Flintshire Council to Adopt Procedure for Alleged Code of Conduct Breaches

FLINTSHIRE Council will adopt a procedure for dealing with reports of alleged breaches of Code of Conduct
The Standards Committee met on Monday, December 4 to discuss the adoption of the procedure on reports referred by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (PSOW) regarding allegations of breach of the Code of Conduct for Members.
Flintshire Council does not currently have a procedure for such reports, and it is one of the duties for members of the Standards Committee after the ombudsman has conducted an investigation into an alleged breach.
The recommended procedure covers the initial determination, subject member’s response, arrangements prior to the hearing, requirement for training, pre-hearing review, notice of hearing, legal support, access to information, failure of a party to attend a hearing, the hearing, written decision, appeals, and report of the outcome of the investigation.
During the meeting, members went through the proposed procedure, which will be “generic” to apply to different scenarios.
Members suggested a few small amendments to parts of the document that was presented before them to make the procedure clearer, and remove errors.
In the document, it was made clear that the subject member or any witness they intend to call can have the opportunity for the hearing to be conducted in Welsh, though it was not specified that this would be extended to the Ombudsman. Member David Wynn Davies therefore recommended that this be amended to include the Ombudsman, which was moved.
The Standards Committee then moved the recommendation to adopt the procedure set out in the document, with the amendments “as agreed at the meeting to this report” for dealing with reports regarding alleged breaches of local authority Code of Conduct for members. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​