Archived decisions
Complaint referred to the County Council by The Standards Board for England in respect of Councillor Mark Cooper | |||
Contact: Jeff Pattison, tel. 01962 847321, email [email protected]
1.1 The Standards Board for England, having received a complaint that Councillor Mark Cooper had failed to comply with the Members' Code of Conduct, has referred the complaint to the County Council for investigation and, if appropriate, hearing and determination. The complaint has been investigated by Mr Kevin Gardner who is the County Council's Head of Legal Practice. Mr Gardner's report on his investigation is attached as an appendix. The Committee is therefore asked to determine what, if any, further action should be taken regarding this complaint. If further action is required the report sets out the decisions that are required to be made.
2 Background
2.1 The Standards Board for England had, earlier this year, received a complaint which alleged that Councillor Mark Cooper had failed to declare a personal and prejudicial interest in an item discussed at a Council meeting held on 18 January 2006. It was reported that the particular item was a proposal within the budget allocations for road works at the junction of two roads. It was stated that at that meeting there was consideration of a proposal for delay for a further year because of extra finance required for the construction of a retaining wall. The complainant alleged that the wall in question is close to the or may be part of the surgery of the GP's practice in which Councillor Cooper's wife is a partner. The complaint alleged that when the issue was debated at a meeting held on 14 March 2006, Councillor Cooper did declare an interest and withdrew from the meeting.
2.2 The Standards Board for England referred this complaint to the County Council for investigation. As Monitoring Officer I therefore appointed Mr Kevin Gardner, Head of Legal Practice to carry out the necessary investigation. This he has now done and his report is attached.
2.3 The conclusion to Mr Gardner's investigation is that, in his opinion, there has been no failure to comply with the Member's Code of Conduct.
2.4 As the investigating officer's report comes to the conclusion that in his opinion there has not been a failure to comply with the Code of Conduct, the issue for the Standards Committee is whether or not taking fully into consideration all matters contained in the investigating officer's report that conclusion is agreed with.
2.5 It needs to be stressed that the Committee is not, at this stage, determining the outcome of the complaint but only making an assessment on the basis of the information contained in the investigating officer's report as to whether there is a "case to answer".
2.6 If the Committee does agree with the investigator's report that there does not appear to be a breach of the Code of Conduct then no further action will be taken other than to notify The Standards Board for England, the complainant and the member against whom the complaint has been lodged.
2.7 The Committee also needs to publish a notice giving brief details of the complaint, the Committee's finding and the reasons for it. There is also a requirement for the notice to be passed to local newspapers unless the member, the subject of the complaint, asks that this be not done.
2.8 The alternative course of action would be for the Standards Committee to agree that, on the basis of the investigating officer's report, Councillor Cooper does have a "case to answer". It does need to be said that should the Standards Committee disagree with the conclusion of the investigating officer that there has been no failure to comply with the Code of Conduct on the part of Councillor Cooper then the Committee would need to have good, sound and objectively reasonable reasons for coming to that alternative decision.
2.9 If the Committee does disagree with the opinion of the investigating officer and considers that, on the balance of probability, that there is a "case to answer" that Councillor Cooper has failed to comply with the Code of Conduct the next step would be for a hearing to be arranged to hear the complaint.
2.10 If the scenario in paragraph 2.9 does arise, then once membership of the Hearing Panel has been agreed by the Committee, I as Monitoring Officer will be in contact with them to discuss the procedure and also to supply to them the detailed procedure note for such hearings that was previously agreed by the Standards Committee.
3 Recommendations
a) That the Standards Committee agrees with the recommendation of the investigating officer into the complaint received against Councillor Mark Cooper that there does not appear to have been a failure to comply with the Code of Conduct on the part of Councillor Cooper and that therefore the Standards Committee will take no further action in respect of that complaint.
b) That the Monitoring Officer notify Councillor Cooper, the complainant and The Standards Board of the outcome of the investigation, and the conclusion of the Standards Committee and takes all other necessary procedural actions.
Section 100D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers
The following documents disclose the facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.
N.B. The list excludes:
1. Published works.
2. Documents that disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.
TITLE FILE
Report of Investigation into allegation of failure to comply with the Members' Code of Conduct in respect of Councillor Mark Cooper.