Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

To elect a Chairman for this meeting only.

Resolved:

To elect Councillor Trevor Carbin 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.

It was noted that Councillor George Jeans was attending in place of Councillor Pip Ridout.

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 Minutes No. 41 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

A report from the Monitoring Officer is attached.

The Sub-Committee considered a series of complaints against Councillor Allison Bucknell, a member of Wiltshire Council. The allegations covered a series of interrelated events and actions the complainant considered were in breach of the Code of Conduct.

The Chairman led the Sub-Committee through the local assessment criteria which detailed the initial tests that should be satisfied before assessment of a complaint was commenced.

Upon going through the initial tests, it was agreed that the complaints all related to the conduct of a member and that the member was in office at the time of the alleged incidents and remains a member of Wiltshire Council. A copy of the appropriate Code of Conduct was also supplied for the assessment. The Sub-Committee therefore had to decide whether the allegations across the four complaints would, if proven, amount to a breach of that Code of Conduct. Further, if it was felt they would be a breach, was it appropriate under the assessment criteria to refer the matters for investigation.

The Sub-Committee relied upon the report of the Monitoring Officer, original complaints, subject member responses, initial assessment for the first series of complaints and the additional information supplied in the complainant’s request for a review of that initial assessment during their considerations. The Sub-Committee also considered the written representations made to the Review by the complainant and subject member, neither being in attendance.

General Points

A number of issues had been raised in consideration of the initial and subsequent complaints, which impacted across all the complaints.

Behaviour’s Framework – The Sub-Committee was in full agreement with the Deputy Monitoring Officer’s interpretation of the Wiltshire Council Behaviours Framework and its relationship with the Code of Conduct. A copy of the Framework had been included with the agenda since members were required to have regard to the Framework as an appendix to the Code, but as detailed by the Deputy Monitoring Officer, a breach of the Framework was not automatically sufficient to be a breach of the Code, though it was a relevant consideration as to whether a breach of the Code itself had potentially occurred.

Assessment Procedure – It was noted that while it was within the power of a Review Sub-Committee to come to a different view than the Deputy Monitoring Officer while utilising the same assessment criteria, the Sub-Committee had no authority to alter the proscribed constitutional procedure for the assessment of complaints or alter the relationship between the Code of Conduct and the Wiltshire Council Behaviours Framework as had been requested by the complainant in the request for a review of WC-ENQ00148.

WC-ENQ00148

Incident 1

The initial incident behind the complaint was the subject member’s attendance at a meeting of the parish council, and what the complainant regarded as unacceptable interference and hostile behaviour from the subject member during or following that meeting.

Whatever the real or perceived motivations of the subject member at the meeting, no evidence had been provided with the complaint or subsequently which suggested her actions had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.