The Ombudsman received a complaint that a member (“the Member”) of Neath Port Talbot Council (“the Council”) had breached the Code of Conduct. It was alleged that the Member was arrested by the Police on suspicion of driving his car whilst being under the influence of alcohol.
Our finding, under section 69 of the Local Government Act 2000, was that our report on our investigation be referred to the Deputy Monitoring Officer of the Council for consideration by the local Standards Committee.
The Standards Committee found that the Member had failed to comply with the Code of Conduct. Its sanction was to suspend the Member for a period of 4 calendar months.