Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

To elect a Chairman for this meeting only.

Resolved:

To elect Councillor Graham Wright as Chairman for this meeting only.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations.

To note the procedure and assessment criteria for the meeting.

The procedure and assessment criteria for the meeting were noted.

To consider passing the following resolution:

To agree that in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the public from the meeting for the business specified in Item Number 5  because it is likely that if members of the public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.

Paragraph 1 - information relating to an individual

Resolved:

To agree that in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the public from the meeting for the business specified in Agenda Item Number 4 onwards  because it is likely that if members of the public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.

Paragraph 1 - information relating to an individual

Preamble

A complaint had been made by Shahid Ghafoor regarding the alleged conduct of Cllr Atiqul Hoque of Wiltshire Council.

In reaching its decision, the Sub-Committee took into account the complaint, the response of the Subject Member, the initial assessment decision to take no further action, and the complainant’s request for a review. Neither party was in attendance nor had provided statements for the meeting

Conclusion

The complaint involved alleged behaviour by the Subject Member during a phone conversation with the complainant’s employers regarding an ongoing dispute between them.

However, upon going through the initial tests of the assessment criteria, the Sub-Committee agreed with the initial assessment decision that while the Subject Member was in office at the relevant time, that there was a Code of Conduct in force, and the complaint was made within the relevant time period, no evidence had been provided, at any stage, to indicate that the Subject Member had been acting in anything other than a private capacity. Simply being a Member of a Council would not render any action taken by that Member as being subject to its Code of Conduct.

It was therefore resolved to uphold the initial assessment decision to take no further action in respect of the complaint.

Decision

In accordance with the approved arrangements for resolving standards complaints adopted by Council on 26 June 2012, which came into effect on 1 July 2012 and after hearing from the Independent Person, the Review Sub-Committee decided to take no further action.