Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

No apologies for absence were received.

 

To receive any declarations of personal interest.

No declarations of personal interest were received.

 

To consider the report of the Propriety and Elections Manager.

 

·         In relation to the allegations of a breach of the code, the committee resolved that the Member has failed to comply with Cyngor Gwynedd’s Members’ Code of Conduct in the following way as she breached the following provisions:

 

4(a) Members must carry out their duties and responsibilities with due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people, regardless of their gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, age or religion.

 

4(b) Members must show respect and consideration for others.

 

6(1)(a) Members must not conduct themselves in a manner which could reasonably be regarded as bringing their office or authority into disrepute.

 

·         After weighing up the seriousness of the behaviour in question and after considering the relevant mitigating and aggravating factors, the Committee decided that the Member should be suspended from being a member of Cyngor Gwynedd for a period of 1 month.

 

·         That the Committee expects the Member to take advantage of any training opportunities offered by the Council in the future, which relate to the conduct of members.

 

·         That the Member should write to the Complainant within 3 weeks (from the date of receipt of the notice) to apologise for her behaviour (with a copy sent to the Monitoring Officer).

 

·         To recommend to Cyngor Gwynedd that it should consider whether support could be provided to members in relation to correspondence they receive in a language they do not understand, either internally or by referring members to other appropriate sources.

 

 

The Chair welcomed everyone to the hearing and the Ombudsman’s officers introduced themselves to members.

 

The Chair then explained the nature / format of the hearing.

 

Background

 

1. The Committee considered a report from the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (“the Ombudsman”) into a complaint from Mr Howard Huws (“the Complainant”) that Councillor Louise Hughes (“the Member”) had failed to observe Cyngor Gwynedd’s Code of Conduct for Members.

 

2. It was alleged that the Member had behaved inappropriately by responding in German to two e-mails sent to her in Welsh by the Complainant.

 

3. The Ombudsman determined that the Member may have breached the Council’s Code of Conduct, in particular, paragraphs 4(a), 4(b), which provide:

 

“4. You must —

 

(a)  carry out your duties and responsibilities with due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people, regardless of their gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, age or religion;

 

(b) show respect and consideration for others; ”

 

The Ombudsman also found that the Member’s actions could reasonably be regarded as behaviour which might have breached paragraph 6(1)(a) of the Code of Conduct:

 

6.—(1) You must:

 

(a) not conduct yourself in a manner which could reasonably be regarded as bringing your office or authority into disrepute;

 

4. The Ombudsman referred his investigation report to the Monitoring Officer of Cyngor Gwynedd for consideration by its Standards Committee.

 

The Hearing

 

5. The Propriety and Elections Manager (Cyngor Gwynedd's Deputy Monitoring Officer) who was advising the Committee presented his report at the commencement of the hearing.

 

6. The Committee considered the Ombudsman’s written report, the further documents submitted by the Member and the Ombudsman in accordance with the Committee's pre-hearing procedure, and the authority’s evidence confirming the translation provision available at the time the e-mails were received by the Member. The Committee also considered the oral submissions from Katrin Shaw, Chief Legal Adviser and Director of Investigations of the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, the Complainant as a witness and the Member herself, who were present at the hearing. The Member had previously indicated that she would not be attending, having said what she had wanted to say in her written submissions to the investigation.  However she decided to attend, despite the anxiety and distress the matter was causing her, to assure the Committee that she took the matter very seriously.

 

The Decision

 

7.The Committee first considered any finding of fact that it needed to make. There were no disputed facts in this case.  The complaint resulted from two e-mails sent by the Member on 4/12/21 and 21/2/22.  Copies of both were included in the written evidence before the Committee and there was no doubt therefore as to what the member had said.

 

8. The Committee proceeded to consider the Member's conduct, and after careful consideration of all the evidence presented, the Committee determined that the Member had failed to comply with the Code of Conduct as follows:

 

9. The Committee found that the Member had breached  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.