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 1of 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.

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 Sub-committee considered the following two preliminary matters.

1.     Attendance

The subject Member, Councillor O Scargill, 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 Scargill 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, the Conservative Group Leader, had written to the Monitoring Officer on 24 August 2023 on behalf of Councillor Scargill 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 22 May 2023. The Monitoring Officer had responded to Councillor Scargill 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 Scargill for the benefit of the Sub-committee.

It was noted that Councillor Scargill, 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 Scargill 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 Scargill.

Resolved: To depart from the three-month deadline for holding a complaints

hearing and proceed to consider the complaint submitted against Councillor Scargill.

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 NT14/2022-23 and NT15.2022-23.

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 Allegation

The complainant, Councillor Willie Samuel, a Labour Councillor, alleges that the Subject Member, Councillor Olly Scargill:

1.                 Published on his political Facebook Page “Cllr Olly Scargill – your local campaigner” on or about 26 July 2022 a video clip of remarks made by the Elected Mayor of the Authority, Dame Norma Redfearn, during a Council meeting held on 21 July 2022.

2.               “heavily edited and doctored” the video clip appearing in his Facebook page.

3.               Omitted from the video clip some of the Mayor’s remarks including her acknowledging the integrity of most Conservative members of the Council.

4.               Added effects to the video clip including the playing of “sinister music” and the fading of the original colour footage into black and white footage.

5.               Misrepresented in his Facebook post the context in which the Mayor’s comments were made. Her comments were made during a debate on a Motion concerning the issue of “honesty, integrity and respect in politics” and not, as implied in the post, during a later Motion proposed by Councillor Scargill concerning proposed referenda being held on all new cycling infrastructure in the Borough, and his opposition to the new roundabout at Rake Lane.

6.               By editing the video clip, and making the comments accompanying the clip, intended to bring the office of Elected Mayor and the Council into disrepute and in doing so “encouraged expressions of views which were inaccurate and at times offensive”.

7.               Wanted to encourage a perception that the Mayor had been offensive in her behaviour and thereby intended to bring the office of Mayor and the Council into disrepute.

Additional Allegations

In addition to the above allegations, the Monitoring Officer at the time of the assessment of the initial complaint, Ms Jacqueline Laughton, identified further potential breaches of the Code of Conduct for members by way of misuse of Council resources and using those resources for political purposes. 

2.     Relevant Paragraph(s) of the Code of Conduct for Elected Members

The relevant paragraphs of the Code are:

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

As a member:

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

b) Part 1 Paragraph 5 of the Code – Disrepute

As a member:

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

c) Part 1 Paragraphs 7.1 and 7.2 of the Code – Use of the Authority’s resources and facilities

As a member:

7.1        You must not misuse the Authority’s resources.

7.2       You must, when using the Authority’s resources or authorising their use by others: -

a.        Act in accordance with  ...  view the full minutes text for item SS5/23