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The second complaint was lodged with the Ombudsman by the
Council’s former Managing Director, Mr Geraint Edwards, on
2nd September 2005 and related to an incident which had occurred on
10th August 2005.
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The complaint lodged by the Managing Director had been
reported in the press as relating to confidential documents which
had been generated by the Council and which had been left in the
Council’s lavatories. That information was incorrect and had
been misreported. The material involved was a large quantity of
leaflets, totalling approximately 179 pages in all, which made
serious and unsubstantiated allegations against County Councillors.
A bundle of those leaflets was deliberately deposited in each of
the cubicles in one of the Council’s first floor
lavatories.
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This was obviously a deliberate action intended that the
leaflets be disseminated in the Council building and perhaps
wider.
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Both the Monitoring Officer’s and the
Council’s former Managing Director’s complaints were
accepted by the Ombudsman and were investigated by an Investigator
whom the Ombudsman had appointed from within his own office. Both
matters were investigated comprehensively and the investigations
were completed. In total, the investigations involved 20 Council
employees who were interviewed and gave evidence.
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Draft Reports were published by the Ombudsman to the
relevant parties who were given an opportunity to comment. However,
owing to his health, Councillor Schofield did not comment on the
draft Reports and the Ombudsman therefore decided not to publish
the final Reports and decided not to take any further action. The
Ombudsman’s decisions were referred to in his letters of the
22nd March 2007 which were submitted to the Committee as part of
the Agenda for the meeting.
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Given that, in relation to both
investigations, the Ombudsman concluded that the allegations were
supported by evidence, which was largely confirmed by the
investigations, the current Managing Director was concerned about
the Ombudsman’s conclusion and requested the Ombudsman to put
both reports “on hold” until Councillor Schofield
recovered his health. The Ombudsman, however, refused that request
and Councillor Schofield returned to his duties as a Councillor on
or about the 8th August 2007.
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Unison, representing a number of the employees
involved in the investigations, expressed concern about the well
being of their members at the outset of the enquiries in 2005 and
again, more recently, when they were informed that both Reports had
been “shelved” and that Councillor Schofield had
returned to Council duties without having to answer either of the
cases against him despite the conclusion from the Ombudsman that
both allegations were supported by evidence, largely confirmed by
the investigations.
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The Managing Director therefore wrote to the
Ombudsman on the 22nd October 2007 (a copy of that letter was
submitted as part of the Agenda for the meeting). The Managing
Director raised the point that whilst he has a responsibility for
the welfare of staff, he has no powers to deal with the conduct of
Councillors and, instead, he has to rely upon the Ombudsman to
undertake that role. As the Ombudsman, in this case, had decided
not to exercise his powers, the Managing Director considered that
the welfare of staff would be best served by putting as much
information as legally possible about this matter into the public
domain. The Managing Director suggested to the Ombudsman that an
appropriate way of achieving this would be by way of an information
item on the Agenda of the Standards Committee.
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The Ombudsman had agreed to that proposal and
subsequently the Managing Director wrote to all of the staff
involved explaining that the item would appear on the
Committee’s Agenda, albeit that the Standards Committee has
no power take a decision in relation to the matter. Unison had also
been closely involved in the process and was consulted in
connection with the Managing Director’s letter to the
Ombudsman and the subsequent letter to staff.
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The Monitoring Officer concluded by stating
that the Standards Committee would appreciate that the public
disclosure allowed by the Ombudsman was quite limited and whilst
she was happy to try and answer any factual questions which the
Members may have, it may be necessary for the Committee to retire
to private session to discuss the matter in more detail. It
also had to be pointed out that even in private session there was a
limit to the information that we would be permitted to disclose
even to the Standards Committee as there are statutory prohibitions
on disclosure of evidence arising during the course of an
investigation by the Ombudsman
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The Chair asked the Standards Committee
Members whether, having heard the Monitoring Officer’s
report, they wished to retire to private session to discuss the
matter in more detail. It was unanimously agreed that the Committee
retire to private session.
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On returning to public session, the Chair announced
that the Committee had unanimously RESOLVED as follows:-
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The fact that the Ombudsman has agreed to the release
of the papers means that he has allowed the Committee to consider
both the complaints.
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The Committee has unanimously expressed grave
concerns that both complaints were seemingly abandoned
prematurely.
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For this reason, the Committee has resolved to write
to the Welsh Assembly Government with a copy to the local Assembly
Member, the local Member of Parliament and the Ombudsman's Auditor
expressing the Committee's concerns.
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The letter will also be released into the public
domain.
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The Committee feels that both decisions have
undermined the longstanding objective of the Standards Committee on
the Isle of Anglesey, to be fair, objective and reasonable in its
decisions.
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The Committee also feels that this has not been
conducive to transparency and completely fails to maintain public
confidence in the current system.
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Prior to closing the meeting, the Chair referred to the fact that this
would be the last meeting of the Standards Committee in its current
form and that she wished to express her heartfelt thanks, on behalf
of the Committee Members, to all the Council Staff who had served
and assisted the Committee in such a professional manner, including
of course, the Monitoring Officer and her Staff in the Legal
Section, and not forgetting the diligent Committee Officer,
Jan Adams together with the staff of the Translation
Section.
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As Chairman, she wished to express her
personal thanks to her fellow Members on the Committee for their
contribution towards the Committee’s work and for the support
she had been given over the years. She wished to reassure the
residents of the Isle of Anglesey - and she was expressing this
view having been a Member of the Committee for a period of nine
years - that each and every Member of the Committee had taken their
duties seriously and had considered each issue in a totally
objective and conscientious manner. The Committee’s aim, at
all times, had been to promote a strong and healthy democracy on
the Island. She ended by wishing the new Standards Committee every
success in all of its deliberations.
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