Names of councillors guilty of misconduct hidden

In the last year, 13 concerns were raised against Gloucestershire County Councillors

Names of councillors found guilty of misconduct are being hidden from the public.

Over the last year, 13 concerns were raised against Gloucestershire County Councillors.

But the identities and specific details about misconduct complaints have not been revealed.

Shire Hall bosses said councillors were entitled to confidentiality unless, and until, a complaint progresses to a formal hearing.

Despite the rise in complaints, none of them have reached the public hearing stage, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

However, some of them listed in a report presented to the audit and governance committee suggested councillors had breached the code of conduct.

One of the cases mentioned in the report involved a complaint from a council officer that a councillor had made offensive comments in a staff meeting.

The unnamed councillor apologised according to the report. But no other details about who this was or what they said was made public.

Another complaint suggested a councillor was making excessive demands of a council officer – the report simply said this information was noted and held on file and “management action taken”.

The report also said a complaint from a member of the public against a county councillor over alleged insulting comments on social media was not looked into further because the matter was related to a Gloucester City Council issue.

Monitoring officer Rob Ayliffe told the committee on 25 April he hoped the report would give councillors a “flavour of the complaints and how they are being dealt with”.

The issue was discussed at the Audit and Governance Committee meeting on 25 April

“The council’s practice, in line with every other council I’m aware of, is that complaints are treated as confidential unless or until they progress to a hearings panel.

“If they get to that stage, then that hearings panel is in public. But up until that point, complaints are dealt with confidentially which is why I can’t disclose any more details than I have done.”

Chairman John Bloxsom asked at what stage, if ever, are any upheld complaints against councillors published.

“I think you said that would happen if anything goes to the panel,” he said.

“As far as I know, in the life of the current council there hasn’t been anything that has gone to panel.

“And there are a number of cases which are referred to as being subject to informal resolution.”

Mr Bloxsom said he believed some of those were already in the public domain but were not reported internally by the council.

He said: “The issue has been raised with me that there are other authorities where names do appear in the public domain as a result of the investigations but we aren’t doing that.”

Mr Ayliffe said he had decided not to disclose any code of conduct complaints that do not reach a public hearing because it was a “far easier line to take”.

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