Day Five - Friday & Final

Late Night Final

My day started with a meeting of the Council’s Standards Committee. I had been asked to attend in my capacity as a Group Leader to give my views on the Standards Committee process and how it might develop. This is part of a series of meetings/discussions the Committee is having with the Chief Executive and other party leaders on the Council.

There is a general agreement that the Standards Committee has a wider role beyond that of its ‘policing role – and that it should be taking the lead on the wider issue of standards and dissemination of best practice. And also that some of it decisions need greater explanation, particularly in comparison to others.

My own view is that the ‘policing’ role has got out of hand – not the fault of the Committee as they react to what is sent their way. The Welsh Councillors Code of Conduct is the most draconian in the UK and contains provisions that have been removed from the Codes in England, Scotland and N.Ireland. Indeed, I believe that the ‘policing’ role inhibits the Committee from exercising its wider functions, not least as they don’t have the time because of the petty and footling complaints that they have to deal with. This process arose from the, laudable, desire to prevent corruption. It was not intended to dealing with adults saying unkind things about each other. Interestingly however, the controls imposed on local government are far, far stricter than those for the Welsh Assembly or Parliament – and we know what has been recently reported as going in those institutions.

I consider that Standards - and the Ombudsman for that matter – have no role in adjudicating on what happens in Council meetings, that is clearly the job of the Chair/Presiding Officer. We certainly don’t want to get into what happens in Powys – where the ‘independent (i.e. external) members of Standards Committee attend Council meetings on rota – and provide judgements as the meeting goes on. Like some sort of super school monitor! I cannot conceive as to who thought that a good idea.

However, in truth, councillors need to get thicker skins; they need to recognise that the ‘rough and tumble’ of the Council meeting is not real life! And is not to be taken personally – and must not be taken outside the Council Chamber. (I consider that this arises from misunderstanding due to inexperience – especially the inexperience of independent councillors, who have no experience of political debate or, in some cases, of conduct in meetings. And I am making a general point here - not criticising colleagues on Swansea Council.) When we are through the door – that’s it’s over and normal service is resumed. In fact most councillors have the good sense to understand that. Some however, do not. Members of the public may be surprised if they observed two councillors recently knocking chunks out of each, 10 minutes later sitting down very companionably having a cup of tea together. And as I said in an earlier post – we need to stop taking ourselves so damned seriously!

As I also say above, I think that most of the stuff that results in complaints should be swallowed! Regrettably there will be, nonetheless, occasions when matters do go too far. However, in Wales there is no halfway house, no informal dispute resolution procedure. It’s either a full formal complaint to the Ombudsman or its nothing. So I do think that there is discussion to be had on some form of arbitration. For example, an informal ‘star chamber’ - but this should be operated by the political parties jointly – entirely separate from the formal process – thus leaving the Standards Committee and the Ombudsman free to concentrate on the Code of Conduct breaches that really matter.

My attendance at the Standards Committee (and a further external meeting that followed) both of which had been arranged ages ago, meant that I could not go to the Child Poverty Conference in Gorseinon, with which they clashed. This shows that conflicting prior appointments (which happens a lot) means that you cannot get to everything, even those things like this conference, that you consider important. I have asked to receive the outcomes of this conference, as it is an issue that concerns me, representing, as my colleagues and I do, one of the most deprived wards in Wales (and indeed the UK).

What time I had free I used to finally eradicate the email mountain – which I achieved about an hour and a half ago – and now there is another 20 in my Inbox awaiting attention. It never ends….

I have no further appointments today and have a free evening. Hurrah! So this is theoretically the end of my five days blogging experiment for Local Democracy Week. I’ll now check whether anyone read it, whether I’ve blown my credibility – and evaluate whether I’m going to continue. Watch this space…

Hasta la vista!