Issue - meetings

That the Annual Report be accepted and the contents noted.

The Deputy Monitoring Officer presented a report summarising the headline matters of the 2015/16 Annual Report of the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (PSOW) with a particular focus on matters relating to standards of county and town/community councillors.  As a point of accuracy, two typographical errors were noted in the covering report.

Whilst there had been a reduction in the number of public services complaints, the PSOW had expressed disappointment at the rise in complaints on potential breaches of the Code of Conduct which was attributed to an increased number of referrals from town and community councils.  However, the PSOW had made reference to the effectiveness of the public interest test in helping to deal with these complaints more effectively.  The key messages from the PSOW were set out in the report, including some changes to the Model Code of Conduct and the introduction of a new Bill.

The Chairman questioned whether the training provided to town and community councils at joint meetings of the Standards Committee had in any way influenced the number of referrals to the PSOW.  It was explained that referrals had increased across Wales and that only one complaint had been submitted in Flintshire.

Mr. Robert Dewey referred to the provision to refer reports of misconduct investigations to another Authority’s Standards Committee.  Whilst recognising the benefits in this approach, he felt that those issues could be regarded as less important than if they had been determined by the PSOW.  In respect of the Annual Report, he was disappointed at the lack of detail on referral issues and felt that the report relied too heavily on statistics.

The Chairman said that this point would be raised under the next agenda item.

Further information was sought by Mrs. Phillipa Earlam on the proposal to accept oral complaints which formed part of the draft PSOW Bill.  The Deputy Monitoring Officer agreed to look into the content of the draft Bill and provide a response at the next meeting.

Following a question by Councillor Arnold Woolley on the draft Bill, officers discussed the possible timing of the introduction of the new legislation and referred to the new three year strategic plan which was available on the PSOW website.

RESOLVED:

That the Annual Report be accepted and the contents noted.