As of 8 May 2008 complaints concerning the conduct of any elected, co-opted or independent Member of either East Riding of Yorkshire Council or any Town and Parish Council in the East Riding local authority area, will need to be sent to the Monitoring Officer for the area, Mathew Buckley, rather than the Standards Board for England.
What can I complain about?
To be considered the complaints must concern something contained in the Code of Conduct, the matter must be about something that happened after the Code of Conduct came into effect (between 30 November 2001 and 5 May 2002 depending on the authority), and must be made in writing.
Examples of behaviour covered by the Code of Conduct:
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unlawfully discriminating against someone
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failing to treat people with respect
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bullying any person
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intimidating any person involved in any investigation or proceedings about someone's misconduct
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doing something to prevent those who work for the authority from being unbiased
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revealing information that was given to them in confidence, or stopping someone getting information they are entitled to by law
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damaging the reputation of their office or authority, where the conduct is linked to their public role and not in their private capacity
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using their position improperly, to their own or someone else's advantage or disadvantage
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misusing their authority's resources
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allowing their authority's resources to be misused for the activities of a registered political party
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failing to register financial or other interests
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failing to reveal a personal interest at a meeting
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taking part in the discussion or making a decision where they have an interest that is so significant that it is likely to affect their judgment (known as a 'prejudicial interest')
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improperly influencing a decision about a matter that they have a prejudicial interest in
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failing to register any gifts or hospitality (including its source), that they have received in their role as a member worth over £25
NB - Please note that the above is subject to any amendments to the Code of Conduct and is not necessarily exhaustive.
Matters that cannot be investigated as they do not fall within the Code of Conduct:
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Complaints where a Member is not named.
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Complaints that are not in writing.
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Incidents or actions that are not covered by the Code of Conduct.
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Incidents that are about a fault in the way the authority has done something. This is known as maladministration and can be investigated by the Local Government Ombudsman.
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Complaints about people employed by local authorities.
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Incidents that happened before a Member was elected.
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Incidents that happened either before the authority adopted its local Code of Conduct or before 5 May 2002, whichever is the earlier.
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Complaints about the way in which the authority conducts and records its meeting.
How do I complain?
Complaint forms are available, but in any event a complaint must detail the contact details of the person making the complaint, the name of the person being complained about, which Council they are a member of and a description of the conduct complained of.
Please click on the link below to access the complaint form:
Complaints can either be posted to the Monitoring Officer, Mathew Buckley, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, County Hall, Beverley, or can be sent by email to standards@eastriding.gov.uk.
Who will consider the complaint?
East Riding of Yorkshire Council has established two Sub-Committees of the Standards Committee to deal with the receipt and filtering of complaints.
The Standards Committee Assessment Sub-Committee has the specific responsibility for determining what action, if any, should be taken in response to a complaint.
The Standards Committee Review Sub-Committee has the responsibility for dealing with requests for a review of the decision of the Standards Committee Assessment Sub-Committee to take no further action.
What happens when a complaint is received?
The complaint will be put before the Standards Committee Assessment Sub-Committee for consideration.
Process/Procedures
To view the process and procedures followed when dealing with complaints made about Councillors, please click on the link below:
How is a decision made?
The Sub-Committees assess complaints that have been made by using a set of criteria, which can be viewed by clicking on the link below:
