Agenda item

The Committee gave consideration to the report giving statistics on the nature, number and outcome of complaints received during the civic years 2016/17 – 2020/21 (to-date 31 October 2020).  

There was an acknowledgement that social media now played a part in the number of complaints and since the start of lockdown the number of complaints was rising.

There was long discussion around possible proactive work the Sub-Committee could undertake but Members were urged to remain cautious given the limited sanctions which could be imposed.   Considering the likely outcome to be achieved was always an over-riding consideration. Managing expectations was an important role and under the current regime results where only achievable if people were willing to work together.

 Resources could only realistically be invested where people were prepared to work together, the Authority did not have the power to remove councillors from office and if this was the only desirable outcome it was quickly acknowledged that a satisfactory resolution was unlikely.

All were in agreement that training, guidance and repeated reminders for Members were key and lengthy discussion took place on the ways in which Members may be better engaged, the messages kept fresh and that they addressed emerging issues.

Suggestions made included:

*        Regular reminders be issued about adhering to the Code of Conduct.

*        A training session on social media be recorded – and this be rolled out by the Monitoring Officer to all Parish Councils asking that the video be included as a workshop session on their agenda.

*        Development of crib sheets giving phrases that could be used when in a confrontational situation.

*        Creation of a district wide campaign for when online, prompting the Member to pause and think before publishing -  is it true/helpful/necessary.  If it isn’t, then just don’t say anything, for example.

*        Do’s and Don’ts sheets for particular areas.

*        Promoting and encouraging the use of Standing Orders to manage behaviour and protect Councillors.

Encouraging people to register a “concern” earlier, rather than wait for matters to worsen and culminate in a complaint, was discussed as being a possible avenue to explore.  Both Officers and the IPs outlined the pragmatic approaches currently used. Considerable amounts of time were already spent dealing with concerns that were not complaints and this work was not captured within the report.

Trying to ensure communities understood we were here to help, but had limited powers was a key message and needed to be factored into any communications or video messages drafted.

Following lengthy discussion with a plethora of suggestions made it was  

RESOLVED that : -

(a)      the statistical data presented within the report be received and noted; and

(b)      Having given consideration as to whether there is proactive work that should be undertaken, Officers be requested to give further consideration to the creation of a host of fact sheets, campaign leaflets, videos, help sheets, in line with areas discussed, to form part of our “standards package” to parish Councillors, for consideration at a future meeting / workshop.