The
Principal Solicitor, Contentious and Corporate Governance,
introduced her report providing an update on complaints received
under the Members’ Code of Conduct during the period 1
September 2019 to 29 February 2020. It
was noted that:
·
Since the last report to the Committee on 16
September 2019, there had been two new Parish Council
complaints. The first was an allegation
of failure to disclose a pecuniary interest to the Monitoring
Officer within the required timeframe and the second was an
allegation of bullying and bringing the Member’s office into
disrepute. Both complaints were
currently under consideration.
·
No complaints had been made against Borough
Councillors during this period.
In
response to questions, the Principal Solicitor, Contentious and
Corporate Governance, advised the Committee that:
·
She could not confirm whether the Parish Councillors
concerned had received appropriate training, but training was
available. She had made a note of the
suggestion by the Parish representative in attendance that if any
further complaints were received against Parish Councillors, then
the Parish Clerk(s) be asked whether the subject Members had
received training, were they offered training and did they accept
it.
·
Informal resolutions to complaints and sanctions
following hearings allowed a requirement for training, so if there
had been no training there was a high likelihood that it would be
one of the recommendations.
RESOLVED: That the
update on complaints received under the Members’ Code of
Conduct during the period 1 September 2019 to 29 February 2020 be
noted.