Agenda and draft minutes

To be notified of the appointment of any Substitute Members.

There were no substitute members.

You are invited to declare any registerable and/or non-registerable interests in matters appearing on the agenda, and the nature of that interest.

Please complete the Declarations of Interests card available at the meeting and return it to the Democratic Services Officer before leaving the meeting.

You are also invited to disclose any dispensation from the requirement to declare any registerable and/or non-registerable interests that have been granted to you in respect of any matters appearing on the agenda.

There were no Declarations of Interest.

The Standards Sub-committee is requested to consider passing the following resolution:

“That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and having applied a public interest test as defined in Part 2 of Schedule 12A of the Act, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.”

The Sub-committee was required to consider any representations from the Investigating Officer and/or the Member as to why the Committee should exclude the press and public under the following terms:

“That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and having applied a public interest test as defined in Part 2 of Schedule 12A of the Act, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.”

Neither the subject Member nor the Independent Investigator requested that the hearing, or parts of the hearing, be dealt with in private. The complainant had indicated in writing that he wished the hearing to be dealt with in open session.

On considering the Exclusion Resolution it was agreed that the Sub-committee should proceed with the hearing in public.

Resolved:  that the Committee hearing proceed in public and the agenda papers be made available.

The Standards Committee received a report which presented the Investigating Officer’s completed investigation report in relation to an alleged breach of the Members’ Code of Conduct in relation to Complaint NT09/2022-23.

The Pre-Hearing Process Summary Report was attached at Appendix B to the report. 

In determining the procedural arrangements at the hearing, the pre-hearing process considered:

1.   Summary of Allegations

The complainant, Mr James Allan, a former Labour Councillor of the Authority, alleges that:

1.          The Subject Member, Councillor Liam Bones, published an article about him that appeared on a Facebook page and website called “North Tyneside Gazette” operated by Councillor Bones which contained “varying inaccuracies”.

2.         In publishing the article, Councillor Bones had failed to treat him with respect by suggesting that he had failed to undertake any work when he was a North Tyneside Councillor and that he was paid £150,000 in allowances despite his failure to attend any meetings.

3.         The contents of the article are an “outright lie” because he continued to undertake “casework” and attend online meetings despite his illness in the 6 months before he lost his seat on the Council and had attended “thousands” of meetings during his time as a Councillor.

4.         The article was written in an attempt to degrade his character and his record as a Camperdown Councillor. It was deceitful and dishonest and as a result brought the Authority into disrepute.

5.         The article was either written in ignorance of his illness or with a disregard for it.

6.         The article was written in the knowledge that the by-election had been called as a result of his non-attendance at an Authority meeting for over 6 months. That knowledge could only have been known by Councillor Bones as a result of confidential information given to him by officers which he then used in the article.

7.         The use of his photograph taken when he was a Councillor in the article was the use of an Authority resource for political purposes.

2.   Relevant Paragraph(s) of the Code of Conduct

The relevant paragraphs of the Code are:

a) Part 1 Paragraph 1 of the Code – Treating others with Respect

You must treat other Members and members of the public with respect.

b) Part 1 Paragraph 4 of the Code - Confidentiality and access to exempt

information

You must not disclose information:

a) given to you in confidence by anyone

b) acquired by you which you believe, or ought reasonably to believe, is of a confidential nature

c) Part 1 Paragraph 5 of the Code – Disrepute

You must not do anything to bring your role or the Authority into disrepute.

d) Part 1 Paragraph 7 – Use of the Authority’s resources and facilities

You must not misuse the Authority’s resources.

You must, when using the Authority’s resources or authorising their use by

others: -

a. Act in accordance with the Authority’s requirements; and

b. ensure that such resources are not used for political purposes unless that use could reasonably be regarded  ...  view the full minutes text for item SS8/23

The Sub-committee considered the following two preliminary matters.

1.     Attendance

The subject Member, Councillor L Bones, was not in attendance at the hearing but had, on the morning of the hearing, submitted a statement to the Monitoring Officer with a request that this be read out at the hearing in his absence. 

The Sub-Committee was satisfied that Councillor Bones was aware of the date and time of the hearing and had made a conscious decision not to attend.  It was therefore considered appropriate to proceed with the hearing in his absence.

2.     Procedural Issue

Councillor Bones had written to the Monitoring Officer on 24 August 2023 raising a procedural issue about the length of time between the Investigation Report being completed and the date of the complaint hearing.  The Local Arrangements, under the section ‘Procedure for Standards Hearings’ states that on receipt of Forms A to E from a Subject Member, the Chair of the Standards Committee, in consultation with the legal adviser will then: -

“confirm a date, time and place for the hearing, which must be within three months from the date that the report was completed”.  The final Investigation Report was received on 23 May 2023.

The Monitoring Officer had responded to Councillor Bones by email and had also provided legal advice to the Chair of the Standards Committee on this procedural matter as part of the pre-hearing process.  The Monitoring Officer read out his email to Councillor Bones for the benefit of the Sub-committee.

It was noted that Councillor Bones, despite repeated requests to do so, and the requirement on him to comply with the Code of Conduct process, had failed to return the completed Forms A to E which would have provided his response to the Investigation Report. It was also noted paragraph 15 of the Local Arrangements document and the paragraph ‘Revision of these arrangements’ which states “The Standards Committee/Sub-Committee, on the advice of the Monitoring Officer, may depart from these arrangements where it is necessary to do so in order to secure the effective and fair consideration of any matter.”

The advice of the Monitoring Officer to the Chair of the Standards Committee was that, in the circumstances, it would be improper for the complaint against Councillor Bones to not proceed to a hearing.

Having considered the information provided, the Sub-committee, by a majority decision, agreed that it was appropriate on this occasion to depart from the Local Arrangements in respect of the three-month deadline for holding a complaints hearing, and to proceed to consider the complaint submitted against Councillor Bones.

Resolved:  To depart from the three-month deadline for holding a complaints hearing and proceed to consider the complaint submitted against Councillor Bones.