Code of conduct complaints against members in Wales soar 49% in 2011/12
The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (PSOW) has expressed concern after the number of code of conduct complaints against members in Wales jumped by 49% to 412 in 2011/12.
In his annual report, the Ombudsman, Peter Tyndall, said that community councils provided the most complaints at 206 (up from 141). They were followed by county and county borough councils with 177, up from 135 in 2010/11.
There were also 28 complaints against members of national park authorities, compared to just one last year, and a single complaint in relation to a police authority.
More than a third of these complaints (39%) related to matters of ‘equality and respect’, the Ombudsman said. However, this was down from 57% in 2010/11.
The Ombudsman said there had been a “noticeable increase” in the number of complaints relating to ‘objectivity and propriety’. This category accounted for 25% of all code of conduct complaints in 2010/11.
The next most popular forms of complaint were in relation to the integrity of the member and their accountability and openness, generating 17% and 13% of the total respectively.
The Ombudsman – on completing his investigations – referred only 15 cases to a standards committee compared to 21 the previous year. Tyndall also only referred four cases to the Adjudication Panel for Wales in 2011/12, down from 24 in 2010/11.
Commenting on the figures, the Ombudsman said: “It is not surprising that the increase in the number of code of conduct complaints received has occurred during the year in the run up to county council elections. I am extremely disappointed that it appears that the Code is being used in this way.”
Tyndall said he was also concerned about certain practices emerging amongst town and community councils.
The Ombudsman highlighted his correspondence with the clerk of Prestatyn Town Council in relation to their mutual concern about the number of complaints he received in respect of its members.
During 2011/12, the Ombudsman received 65 complaints about Prestatyn members out of the total of 206, representing 32% of the complaints about town and community councils.
“This level of complaints is entirely disproportionate,” Tyndall said. “Such a level of complaints, in my view, reflects a very hostile set of interactions between councillors and must inevitably lower the esteem in which the council is held by its electors.”
The Ombudsman said he had urged Prestatyn to reflect on the culture which was giving rise to these complaints and how behaviour might be changed to reverse this trend.
Tyndall added that he was aware that some of the complaints were being made by a small number of members of the public and one person in particular.
He added that he would consider what further steps were available to tackle the problem, including the possibility of invoking his powers regarding vexatious complaints.
The Ombudsman pointed out in the report that in recognition of concern about certain aspects of the Code and the use of complaints for political purposes, he had been in discussion with the Welsh Local Government Association, the Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors and the Welsh Government on a range of measures designed to reform the system.
The aim of the measures, which can be achieved without the need for legislation, was to enable a local resolution process to be introduced across Wales. This should greatly reduce the number of complaints brought by councillors against other councillors that need to be considered by the PSOW's office, Tyndall said.
The first element of this approach was brought in at the start of this year and applies to members of county/county borough councils and town/community councils. It sees the Ombudsman write to the monitoring officer when he is minded not to investigate or having commenced an investigation, when he is minded to close the investigation.
"This will arise when I judge that even if the standards committee did find that there had been a breach of the Code, it would be unlikely to administer a saction," Tyndall explained. "It will then be for the monitoring officer to consider the matter. If they take a different view on the likelihood of the standards committee applying a sanction if they decide that there has been a breach of the Code, then I will transfer the investigation to them for local consideration."
The Ombudsman also said he was awaiting a formal response to his proposal that there should be a cap of £10,000 put in place on any indemnity offered by Welsh local authorities to their members when defending themselves against alleged breaches of their code of conduct, especially when facing tribunals convened by the Adjudication Panel for Wales.
Tyndall highlighted how in previous annual reports he had expressed concern about the time it was taking to deal with code of conduct investigations, and that this was in part a result of members increasingly engaging legal representation.
However, he said changes introduced in 2009/10 were bearing fruit. This meant that no code of conduct investigations took longer than 12 months to complete.
In addition to considering complaints that members of local authorities have broken the code of conduct, the PSOW also considers complaints by member of the public that they have suffered hardship or injustice through maladministration or service failure on the part of a body under his jurisdiction.
The annual report revealed that the number of new complaints overall received by the Ombudsman in 2011/12 was – at 1,605 – 13% higher than for the previous 12 months (1,425).
Tyndall said that the introduction of the NHS Redress Measure on 1 April 2011 could account for some of this increase, but added that it was only one factor.
Complaints about county councils continued to be the most numerous type of complaint received, with the PSOW noting that the volume had remained “fairly steady”.
However, the increase in health body complaints has been “exponential” – with 527 complaints in 2011/12 compared to 340 in 2010/11.
Health complaints as a proportion of the Ombudsman’s caseload continued to increase, Tyndall said, adding that he thought people were now more inclined to complain about poor service in the NHS than was previously the case.
Planning and housing were the next largest areas of complaint, accounting for 16% and 15% of all complaints received respectively.
The Omdudsman issued 178 investigation reports, down 43% on the previous year. Of these, 14 saw the complaint upheld in whole or in part and the PSOW issue a public interest report.
A further 104 cases led to the complaint being upheld in whole or in part. In 60 cases, the complaint was not upheld.
The Ombudsman also revealed in the report that he had:
- Received 1,866 enquiries: up 66% on 2010/11
- Achieved 176 quick fixes/voluntary settlements: up 47%
- Closed 1,547 cases: down 5%
- Had 455 cases on hand as at 31 March 2012: up 54%.
In his introductory remarks, the Ombudsman said he was pleased that there was a proposal to bring private providers of care homes and domiciliary care agencies, as well as independent palliative care services into his jurisdiction. This is part of the Social Services (Wales) Bill, which is out to consultation.
“In particular, it has seemed unjust to me that a resident in a care home who has his or her care paid for by the state can complain to me about poor care, while a resident who pays for their own stay at the same care home cannot,” the Ombudsman said.
A copy of the annual report can be viewed here.
Philip Hoult
