To consider a report of the Monitoring Officer.
The report details a complaint received against a member in relation to an alleged breach of the Code of Conduct for Councillors and Co-opted Members.
Minutes:
The Monitoring Officer submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) detailing the outcome of an investigation into a complaint in relation to the conduct of Councillor Vine and outlining procedure to be followed by the Standards sub-committee in conducting a local hearing into the complaint.
The Monitoring Officer reported that she had appointed an Investigating Officer in the form of the Deputy Monitoring Officer to undertake a formal investigation to examine the complaint.
The Investigating Officer (Michelle Dodds) then presented her final report (copies of which had been circulated) of the investigation into the complaint received regarding the conduct of Councillor Vine with specific regard to several retweets on Councillor Vine’s Twitter feed during June and July 2022 which were alleged to have breached the following aspects of the Council’s adopted Code of Conduct for Councillors and Co-opted Members:-
(i) Section 2.8 - Members should promote equality by not discriminating unlawfully against any person, and by treating people with respect, regardless of any characteristic included in the Equality Act 2010.
(ii) Section 5 - You must not conduct yourself in a manner which could reasonably be regarded as bringing your office or the Council into disrepute.
(iii) Section 2.3 - Members should not place themselves in situations where their honesty and integrity may be questioned, should not behave improperly and should on all occasions avoid the appearance of such behaviour.
The Investigating Officer summarised the nature of the complaint, her findings of fact, recommendation and reasons and then responded to questions from members of the Sub-Committee and Councillor Vine.
Councillor Vine attended the meeting and presented her case and then responded to questions from members of the Sub-Committee and the Investigating Officer.
The Independent Person then made representations before the Investigating Officer and Councillor Vine was afforded the opportunity to summarise their positions.
The Investigating Officer, Independent Person and Councillor Vine and were then asked to withdraw from the meeting whilst the sub-committee deliberated the representations made.
Upon the resumption of the hearing, it was
RESOLVED – That the Sub-Committee was of the view that on the balance of probabilities, Councillor Vine was responsible for the retweeting of the three tweets that were the subject of the complaint.
In arriving at this view, the Sub-Committee noted that Councillor Vine had taken no action to investigate, restrict access to or otherwise close the account in the light of the complaint.
The Sub-Committee also did not hear any evidence that the account had been compromised or that the tweets had been fabricated.
Moreover, there had been a lack of any evidence to substantiate the allegation that the material had been fabricated through a motivation to remove Councillor Vine from the Conservative Party because of her political views and there had been a failure to provide evidence to substantiate the assertion that other councillors elsewhere in the country had been subject to the same behaviour.
The Sub-Committee therefore found that the retweets were a breach of the Code of Conduct and as a consequence and on the balance of probabilities it upheld all three complaints, namely that the retweets constituted a breach of the following sections of the Council’s adopted Code of Conduct for Councillors and Co-opted Members:-
(i) Section 2.8 - Members should promote equality by not discriminating unlawfully against any person, and by treating people with respect, regardless of any characteristic included in the Equality Act 2010.
(ii) Section 5 - You must not conduct yourself in a manner which could reasonably be regarded as bringing your office or the Council into disrepute.
(iii) Section 2.3 - Members should not place themselves in situations where their honesty and integrity may be questioned, should not behave improperly and should on all occasions avoid the appearance of such behaviour.
The Sub-Committee then heard representations from the Monitoring Officer and Independent Person in relation to whether or not sanctions should be applied, and if so, what form these should take.
The Investigating Officer, Independent Person and Councillor Vine then withdrew from the meeting whilst the Sub-Committee considered the issue of sanctions before being invited back into the meeting.
Upon the resumption of the hearing, it was further
RESOLVED – That approval be given to the imposition of the following sanctions:-
(1) A summary of the Sub-Committee’s findings in respect of Councillors Vine’s conduct should be published as a minute of the meeting on the Council’s website.
(2) A summary of the Sub-Committee’s findings in respect of Councillors Vine’s conduct should be submitted to the next available ordinary meeting of the Council Meeting for information.
(3) The Monitoring Officer be requested to arrange training for Councillor Vine as soon as practicable in relation to the use of social media.
(4) That the Council Meeting be recommended to remove Councillor Vine from her positions on any committees or sub-committees that she would otherwise not be entitled to occupy by law.
Supporting documents: