Before 01 July 2009

Before 01 July 2009 there appears to be no mention of any Local Protocol or anything like it. The first appearance of this was at the meeting on the 1st of July 2009 and at that meeting there is no indication of whether the idea of the Local Protocol came from an oficer or if they were working on the instructions of an unspecified elected member.

There were and still are rumours of alleged mistreatment of officers and/or councillors by at least one councillor, particularly by their use of emails and/or the press.

01 July 2009 - Ethics and Standards Committee (To see Agenda Item 8 click here) (pdf page 64)

To see Minutes of Meeting (contained within the agenda for the October Meeting) click here (pdf page 5)

Agenda Item 8, Programme of Work (page 64), Introduced by Lynda Willis CLOMO (Chief Legal Officer and Monitoring Officer)

"
5. A Torfaen Protocol
5.1 By far the largest number of complaints received by the Monitoring Officer about
Member conduct is by other Members. There is always difficulty in dealing with
complaints within a political environment.
5.2 There is often no obvious breach of the Code or circumstances where the Ombudsman would seek to investigate. It may be helpful if Members are aware of the Guidance which the Ombudsman issues to his own investigating officers in this
regard-
“The Assessment Officer will need to bear in mind that the purpose of the Code is to require and enforce appropriate standards of conduct. It is not intended to inhibit robust political debate, nor is it intended as a weapon which one politician or political group can use to score points off another (although allegations which may appear to be politically motivated still have to be considered on their merits). A number of the allegations which come to us are about rude or controversial things that Members have said. The law attaches great importance to freedom of speech.
It would very rarely be appropriate to consider investigating a Member’s expression of political views, or critcism of political opponents, as the potential breach of the Code. On the other hand, a Members legitimate freedom of speech does not excuse verbal bullying or threats”.

Members are asked to consider what support they may give to engaging firstly with all the political leaders and non group Members otherwise not represented and thereafter with all Members in producing local standards of behaviour that Members will adhere to. One local protocol may involve individual protocols covering behaviour regarding the press, confidentiality and planning matters. Each individual protocol could be developed separately.
5.3 As support for the development of ethical standards, it is suggested that independent members of this Committee might consider seeking invitations from Chairs of the Scrutiny and Regulatory Committees, Cabinet and Council and Member forums to attend as observers to establish current standards of Member behaviour within the work of the Council.
"

Minutes of Meeting here, section copied below...

"8. Programme of Work
8.1 The Chair explained that the agenda items would be re-arranged to
allow officers to attend other meetings.
8.2 The CLOMO suggested that the committee comment on the work
programme laid out in her report and pointed out that ‘Whistleblowing’
had been included as an agenda item. She added that a Members’
seminar on the Code of Conduct had been requested with specific
reference to ICT policy and undertook to discuss more fully with the
Chair.
8.3 The following points were made to the committee
• Cardiff City Council have an umbrella of local protocols and confidentiality rules
• There had been two recent serious leaks to the press by elected members
• Members needed to understand the confidentiality issues.
• There needed to be a balance between freedom of speech and maintaining confidentiality
8.4 The Head of Communication explained that members could only be instructed, supported and advised but members could not be stopped
from talking to the Press.
8.5 The committee commented as follows:
• Headlines sold newspapers
• Giving inaccurate information to the Press was wrong
• There should be sanctions to deal with members who leaked confidential information and the protocol should be strengthened if necessary
•
8.6 The CLOMO advised members that:
• An investigation of the matter was ongoing
• This was the second breach and followed an guidance note to
members
8.7 The Head of Communications commented that this type of information
did not help the reputation of the Council and that inaccurate information
helped no-one. He added that any decision that the Council made that
some members disagreed with, would make a story for the local
newspapers. If there was a consensus between members regarding
standards of behaviour, then there would be better chance of members
keeping to the rules.
8.8 The committee discussed the poor attendance at some training sessions
for members and suggested that independent members of the
committee visit members’ training to see how some sessions were
attended.
8.9 Members discussed how best to promote the work of the Ethics and Standards Committee and how to improve the public’s confidence in the democratic process. It was suggested to members that information could
be published in Torfaen Talks and it was agreed that the Head of Communications discuss ideas with the CLOMO and the Chair of Ethics and Standards before publication.

Present

COMMITTEE MEMBERS Chair – Mr Roger Chater
Mr Tony Craske
Mr Lyn Oelmann
Mr Mark Waters
Councillor Aneurin James
Councillor Margaret Pead
Councillor Jeff Rees
Community Councillor Stuart Smith
Chief Legal Officer and Monitoring
Officer (CLOMO)
Lynda Willis
Lead Officer Regulatory Support
(LORS)
Rosalyn Gwynn
Assistant Chief Legal Officer and
Deputy Monitoring Officer
Head of Communications
Head of Strategic HR
Chief Internal Auditor
Delyth Harries
Neil Jones
Julian Williams
Peter Williams

28th September 2009

Members Seminar was held, no minutes but see "notes" here (presented in the agenda to the 12th of November meeting) (pdf page 16)

Also see Agenda Item 9 in the minutes of 07 October 2009 (pdf page 56)

Notes are well worth reading, mostly about "IT abuse" "Brings council into disrepute"

"Only small nucleus of members who are guilty of misuse" ie not widespread, maybe even just one councillor?

From Agenda of the 7th October...

"7. Member Development And Code of Conduct Seminar

7.1 A Member Training Seminar on Code of Conduct issues took place on the 28 September last and the Chair and Vice Chair of this Committee were invited to observe. Prior to that seminar, the Monitoring Officer and the Corporate Director of Resources had met individually with the Leaders of the various political groups and the non-group Members in order to ascertain what concerns were felt on a crossparty
basis which could then inform and structure that seminar.
7.2 The Chair and Vice Chair will report the outcome of the Seminar verbally to the Committee."

No record of members who attended this seminar are given on the Torfaen Website. Seminars are usually very poorly attended.

07 October 2009 - Ethics and Standards Committee (Agenda Items 9 & 10 click here) (pdf page 56)

To see the minutes of this meeting (contained within the agenda fo the January meeting) click here. (pdf page 43)

Agenda Item 8, MONITORING OFFICER’S UPDATE
Report Submitted by: Lynda Willis, Chief Legal Officer & Monitoring Officer
Report Written by: Lynda Willis, Chief Legal Officer & Monitoring Officer

"7. Member Development And Code of Conduct Seminar

7.2 The Chair and Vice Chair will report the outcome of the Seminar verbally to the
Committee."

Agenda Item 9, PROGRAMME OF WORK
Report Submitted by: Lynda Willis, Chief Legal Officer & Monitoring Officer
Report Written by: Lynda Willis, Chief Legal Officer & Monitoring Officer

"5. A Torfaen Protocol?
5.1 Members will have taken part in a seminar recently to discuss the Code of Conduct to which the Chair and Vice Chair were invited.

5.3 Members may wish to consider the development of a local Protocol within Torfaen."

Later in appendix to above report

"Protocols The development of a local
Torfaen Protocol to include:
• Press Protocol
• Confidentiality Protocol
• Planning Protocol
• Member Behaviour
Protocol"

From the minutes of the meeting....

"9.3 Members referred to point 23 of Appendix B of the report where it stated that ‘a small but influential minority of elected members has frequently and persistently shown a lack of respect for fellow councillors and for officers, resulting in time, energy and resource being diverted from
prevention and promoting good practice and affecting the exercise of associated functions’. Discussion ensued around this point and the
following points were made:
• A Seminar around this issue should be held to discuss what should/shouldn’t be acted on;
• Members would be interested to learn fellow members’ views;
• It was felt that incidents occurred which were disrespectful to members but which were not reported to the Monitoring Officer;
• Such incidents also occurred in items sent electronically;
• Information on complaint issues should be referred to this Committee to ensure a log of events;
• It would be useful to form a sub committee whose remit would be to produce a draft local protocol on the code of conduct; and
• The Chair, Mr Oelmann, Councillor Pead and Councillor Rees were appointed to the subcommittee to work with the CLOMO on the local protocol."

Present

(Three Councillors present)

COMMITTEE MEMBERS Chair – Mr Roger Chater
Mr Tony Craske
Mr Lyn Oelmann
Mr Mark Waters
Councillor Aneurin James
Councillor Margaret Pead
Councillor Jeff Rees
Community Councillor Stuart Smith
Councillor Alastair Cunnington (Champion
Member for Development) ( by invitation in
respect of item 5 Report on Attendance of Elected
Members of Torfaen County Borough Council)
Chief Legal Officer and Monitoring Officer (CLOMO)
Lynda Willis
Democracy and Scrutiny Officer
(DSO)
Dominique Redman
Assistant Chief Legal Officer and
Deputy Monitoring Officer
Head of Strategic HR
(HSHR)
Delyth Harries
Julian Williams

12 November 2009 - Ethics and Standards Sub Committee Agenda click here (no page)

To see the minutes of this meeting (contained within the Agenda for the January meeting) click here. (pdf page 52)

(Meeting dedicated to Draft Local Protocol pretty much in its present form)

The Draft Local Protocol was presented by The Chief Legal Officer and Monitoring Officer (CLOMO) Lynda Willis

From the mInutes...

"4. Draft Local Protocol
4.1 The Chief Legal Officer and Monitoring Officer (CLOMO) outlined the background to the preparation of a draft protocol that had been drawn
up to establish standards of behaviour that were expected locally of
councillors. When in place, the protocol would deal with a complaint that although may not be investigated by the Ombudsman, would however
breach expected standards of behaviour. The CLOMO explained that this sub committee had been established to carry out that task and
report back to the main committee
4.2 The CLOMO made the following observations:
• one issue that caused problems was where a member had not breached the Code but their actions needed attention
• it was necessary to look at all aspects of member-to-member relationships
• if she received complaints she could offer informal resolution but this could not involve the Ombudsman
• more work was required on Appendix B to personalise it for Torfaen and to agree what criteria should be applied to enable the CLOMO to advise members. If the CLOMO had advised members previously then it could be considered that the Ethics & Standards committee could be influenced by that advice.
4.3 The sub-committee commented as follows:
• The Introduction to Appendix A was satisfactory and agreed
• It was noted that paragraph 2 was covered by the Employee’s Code of Conduct.
• They welcomed advice with regard to the issue of Christmas gifts and cards for officers and the difficulties of singling out people for particular thanks
4.4 The sub-committee suggested that the CLOMO send a note to all members advising them on the protocol of sending cards and gifts to officers.
CLOMO
4.5 The sub-committee agree to accept section 1 - Introduction and
Section 2 Councillor/Officer Relations of the draft protocol"

NOTE: This was agreed with just one councillor present!

Present

(NOTE, Only one Councillor was present, the meeting lasted just one hour)

COMMITTEE MEMBERS Mr Roger Chater (Chair)
Mr Lyn Oelmann
Mr Mark Waters
Councillor Jeff Rees
Chief Legal Officer and Monitoring Officer (CLOMO) Lynda Willis
Lead Officer Regulatory Support
(LORS)
Rosalyn Gwynn
Assistant Chief Legal Officer and
Deputy Monitoring Officer
(ACLO&DMO)
Delyth Harries
Acting Deputy Chief Executive
(ADCE)
Peter Durkin
Acting Head of ICT
(AHoICT)
Stephen Jeynes
Information Security Officer
(ISO)
Warren Whewell

01 December 2009 - Members Services Committee (Agenda item click here)

Agenda Item 6

MEMBER SERVICES COMMITTEE
DATE: 1 December 2009
DRAFT LOCAL PROTOCOL,
Report Submitted by: Lynda Willis, Chief Legal Officer & Monitoring Officer
Report Written by: Lynda Willis, Chief Legal Officer & Monitoring Officer

"2. Purpose of Report
2.1 To offer observations to the Ethics and Standards committee as part of a consultation process on a draft local protocol for Torfaen members.
3. Recommendation
3.1 That Members offer observations on the draft local protocol and procedure attached
at Appendices A and B.
4. Background
4.1
The Local Government Act 2000 sets out the legislation in respect of the Code of
Conduct. Alleged breaches are reported to the Public Services Ombudsman who
will consider whether to investigate and after investigation decide whether the
matter should be referred to the Standards Committee of an authority for sanction.
4.2 Issues have arisen in relation to members’ behaviour recently which resulted in an
all member training seminar on the Code of Conduct to which the Chair and Vice
Chair of the Ethics and Standards committee were invited.
4.3 At the seminar, the Ethics and Standards committee was asked to look into the
development of a draft protocol which would establish standards of behaviour
expected locally and where complaints could be referred to that committee and
views expressed, then reported back to Council. An Ethics and Standards sub
committee has prepared the attached protocol and procedure which is now being circulated to this committee, the Group leaders (non group members will also be individually consulted), the Members Constitution Working Party as well as the
Green team, the Unions and officers.
4.4 A draft protocol is attached at Appendix A for discussion.
4.5 A procedure for handling complaints made under this protocol is also attached at
Appendix B for discussion."

It is unlikely that any minutes will be available for this meeting until a few days before the next Members Services Committee on 16th of March.

Report by Chris Harris
" I went to the Members Services Committee meeting where this protocol was discussed, and rubber stamped. I was the first member of the public to attend for 5 years.

Very little time was spent discussing the Draft Local Protocol and no detailed discussions took place concerning the cause and effect of each or any clause, or indeed why the protocol was being introduced at all.

Apart from the chairman I doubt whether most of the councillors present had even read the document before attending the meeting.

Discussion occupied maybe 15 minutes of a meeting that was anticipated to last one and a half hours. A good opportunity to discuss the document in detail was lost.

These meetings take place only four times a year; would it have been so terrible if this one had lasted three or four hours allowing the protocol to be discussed in detail?

I think that about six of those councillors who were invited were in attendance. I don't know what the minutes will say but I would think they would say that the protocol was 'approved without comment' "

Those invited to the meeting:

MEMBERS
Councillors
Alastair Cunnington (Chair)
Stuart Evans
Veronica German
Maria Graham
Mike Jeremiah
Doug Jones
Neil Mason
Sarah Richards MBE
Colette Thomas
Paul Williams
TOTAL 10
QUORUM 4
OFFICERS
Richard Gwinnell, Acting Head of Democracy
Ian McGill, Principal Members’ Services Officer
Lynda Willis, Chief Legal Officer and Monitoring Officer (Lynda WIllis did not attend rhe meeting)

27 January 2010 - Ethics and Standards Committee (Agenda Item 8 click here)

Agenda Item 8 DRAFT LOCAL PROTOCOL AND PROCEDURE
Report Submitted by: Lynda Willis, Chief Legal Officer & Monitoring Officer
Report Written by: Lynda Willis, Chief Legal Officer & Monitoring Officer

No Minutes will be available until a few days before the next meeting (on the 21st of April)

Unofficial report on the meeting....

"Draft Protocol
At the most recent meeting of the Ethics & Standards committee, the Draft local protocol was discussed. Committee members were disappointed in the number of responses received from groups/party members and have now extended the deadline to March.
The only group that had responded with a list of their concerns/onjections were the Independent group. "

Those invited to meeting

Councillors: Nye James, Jeff Rees,
Margaret Pead
Independent Members: A J Craske, R Chater, M Waters, L Oelmann
Community Council Representative: Councillor S Smith
Others: Andrew Walsh, Public Services Ombudsman Wales
Officers: Alison Ward, Chief Executive
Lynda Willis, Chief Legal Officer and Monitoring Officer
Rosalyn Gwynn, Lead Officer Regulatory Support
For Information: Ian Mcgill, Principal Members’ Services Officer

Summary

The appearance of the Draft Local Protocol is a response apparently by an officer, to curtail unspecified bad behaviour by an un-named councillor or un-named councillors. That bad behaviour has been specified as not being serious enough for the matter to be taken up by the ombudsman.

Considerable time and money has been spent in the preparation and "discussion" of this document yet to date the document, or the need for it, has been discussed only as follows by elected members

1st July 2009 E&S Committe

Three elected members

28th September 2009 Members Seminar

Unspecified number of elected members attended the seminar, no minutes are kept. Seminars are notoriously badly attended, particularly by the opposition.

7th October 2009 E&S Commitee

Three elected members (same as 1st of July)

12th November E&S Sub-Commitee

ONE elected member. This is the first time the Draft Protocol was presented to councillors.

1st December 2009 Members Services Committee

About 6 elected members but the discussion only lasted 15 minutes and none of the detail was discussed. Minutes awaited.

27th January 2010

Maybe three elected members (same as before)

Conclusions/Concerns

• A number of Councillors and members of the public are concerned that the new protocol will curtail the right of free speech and the severly hamper the duty of the opposition to oppose the leading coalition where they see fit.
• Not enough disscussion, and, in reallity, possibly no detailed discussion has taken place concerning the cause and effect of the clauses of the protocol or whether the protocol is necessary at all.
• The Plaid Group Leader is a member of the Ethics and Standards Committee and has in that role has been in agreement with the creation of the protocol. Independent Cllr Alastair Cunnington has already chaired a committee that has seemingly offered approval of the Protocol without real discussion. Therefore it is likely that the three Plaid and two independents in the Labour led Coalition will vote with the 18 labour members (who will be subject to the Labour Whip) and that the protocol, if it gets to a full council chamber, will be approved by 23 votes to 21.