Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room A - County Hall, Llandrindod Wells, Powys. View directions

Contact: Elizabeth Patterson  01597 826980

Items
No. Item

S13-2017

Minutes pdf icon PDF 52 KB

To authorise the Chair to sign the minutes of the previous meeting(s) of the Committee held on the following dates(s) as a correct record:

·         16th November 2016 10.00am

Minutes:

The Chair was authorised to sign the minutes of the meeting held on the 16th December 2016 subject to the following amendments:

 

PRESENT:

Independent (Lay) Member Mrs H Rhydderch-Roberts (Chair)

Independent (Lay) Members: Mrs C Jackson, Mrs S Evans, Mr S Hays and Mrs S Jarman

County Councillors: Mrs K Roberts-Jones, Mrs K Silk.

S14-2017

Apologies

To receive apologies for absence.

Minutes:

No apologies for absence were received.

S15-2017

Declarations of interest

To receive any declarations of interest from Members relating to items to be considered on the agenda.

Minutes:

A declaration of interest had been received from County Councillor P Medlicott ahead of the meeting.  Councillor Medlicott is currently an Independent Member of the Council but has applied to be a candidate for the Welsh Conservative Party at the next local elections in May 2017.  This is the same political group as the Member to which this meeting relates.

 

County Councillor G Williams who had attended the meeting on 16th December 2016 regarding this matter had, in the meantime, resigned as a Member of the Standards Committee.

S16-2017

Exempt Items

To consider whether or not the press and public should be excluded from the hearing into the report of the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales under:

 

·         Section 100 (A) 4 of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 13 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and

 

Members are asked to consider whether the public interest in maintaining the exception outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, when considering excluding the public from this part of the meeting.

Minutes:

The Committee considered the matter of whether the public should be excluded from the Hearing.  The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (PSOW) advised that whilst there is a presumption that such cases would be heard in public it was acknowledged that there was information within the transcripts that was of a personal nature and the transcripts also referred to a third party Councillor.  The PSOW would not oppose any decision of the Committee to hold the Hearing in confidence.

 

RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) for the next item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 13 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

 

RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting under Section 100 (A) 4 of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) on the grounds that it involves information which is subject to any obligations of confidentiality and that it applies to the deliberations of a Standards Committee established under the provisions of Part 3 of the Local Government 2000 in reaching any finding on a matter referred to it as defined in paragraphs 18 (a) and 18 (c).

S17-2017

Consideration of representations and final determination of a report prepared by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales under Section 71 (2) of the Local Government Act 2000 (Ref 201504433)

To consider the report of the Deputy Monitoring Officer.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (the Ombudsman) regarding a self-referral of a potential breach of the Code of Conduct for Members of Powys County Council made by County Councillor Gwynfor Thomas which had been referred to the Standards Committee by the Ombudsman under Section 71 (2) of the Local Government Act 2000 for determination.

 

County Councillor Thomas did not attend the Hearing and was not represented.  The Standards Committee decided under regulation 8 (4) (a) of the Local Government Investigations (Functions of Monitoring Officer and Standards Committee) (Wales) Regulations 2001 to proceed in the absence of Councillor Thomas.

 

The Investigating Officer from the Ombudsman’s office presented the report and was invited to make representations regarding the matter.

 

The Committee found that County Councillor Thomas’ conduct amounted to a breach of paragraph 6 (1) (a) of the Code of Conduct (bringing your office or the authority into disrepute) by virtue of criminal proceedings against him in October 2015 under the Cattle Identification Wales (Regulations) 2007 (failing to maintain accurate cattle records), to which he pleaded guilty and received a criminal conviction.

 

The Committee were concerned that the serious nature of his conviction warranted a community service and that he had continued to be Chair of a Scrutiny Committee despite the investigation of him by the Department to which he was responsible for scrutinising. The Committee were also concerned that he had continued to deny the facts, despite this being a self-referral. 

 

The Committee accepted the following mitigation in his favour (made on his behalf by both the Ombudsman and the Deputy Monitoring Officer in his absence) that there was no dishonesty or deception in his conviction (it was accepted that the charges did not relate to fraud), it was the first occasion that he had been referred to the Committee and he had co-operated with the Ombudsman and he had resigned from Chair of Place Committee (albeit in response to the emergency notice of motion).  Finally, the Committee were sympathetic to the information contained within the Ombudsman report in relation to previous health issues.

 

The Committee also recommended that Councillor Thomas undertake further training on Code of Conduct matters.

 

S18-2017

Exempt Items

To consider whether or not the press and public should be excluded from the deliberations of the Standards Committee under:

 

·         Section 100 (A) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) on the grounds that it involves information which is subject of any obligations of confidentiality and that it applies to the deliberations of a Standards Committee established under the provisions of Part 3 of the Local Government Act 2000 in reaching any finding on a matter referred to it as defined in paragraphs 18 (a) and 18 (c).

 

Conducting those deliberations in public might inhibit full and frank discussion to the detriment of the administration of the business of the committee.

 

 

S19-2017

Deliberations

To determine the matter.

S20-2017

Decision

To announce the decision.

Minutes:

The Committee accordingly decided to exercise its power under Paragraph 9 Local Government Investigations (Functions of Monitoring Officers and Standards Committees) (Wales) Regulations 2001, as amended, to suspend Councillor Gwynfor Thomas fully from being a County Councillor for a period of 4 weeks.  The period of his suspension will commence on the day after the expiry of the time permitted to lodge a notice of appeal.