Agenda item

To enable the Committee to review and discuss the Monitoring Officer’s Protocol (the Protocol) and suggest any proposed amendments to that Protocol for consideration by Full Council.

The Committee was reminded that, in March 2017, it had reviewed the Monitoring Officer’s Protocol and having considered its contents, it had resolved that it was satisfied and therefore it did not wish to make any amendments at that time.

As part of its work programme for 2022-23, the Standards Committee had agreed to review the Monitoring Officer’s Protocol and, if any changes were felt to be required, to recommend those to Full Council for formal approval and adoption.

Members were aware that the Protocol only covered dealing with matters arising from the Standards Framework relating to Members’ interests and complaints, and did not cover the wider responsibilities of the Council’s Monitoring Officer as detailed within the Constitution. 

As highlighted in the overarching principles of the Protocol, the Monitoring Officer was not the legal adviser for, or to, Town and Parish Councils and the role only extended to those councils in relation to the promotion and maintenance of high standards of conduct.  If a complaint identified criminal conduct or breach of other regulation by any person, the Monitoring Officer was under an obligation to notify and/or refer the matter to the Police or other regulatory agencies.

The Committee recalled that this Protocol operated in conjunction with the terms of reference of the Standards Committee, its Sub-Committee, the Complaints Procedure and the Independent Person’s Protocol.  The Complaints Procedure provided an in depth compulsory process in which alleged breach of Members’ Code of Conduct complaints were dealt with and included a number of actions to be carried out by the Monitoring Officer. 

The Complaint Procedure was a staged process and the initial stage of determination of a complaint was delegated to the Monitoring Officer.  The Monitoring Officer would then take various factors into consideration, as detailed within the Complaints Procedure including, when reaching a decision in respect of how to progress the complaint, taking account of the following factors where appropriate:-

•    Was the Member acting in their official capacity?

•    Was the Member in office at the time of the alleged misconduct?

•    Is the complaint of a very minor or trivial nature?

•    Is the complaint vexatious or malicious?

•    Are there historical matters?

•    Is there a potential breach of the Code?

•    Assessment of public interest?

•    Is additional information required prior to making a decision? 

Following consideration of a complaint, the Monitoring Officer would issue a Decision Notice setting out the matters taken into account and the reasons for their decision.  The Monitoring Officer provided anonymised updates regarding complaints to the Standards Committee at each of its scheduled meetings.

Although, the Protocol referred to the Complaints Procedure and had its own overarching principles, the Monitoring Officer felt that the Protocol could be strengthened, thus further reflecting and supporting the Complaints Procedure, by expanding some of the actions in some instances.

Section 1(j) of the Protocol stated: “The Monitoring Officer will consult with one of the Independent Persons on complaints received and throughout the process in accordance with the Complaints Procedure”. The Monitoring Officer felt that this could be enhanced with the following inclusion from the Complaints Procedure:

“Section 4.1 – The Monitoring Officer will review every complaint received and, may consult with one of the Independent Persons before taking a decision as to whether the complaint:

4.1.1 Merits no further action

4.1.2 Merits early informal resolution or mediation

4.1.3 Merits further investigation”

The decision as to how the complaint was to be progressed would normally be taken within 15 working days of receipt of the complaint and would be considered in accordance with the Assessment Criteria included at Annex D of the Complaints Procedure.  There was no right of appeal for a complainant or Member against a decision of the Monitoring Officer or of the Standards Committee, but a complaint could be made to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.  The Monitoring Officer considered that this paragraph from the Complaints Procedure could be included within the Protocol and, in addition, the Monitoring Officer suggested that the Protocol should make reference to a Decision Notice being issued to publicly record the outcome.

Members were informed that the Overarching Principles of the Protocol at paragraph 1(m) currently referred to, in providing information, in any manner at any stage in the process, that the Monitoring Officer must be satisfied that they had the legal power to do so and that the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 and Freedom of Information Act 2000 had been considered, as reflected in the Council’s Constitution.

The legislation had since changed and the Monitoring Officer recommended that the above should be now amended to read:-

“(m) In providing information, in any manner at any stage in the process, the Monitoring Officer must be satisfied that they have the legal power to do so and the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and Freedom of Information Act 2000 have been considered, as reflected in the Council’s Constitution.”

In addition, the Monitoring Officer proposed an amendment to paragraph 4(d) of the Protocol, which referred to the “Deputy Chief Executive”. In this instance, as this would now also be undertaken by the Deputy Monitoring Officer, in the Monitoring Officer’s absence, the Monitoring Officer proposed replacing “Deputy Chief Executive” with “Deputy Monitoring Officer” within the aforementioned paragraph 4(d).

The Committee then duly considered and discussed this matter. During that discussion Members complimented the Monitoring Officer and her Team for all of the work that they undertook in the course of their duties.

It was moved by Councillor V E Guglielmi, seconded by Councillor Skeels and:-

RESOLVED that, having reviewed the Monitoring Officer’s Protocol, the Committee agrees that the suggested proposed amendments to that Protocol, as set out in the Monitoring Officer’s report, be submitted to Full Council for formal approval and adoption.