Issue - meetings

To submit the report of the Monitoring Officer.

To note the report.

Submitted - the Monitoring Officer's report appending the Ombudsman's 2022-23 annual report.

The Monitoring Officer noted that:-

·         A decrease was seen in the number of Code of Conduct matters, but that the Ombudsman's main concern related to respect and equality matters, with around 67% of the complaints received relating to this aspect.

·         It was hard to take away any specific messages from the report, but it was understood from discussions with the Ombudsman's officers, that they were looking at the patterns of complaints deriving from the Annual Report, and possibly, further information would be available that would help frame the training, but also the discussion with Political Groups Leaders.

Referring to the Key Performance Indicators (page 124 of the report / page 177 of the agenda), the Chair noted that the performance in terms of cases closed within 12 months had slightly slipped from 67% in 2021/22 to 66% in 2022/23, compared to their target of 90%, and it was enquired whether an observation should be sent to the Ombudsman stating the Committee’s concern at this decrease. In response, the Monitoring Officer noted that it was not clear what had caused this, but he could contact the Ombudsman's officers to obtain an explanation regarding the factors that had led to the situation, and report back to the Committee.

RESOLVED to note the report.