The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision on a complaint that a councillor breached the code of conduct. We have not seen evidence of fault in the way the Council made its decision.
The complaint
The complainant, I shall call Mrs X, complains the Council failed to fully investigate and take action against a councillor who broke the code of conduct.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The current standards regime All local authorities (other than parish and town councils) must have procedures in place to deal with complaints about member conduct. It is for each authority to decide the details of those procedures, but they must appoint at least one Independent Person whose views are to be taken into account before making a decision on a complaint that they have decided to investigate.
Generally, the Monitoring Officer will first assess a complaint and decide whether it merits formal investigation. They may dismiss a complaint if, for example, there is no breach of the Code of Conduct, the councillor was not acting in an official capacity, the matter is trivial, or it is not in the public interest to investigate. If they decide to carry out a formal investigation, this may involve the Monitoring Officer (MO), another Investigating Officer and the Standards Committee or Hearings Panel and will include an Independent Person.
The Ombudsman does not offer a right of appeal against a Council’s decision on complaints about member conduct and will not investigate the issues that prompted the complaint about member conduct. However, we can consider if there was fault in the way the MO or Standards Committee considered the complaint. If that is the case, we may ask the Council to review the way it has considered the complaint.
What happened Mrs X complained a councillor breached the code of conduct when they spoke at a planning committee meeting, despite having a disclosable pecuniary interest.
The MO considered the complaint. They accept the councillor should not have spoken as they did have a pecuniary interest which was not disclosed. However, the MO confirmed the councillor sought advice from Council Officers on whether they could speak to the planning committee. Unfortunately, the Officers incorrectly advised the councillor they could speak to the planning committee.
Having consulted the Council’s Independent Person (IP), the MO decided not to take further action as the Councillor was not at fault as they asked officers if they could speak to the planning committee and were wrongly told they could.
The MO confirmed Officers had been given further training on disclosable pecuniary interests.
My assessment
The Council’s arrangements for dealing with standards allegations state the MO will review all complaints and, after consultation with the IP, decide whether the complaint warrants formal investigations. They will decide the complaint does not merit investigation if: It is about someone who is no longer a councillor There is a delay of more than six months in making the complaint The complaint is a minor matter, politically motivated, vexatious or malicious or it is not otherwise appropriate to warrant further action.
The arrangements also state “the Monitoring Officer may decide that a complaint does not merit formal investigation for any other reasons which appears to them to be appropriate.”
I understand that Mrs X believes the MO should have referred the Councillor to the police, as a failure to declare a disclosable pecuniary interest is a criminal offence.
However, it is not for the Ombudsman to determine what action the MO should take when considering a complaint about member conduct. It was for the MO to decide what action, if any, to take, and the Council’s arrangements allow this.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we have not seen any evidence of fault in the way the Council made its decision on her complaint that a councillor breached the code of conduct.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman