Meeting documents

STANDARDS COMMITTEE

minutes of the meeting HELD ON 23 SEPTEMBER 2002

Declaration of interest by Councillor T.Lloyd Hughes who was not present at the meeting.

Minutes of the meeting held on 9th September 2002 were submitted and confirmed as correct. Council Volume 26/09/02, pages 212 - 218

A report was submitted by the Monitoring Officer informing members that the Clerk to the North Wales Fire Authority has requested a nomination of an independent individual from this Council's Standard Committee to sit on a panel.    

The Standards Committee of the North Wales Fire Authority will consist of three independent members and two members of the Fire Authority, each selected from the above mentioned panel. The Clerk to the Fire Authority has received three nominations of independent persons from Flintshire, Gwynedd and Wrexham and has, therefore, enough nominations to the panel to complete his work. However, he has requested Anglesey, Denbighshire and Conwy to make a nomination if they so wish in order to ensure that each authority has the same opportunity.

RESOLVED:

A report was submitted by the Solicitor to the Monitoring Officer providing the Committee with the necessary information to enable a full hearing to be conducted.

It was reported that the complaint form had been submitted by the Corporate Director (Finance), Isle of Anglesey County Council, on 9 March 2001. The substance of the complaint was twofold and could be summarised as follows:-

The Solicitor to the Monitoring Officer provided copies of the following documents:-

Councillor Thomas expressed concern at an article which had appeared in the 23 September 2002 issue of the Daily Post in that it could influence the Committee. The Monitoring Officer advised that the article contained extracts from the documents issued as part of the public Agenda for this meeting.

Following consultation with members of the Committee, the Chair ruled that the hearing proceed and  the evidence be heard.

The Chair referred to the order of proceedings to be followed. The Complainant, Councillor and Committee were given the opportunity to speak and ask questions accordingly.

After final submissions by both parties, the Standards Committee went into private session to consider its decision and the public part of the meeting was brought to an end.

The Standards Committee upheld the complaint by Mr David Ellis-Williams against Councillor Hefin Thomas that:

Councillor H.W.Thomas did not declare an interest at a meeting of  the Social Inclusion Committee on 23 November 2000 in relation to the item on Housing Grants Policy. Councillor Thomas had, during October and November 2000, submitted tenders for work to be paid for by the Council under the Housing Grants Policy and  therefore had a pecuniary interest in the matter being considered and had not complied with Clause 8 of the National Code of Local Government Conduct

By the date of a special meeting of the County Council on 12 February 2001 Councillor Thomas was aware of the investigations into this matter. During the meeting Councillor Thomas stated he wished to declare an interest in any matter which anyone might think he ought to. This did not respect the Council's internal processes and contravened the Nolan "leadership" principle.

The Committee found that it was right and proper for this complaint to be made and was of the opinion that, on this occasion, there was a clear and unambiguous need for Councillor Thomas to have declared an interest at the meeting of the Social Inclusion Committee held on 23 November 2000. Given Councillor Thomas' involvement in tendering for contracts involving housing grants, which arose in connection with his day to day employment, he ought to have declared an interest at the beginning of the  meeting since "Housing Grants Policy" was an item on the Agenda. The Standards Committee did not accept Councillor Thomas's assertion that there was no reason to do so. It is incumbent on every Councillor to declare an interest at the appropriate time.

It also appears from the reported and transcribed remarks made by Councillor Thomas at the Special Meeting of the County Council held on 12 February 2001 that Councillor Thomas did not take seriously the need to Declare an Interest. This was of particular concern to the Standards Committee, particularly since the incident took place at a full meeting of the County Council which was open to both public and press.  Bearing in mind that Councillor Thomas was, by this time, aware of the ongoing investigation, the Committee questioned this belittling of the important process of Declaring an Interest.

The Standards Committee concluded that it had been shown that Councillor H.W.Thomas was in breach of Clause 8 of the National Code of Local Government Conduct viz.

The Standards Committee further concluded that Councillor Hefin W.Thomas had contravened the "leadership" principle as set out in the Nolan Committee's recommendations on standards in public life.

RESOLVED :

The date of the next meeting of this Committee was agreed as 4th November 2002 at 6.00p.m.