Agenda item

Rhoi crynodeb i'r Aelodau o'r materion sy'n ymwneud â'r Cod Ymarfer sydd wedi'u hamlinellu yn Llythyr ac Adroddiad Blynyddol yr Ombwdsmon i'r Cyngor yma ar gyfer 2019–2020.

The Monitoring Officer provided Members with a summary of matters pertaining to standards of conduct of County, Town and Community Councillors as set out in the Ombudsman Annual Report and Annual Letter to this Council for 2019-2020.

The Committee were informed that the number of Code of Conduct Complaints had decreased by 18% since 2018-2019. Of the 231 Code of Conduct complaints received in 2019/20 Municipal Year, 135 were related to Town and Community Councils and 96 were related to Local Authorities. The officer added that there were no complaints made about Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Councillors during the year.

Members were informed that in January 2020, both the Chair and Monitoring Officer undertook a visit to one of the County Borough’s Community Councils, namely Llantwit Fadre, as part of a mediation session due to ongoing issues with its Members. The Monitoring Officer was pleased to note that since the visit, issues, which were largely related to personality clashes, appeared to have resolved.

The Monitoring Officer continued and explained that the majority of Code of Conduct Complaints received during 2019/2020 related to matters of ‘promotion of equality and respect’ (49%) and ‘disclosure and registration of interests’ (17%). It was explained that the Ombudsman had raised concerns that the above-mentioned themes continue to dominate with a year on year increase in the number of complaints where bullying behaviour is alleged particularly from Clerks or employees/contractors of Local Authorities or Town/Community Councils. As such, the Ombudsman had highlighted that training is a key component in addressing this particularly with Town/Community Councils.

Members were informed that the most common outcome of the complaints were that they were ‘Closed after initial consideration.’ Of the 235 complaints in 2019-20, 202 were closed under this outcome. These included decisions where there was no ‘prima facie’ evidence of a breach of the Code and it was not in the public interest to investigate.

The Monitoring Officer explained that n cases which cannot be concluded by the Ombudsman or feature serious breaches of the Code, it is necessary for the Ombudsman to refer these matters to a Standards Committee or the Adjudication Panel for Wales for consideration.

One Member referred to the table of complaints received by individual Local Authorities on page 161 and was pleased to note that RCT had only receive 0.16 complaints per 1000 residents during the year, which could partly be down to the improvements made to training.

A number of Members praised the Chair and Monitoring Officer for their intervention at Llantwit Fadre Community Council, which appeared to have been effective in preventing escalation. The Chair proposed that, when safe to do so, the Standards Committee visit the Community Councils in the area to remind them of their expectations, to which Committee Members were keen to be included.

(Note: Having previously declared an interest (Minute No. 2), Community Councillor R. Butler did not participate in this item.)

The Chair thanked the officer for the detailed update and the Standards Committee RESOLVED:

1.    To note the matters relating to Code of Conduct Complaints reported in the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales’ Annual Report and Annual Letter to this Council 2019-2020.