Code of Conduct Complaints

Local Assessment Framework

(08 May 2008 – 30 June 2009)

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Complaints Received (relating to members conduct / behaviour)

• Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council has received 11 complaints relating to members conduct since the introduction of the local assessment framework, 10 of the complaints were received before 15 November 2008.

• The last complaint was received on 24 April 2009.

• 4 (36%) of the 11 complaints received were made against Parish / Town Councillors.

• 7 (64%) of the complaints received were made against Borough Councillors.

• 9 (82%) of the complaints received were made by the public and 2 (18%) by council members.

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The Assessment Sub-Committee(meet to make an initial assessment of a complaint)

• The Assessment Sub-Committee met on 7 occasions to assess 11 complaints.

• No further action was agreed on 6 of the complaints received.

• 4 complaints were referred to the Monitoring Officer for local Investigation.

• Other action by the Monitoring Officer was agreed on the remaining complaint.

• The Standards Board for England guidance states the Assessment Sub-Committee should meet within 20 working days of receipt of a complaint.

• All of the Assessment Sub-Committee meetings were held within 20 working days of receiving a complaint.

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The Review Sub-Committee (meet if a review request is received from a

complainant within 30 days of the date of a decision notice stating no further action).

• The Review Sub-Committee met on 3 occasions to review 4 requests.

• All 4 review requests were dismissed (i.e. no further action required).

• The Standards Board for England guidance states the Review Sub-Committee should meet within 3 months of receiving a review request.

• All the Review Sub-Committee meetings were held within 20 days of receiving a review request from

the complainant.

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TheConsideration Sub-Committee

(meet to consider an Investigating Officer’s report)

• The Consideration Sub-Committee have met on 3 occasions to consider 5 investigation reports. 2 reports from Standards Board for England complaints (pre 08 May 2008) and 3 reports (4 complaints) since the introduction of the local assessment framework.

• At each of these meetings the Investigating Officer gave an oral account of their investigation and answered questions from the Sub-Committee.

• The average length of time from the decision to refer to the date of the determination meeting was 156 days (excludes SBE cases (pre 08 May 08) / Hearing Sub-Committee determination).

• On 4 of the reports the Sub-Committee agreed (‘finding of acceptance’) with the Investigating Officer that the member investigated had not breached the Code.

• The Investigator in the remaining report (2 complaints) determined a breach had occurred; therefore the Sub-Committee referred the case for determination by the Standards Committee’s Hearing Sub-Committee.

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The Hearing Sub-Committee (meet to consider the investigation report and any written or verbal representations from the parties

involved).

• The Hearing Sub-Committee have met on one occasion (26/06/2009).

• The representations received at this meeting were from the Investigating Officer (verbally) and subject member (written).

• The Sub-Committee determined their finding of facts regarding the case and determined that a breach of the Code had occurred (failing to treat others with respect).

• A sanction was imposed which required the subject member to apologise to the complainant and to take part in Code of Conduct training, in order to avoid a one month partial suspension.

• The Sub-Committee further recommended that members be reminded that they should treat each other with respect.

• An application for permission to appeal against the Hearing Sub-Committee’s decision by the subject member was refused by the Adjudication Panel.

• None of the complaints received have been referred to either the SBE or the APE.

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Standards Board for England (SBE) – Local Assessment

Framework Statistics(08 May 2008 – 31 March 2009)

• A total of 2,863 Code of Code complaints were recorded with the SBE.

• The average recorded complaints per authority is 2 per quarter.

• The average number of cases per Unitary authority are: 11.2.

• 54% of complaints made were by the public and 36% from council members, with the remaining 10% from a combination of Officers, Parish / Town Clerks, MP’s and Monitoring Officers.

• The average length of time from date of receipt to referral decision is 20 working days. However, 838 (31%) cases took longer than 20 working days.

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Standards Board for England (SBE) – Local Assessment

Framework Statistics (08 May 2008 – 31 March 2009)

• Of the 2,693 complaint referral decisions made:

52.5% - No further action29.0% - Referred to Monitoring Officer for investigation12.1% - Other Action 6.2% - Referred to SBE for investigation 0.2% - Referred to another authority

• 526 review requests were received with 384 of these being assessed. 94% remained no further action and 6% were referred for investigation either locally or by the SBE.

• A request for a review was received in 37% of cases where the initial assessment decision was no further action.

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Standards Board for England (SBE) – Local Assessment

Framework Statistics (08 May 2008 – 31 March 2009)

• 224 cases with investigation outcomes were recorded with the SBE. In 158 (71%) cases no breach had been found.

• In 56 (25%) of cases a breach of the Code was found and a penalty imposed.

• 10 (4%) further cases also found a breach of the Code although no further action was taken.

• The average length of time from the decision to refer to the date of the determination meeting was 100 days.

• The most frequent breaches of the Code were:

Part 3(1)(a): You must treat others with respect (37 occurrences)

Part 5: You must not conduct yourself in a manner which could reasonably be regarded as bringing your office or authority into disrepute (28 occurrences).