Agenda and minutes

The Committee is asked to consider whether it would be in the public interest by resolution to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of item 5 because of the possibility of the disclosure of exempt information.

The Sub Committee sought the views of the Investigating Officers as to whether they felt there were legitimate reasons for the Hearing to be in private.

The Investigating Officers offered no views as to why it would be in the public’s interest to hold the Hearing in private.

Resolved:  The Sub Committee agrees that the meeting be held in public

The Sub Committee will consider what action to take in relation to confirmed/potential breaches of the Code of Conduct in the following cases:-

·                     Z38/67 – Decision Notice attached

·                     Z38/84 – Decision Notice attached

·                     Z38/68 – Decision Notice attached

·                     Z38/59 – Decision Notice attached

·                     Z38/85 – Decision Notice to be tabled at the meeting

·                     Z38/99 – Outcome of the Standards Hearing to be verbally reported

All Sub Committee Members convened to consider what action to take in respect of the previous six allegations, which had been considered, and where the same Subject Member had been found to have breached various aspects of the of the Code of Conduct on each occasion.

The Sub Committee had been notified by the Subject Member, that neither he nor his representative would be attending the hearing. The Sub Committee decided to hear the matter in the Subject Member’s absence, and in doing so took into account the following matters;

·                     the Subject Member had been offered a number of opportunities to engage with the process;

·                     the Subject Member had been aware of the date and time set for the hearing for a reasonable time;

·                     the investigating officers were in attendance and had prepared for the hearing to take place; and

·                     the hearing had already been postponed on a previous occasion at Subject Member’s request.

The Sub Committee invited the Investigating Officers to make representations on the actions to be taken in respect of the breaches of the Code of Conduct by the Subject Member.  The Officers advised that if similar sanctions were available to those that existed under the old standards regime, they would have proposed a suspension due to the repeated pattern of inappropriate behaviour and the unwillingness by the Subject Member to acknowledge that his conduct was not appropriate for that of an Elected Member.  The Investigating Officers advised that any sanction needed to be appropriate and in line with the repeated breaches of the code.

The Sub Committee considered the action available to it, taking into account the number of complaints against the Subject Member, the repeated breaches of the Code of Conduct, and the requirement that any action should be relevant and proportionate to the complaints, and having consulted with the Independent Persons’, resolved the following actions to be taken.

Resolved:  The Sub Committee agrees that the following sanctions are to be imposed:-

·           In respect of Investigation Z38/99:-

·         the formal Decision Notice of the outcome of the hearing is to be published on the Council's website; and

·         details of the outcome to be published in the press and also in a newspaper circulating in the Hindley Green area

·         In respect of all Investigations:-

·           the Subject Member is to submit an unconditional apology, written with support from the Monitoring Officer, to all complainants and witnesses by 5 December 2014 at the latest;

·           that a report is to be submitted to full Council and the Standards Committee setting out the outcome from the Hearings, the cost to the Council in having considered all the Hearings and noting whether the Member has submitted a written apology to all complainants and witnesses;

·           at the next meeting of full Council it is to be recommended that the Member be censured;

·           on receipt of an acceptable apology, the Subject Member is asked to engage with a training programme, facilitated by an external provider, that will address his issues and behaviour , with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.