Agenda item

Scott Fawcus, Monitoring Officer presented his Annual report on matters relating to ethical governance, including details of complaint handling activity carried out in consultation with the Independent Person in relation to allegations of Member misconduct, details of disclosures made under the Council’s Whistleblowing Policy during the last 12 months, and reports under the Money Laundering Policy.

The Monitoring Officer reported that he had a statutory responsibility to consider matters in relation to potential breaches of the Member Code of Conduct in relation to Borough Councillors and Parish and Town Councils across the Borough.  He was pleased to report that the majority of Parish and Town Councils and the majority of Borough Councillors have carried out their roles in such a manner that no issues have been brought to his attention.

Following the presentation of the report, the Vice-Chair, Councillor Richard Alan Jones referred to an outstanding complaint from last year regarding a Borough Councillor and sought information as to its progress.  The Monitoring Officer advised that the complaint was ongoing and still under investigation, and that he would report back his findings to the Committee at a future meeting.

Councillor Jones also made reference to the draft Members’ Code of Conduct issued by NALC and asked whether the Council will have the opportunity to input into this process as part of the review currently being undertaken on the Member Model Code of Conduct.  The Monitoring Officer confirmed that all Monitoring Officers across the country have been initially consulted on the Code and have had the opportunity to contribute as part of the consultation process.  He advised that he did not know when the Code would come into force, however, he gave an undertaking to provide an early indication of the outcome of the consultation and an update on any changes, to this Committee, all Ward Councillors and Parish and Town Councillors as any changes occur.  When an amended Code is enacted, Members and Parish and Town Councillors will be fully briefed on any changes and training will be provided.

Councillor McDonald expressed concerns with regard to the possibility of greater powers being afforded to the Monitoring Officer in relation to Member complaints under the Code and sought assurance that protections would be given to the subject member.  The Monitoring Officer reminded Members of the complaints process and that ultimately decisions as to any sanctions are made by the Audit Hearings Sub-Committee, not by the Monitoring Officer.  The available sanctions do not provide sufficient deterrent for the worst cases, and in the case of Town and Parish Councillors, the Hearings Sub-Committee can only recommend a course of action for the Parish/Town Council to undertake, they cannot require that their sanction is enforced.  In view of this, as part of the review of the Code the Monitoring Officer wished to see greater powers by way of broader sanctions being introduced in respect of breaches of the Code of Conduct.

In noting the three whistleblowing returns for 2019/20, as set out at paragraph 13 of the report, Members asked whether the whistleblowing process was adequately promoted throughout the Council to enable staff to use the Policy. The Monitoring Officer confirmed that the Policy was widely publicised via the Councils internal and external website and information on the Policy is communicated to staff annually.  However, it was acknowledged that due to recent internal communications relating to Covid 19 dominating the Intranet, it may be prudent to post a further communication on the website as a reminder to staff after this time.  Following further questions, the Monitoring Officer reported that the range of Whistleblowers who had submitted complaints under the Policy suggests that staff were aware of the Policy and that in terms of benchmarking with other authorities, it was difficult to draw comparisons.

The Head of Internal Audit reported that the Whistleblowing Policy was currently being reviewed to ensure that it remained fit for purpose.  Once completed staff would be informed of those changes and a report would be brought to the Committee in October 2020.

Arising from a question from Kathryn Smart in relation to the Council’s ongoing investigation to the safeguarding concerns about a DMBC facility, as set out at paragraph 13 of the report, the Monitoring Officer reported that following the conclusion of the investigation, an update would be brought to the Committee as part of the Head of Internal Audit’s Audit Committee Actions Log report. 

In response to a question, the Monitoring Officer confirmed that the procedures in place to prevent money laundering were sufficiently robust.

RESOLVED that

(1)       the Monitoring Officer’s Annual report on complaint handling activity for the period 1st April 2019 to 31st March 2020, be noted;

(2)       the whistleblowing return for 2019/20, be noted; and

(3)       the nil money laundering reports for 2019/2020, be noted.