Agenda item

To consider a report by the Monitoring Officer (copy enclosed) on the published ‘Our Findings’ page on the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales website.

The Monitoring Officer presented the Public Services Ombudsman For Wales (PSOW): Our Findings report (previously circulated) to Members; he and the chair thanked Elinor Cartwright, Trainee Solicitor, for producing the report, who could not attend the meeting.

The report covered the period from 9th August 2023 – 15th February 2024. The ‘Our Findings’ section of the Ombudsman’s website contained a summary of those cases involving Code of Conduct complaints that the Ombudsman had investigated. There were twelve cases, nine of which no further action was taken, two were referred to the relevant Standards Committee, and one had been referred to the adjudication Panel for Wales. None of the matters were related to Denbighshire.

The monitoring officer clarified that the Ombudsman seemed to have a sensible approach to the matter to allow those who breached to apologise for the issues which were caused and respond to the query relating to repeat offences; the Monitoring officer believed the Ombudsman would then take another approach to deal with the situation.

Responding to lower-level complaints that the Standards Committee raised and whether the information was logged, the monitoring officer clarified that the information was all stored. The Ombudsman had an excellent corporate memory with complaints. 

The committee discussed the following further –

Peter Lamb referred to the first complaint within the appendix. He highlighted how the matter would cause distress. Once the comments had been made and the apology would not mitigate what had been stated, there needed to be further training to ensure people in authoritative positions were required to realise the weight that their words could bear. The Monitoring Officer raised that on some occasions, what has been said previously has not been a breach of the code of conduct but can offend or antagonise issues, and these matters are usually dealt with by the political groups for the affected authorises; the ombudsman does not usually deal with the matters due to resource issues.

Regarding social media, the MO stated that members would need to take a sensible approach with social media; however, it was noted that social media was complex as members of the public could say what they wanted regarding elected members with little to no repercussions.

The committee was concerned with social media as a whole and wanted to ensure that members received either training or refreshers on any already implemented training. The MO stated that a new document regarding social media could be launched, and he would raise the matter with the relevant head of service. He could encourage a Council Workshop for all members to ensure they were trained on social media etiquette, alongside guidance being sent to group leaders to disseminate amongst their political groups. Some committee members felt that any training could be forgotten and encouraged constant information to circulate to members through a bulletin; the MO stated that the bulletin would be too resource intensive, and the Council were currently reducing services.

The MO was questioned whether town, city, and community councillors had received code of conduct training. The MO clarified that they were not mandatory for town, city, and community councillors but were offered training and encouraged to attend any courses. The training, however, was compulsory for County Councillors.

After a discussion, it was –

RESOLVED: that –

1. Group leaders receive social media guidance to circulate amongst their political groups.
2. The public services ombudsman for Wales - 'Our findings' report will also be circulated to group leaders.
3. The Monitoring Officer writes to Town, City and Community Councils about relevant training dates.