When a complaint about the conduct of a Member is received by the Standards Committee, it will first be considered by the Assessment Sub Committee, who will undertake an initial assessment of the complaint.
The Assessment Sub Committee will be Chaired by an Independent Member of the Standards Committee ( ie they are not a Borough Councillor or Parish Councillor) and will also normally include a Borough Council Member and a Parish Council Member.
The Assessment Sub Committee will decide whether:
· To refer the complaint to the Monitoring Officer for the complaint to be investigated
· To refer the complaint to the Monitoring Officer for steps other than investigation (such as to seek to effect conciliation or Member re training)
· To refer the complaint to the Standards Board for England (if the Standards Board is the more appropriate body to consider the complaint)
· No action should be taken in respect of the complaint.
If the decision is that there should be no action taken in respect of the complaint then the complainant does have the right to ask for this decision to be reviewed. The review will be carried out by a different panel, the Review Sub Committee. The Review Sub Committee is made up of different people and will be Chaired by an Independent Member of the Standards Committee and will also normally include a Borough Council Member and a Parish Council Member.
The Review Sub Committee will approach the assessment decision afresh and has the same range of possible decisions on how the complaint should be dealt with as the Assessment Sub Committee.
If a complaint is referred for investigation then the investigation will normally be handled by a senior officer of the authority or by an external investigator. The investigator will seek to interview witnesses and obtain all relevant papers.
When the investigation is completed a report will be prepared. The report will be considered by the Standards Committee. If the Standards Committee determine that there is a case to answer then a formal hearing will be convened to consider the allegation.
At this hearing the investigator will present the report and witnesses may also give evidence and be asked questions. The Member complained about will be present and will be able to ask questions and make representations. At the end of the hearing the Standards Committee will need to decide whether the Member broken the Code of Conduct. If the Standards Committee decided the Member has broken the Code of Conduct it will then need to decide what action should be taken.
The actions which the Committee may take against the Member may include censuring the Member, requiring a written apology from the Member, requiring the Member to undergo training, requiring the Member to participate in conciliation, imposing restrictions from the Members access to local authority premises or resources for up to 6 months and suspending, or partially or conditionally suspending the Member from being a Member of the Council for a period not exceeding 6 months.
Details of the decision made against the Member will also be published by the Standards Committee.