City council that has not upheld a single complaint in six years to review complaints procedure
Bristol City Council has pledged to review its complaints procedure after facing questions about how the council had not upheld a single complaint against a councillor in six years.
The decision came after five Bristol residents claimed that the lack of successful complaints suggested a "systematic failure of the Member Code of Conduct Complaints Process".
In a joint letter to the Values and Ethics Committee stating their grievances, the residents said: "We believe that this committee needs to address the following issues to ensure that each member or officer on the committee, can themselves be sure that they are abiding by the Member Code of Conduct in the execution of their duties."
The group asked a number of questions about the process, including a question asking: "Who monitors the monitoring officer?"
Their letter claimed the role of Monitoring Officer (MO) "allows too much power to be vested in one individual's judgement, with no informed transparency or opportunity for scrutiny of their decisions".
"This makes for a closed system, which allows for complaints to be too easily dismissed and in effect facilitates bad behaviour."
In response to the question, the council said a member of the public can complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman if they are not satisfied with the process for dealing with a member complaint.
The council's monitoring officer, Tim O'Gara, said all procedures had been followed correctly, according to a BBC report.
Tim O'Gara, who is also Bristol's Director of Legal and Democratic Services, welcomed the Value and Ethics Sub-committee's decision to set up a working group of councillors to review the council's procedures for complaints against councillors.
He said: "This working group will be supported by myself and colleagues within Legal and Democratic Services. We anticipate that the working group will meet during November and will report back to the Value and Ethics Sub-committee once the review has been completed."
Adam Carey
