 February 2019 Waverley Borough Council Standards Panel Decision Notice https://modgov.waverley.gov.uk/documents/s28381/Standards%20Panel%201%20Feb%202019%20-%20Decision.pdf

CONTACT OFFICER:

Name:	Robin Taylor

Position:	Head of Policy and Governance

Telephone:	0148 3523108

Email:	robin.taylor@waverley.gov.uk

Agreed and signed off by:

Legal Services: 3 January 2019

Head of Finance: n/a

Strategic Director: n/a

Portfolio Holder: n/a