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Code of Conduct Complaints Local Assessment Framework (01 April 2009 – 01 December 2009). Complaints Received ( relating to members conduct / behaviour). Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council has received 4 complaints relating to members conduct since the 01 April 2009.
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Code of Conduct Complaints Local Assessment Framework(01 April 2009 – 01 December 2009)
Complaints Received (relating to members conduct / behaviour) • Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council has received 4 complaints relating to members conduct since the 01 April 2009. • 1 (25%) of the 4 complaints received was made against a Parish / Town Councillor. • 3 (75%) of the complaints received were made against Borough Councillors. • 2 (50%) of the complaints received were made by the public, 1 (25%) by a Council Officer and 1 (25%) by a Parish / Town Councillor. • The last complaint was received on 23 October 2009. • 10 complaints were received from 08 May 2008 to 31 March 2009. • In total 14 complaints have been received between 08 May 2008 – 01 December 2009.
The Assessment Sub-Committee(meet to make an initial assessment of a complaint) • The Assessment Sub-Committee met on 4 occasions to assess 4 complaints that were received between 01 April 2009 to 01 December 2009. • No further action was agreed on 2 of the 4 complaints received. • 1 complaint was referred to the Monitoring Officer for local Investigation . An Investigator has been appointed and the investigation is ongoing. • Other action by the Monitoring Officer was agreed on the remaining complaint. • The Standards Board for England guidance states the Assessment Sub-Committee should meet within 20 working days of receipt of a complaint. • All of the Assessment Sub-Committee meetings were held within 20 working days of receiving a complaint. • No review requests have been received regarding the 2 complaints agreed as no further action; therefore the Review Sub-Committee have not been required to meet.
The Consideration Sub-Committee have not met during the stated period; however one matter is currently being investigated. Once the outstanding investigation is complete the Consideration Sub-Committee will meet to consider the Investigating Officer’s findings. The Investigating Officer will give an oral account of his investigation at the meeting and answer questions from the Sub-Committee. If the investigation report details no breach of the Code the Sub-Committee can accept this (complaint closed) or agree that there is a case to answer. If there is a case to answer the complaint will be referred to a hearing, either locally (Hearing Sub-Committee) or, if accepted, to the Adjudication Panel for England. If the investigation report details a breach of the Code the Sub-Committee has to refer the complaint to an hearing, either locally (Hearing Sub-Committee) or, if accepted, to the Adjudication Panel for England. Due to the Consideration Sub-Committee not being required to meet no referrals have been made to the Hearing Sub-Committee since the hearing on 26.06.09. TheConsideration Sub-Committee(meet to consider an Investigating Officer’s report)
Standards for England (SfE) – Local Assessment Framework Statistics(08 May 2008 – 30 June 2009) Source of Complaint • A total of 3,586 Code of Code complaints were recorded with SfE. • The average number of cases per Unitary authority are: 16. • SBC has received 14 complaints from 08 May 2008 to 01 December 2009. • 55% of complaints made were by the public and 35% from council members, with the remaining 10% from a combination of Officers, Parish / Town Clerks, MP’s and Monitoring Officers. • The average length of time from date of receipt to referral decision is 21 working days. However, 1104 (31%) cases took longer than 20 working days.
Initial Assessment Decisions Of the 3,367 complaint referral decisions made: 1771 (52.5%) - No further action 992 (29.5%) - Referred to Monitoring Officer for investigation 393 (11.7%) - Other Action 201 (6.0%) - Referred to SBE for investigation 10 (0.3%) - Referred to another authority 652 review requests were received with 563 of these being assessed. 94% remained no further action and 5% were referred for investigation locally with 1% referred for investigation to SfE. A request for a review was received in 37% of cases where the initial assessment decision was no further action. A decision whether to be referred had yet to be made in 219 (6%) complaints. Standards Board for England (SBE) – Local Assessment Framework Statistics(08 May 2008 – 30 June 2009)