Agenda and minutes

To remind Members of the need to record the existence and nature of any personal, disclosable pecuniary or other registrable interests in items on the agenda, in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct.

NDC0623

All Councillors declared an interest in the agenda item as the Subject Member was known to them as a fellow West Berkshire Councillor.

The Complainant was also known to many of the Members of this Committee being a former West Berkshire Councillor.

Councillor Howard Woollaston declared that he had been part of the WhatsApp group referenced in this complaint. He had therefore discussed his involvement with the Monitoring Officer and was advised there was no issue with him chairing and participating in the meeting.

As these interests were a personal or an other registrable interest, but not a disclosable pecuniary interest, Members determined to remain to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.

NDC0124

All Councillors declared an interest in the agenda item as the Complainant and Subject Member were known to them as fellow West Berkshire Councillors.

Councillor Woollaston declared that he had received the e-mails referenced in this complaint that had been sent by Councillor Tony Vickers. He had therefore discussed his involvement with the Monitoring Officer and was advised there was no issue with him chairing and participating in the meeting.

As these interests were a personal or an other registrable interest, but not a disclosable pecuniary interest, Members determined to remain to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.

Purpose: To make a determination as to whether a breach of the Code of Conduct has occurred after considering the Investigator’s report about a complaint received from the then Councillor Steve Masters (Complainant) in respect of Councillor Ross Mackinnon (Subject Member) from West Berkshire Council submitted on 23 March 2023.

Should the Committee determine that a breach of the Code of Conduct has occurred they will need to determine an appropriate sanction.

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 3) concerning a complaint regarding an alleged breach of the West Berkshire Council (WBC) Code of Conduct.

The Committee was required to determine whether a breach of the Code had occurred after considering the Investigator’s report about a complaint received from the then Councillor Steve Masters (Complainant) in respect of Councillor Ross Mackinnon (Subject Member) from WBC submitted on 23 March 2023.

Should the Committee determine that a breach of the Code had occurred they would need to determine an appropriate sanction.

The query was raised as to whether the press and public should be excluded from this agenda item.

The Deputy Monitoring Officer, Nicola Thomas, advised that although the complaint documentation was already in the public domain, Members could still opt to exclude the press and public. However, in light of the information being publicly available, she did not feel there was any reason on which the item needed to be debated in private.

Members agreed that the item be debated in public.

Presentation from Independent Investigator

The Independent Investigator, Mr Richard Lingard, presented his report and highlighted the following points:

·       A primary consideration for Mr Lingard was whether Councillor Mackinnon was bound by the WBC Code of Conduct at the time of the posts and Mr Lingard considered that he was.

·       Councillor Mackinnon’s interpretation of the Code was contained within paragraph 7.1 of Mr Lingard’s report in which he questioned whether he was indeed bound by the Code. Mr Lingard remained of the view that he was. At the time, Councillor Mackinnon was a high profile serving Councillor, standing for re-election, and the comments (which were not disputed by Councillor Mackinnon) related to a fellow serving Councillor who was also standing for re-election. The WhatsApp group was formed by other Councillors and prospective candidates. A WBC officer was also part of this group which provided a further link to the Code.

·       That the comments were intended to be private did not, in Mr Lingard’s view, absolve Councillor Mackinnon.

·       Mr Lingard felt that the language used in the posts was disgraceful and unprofessional. He added the view that the matter should not have resulted in an investigation. An apology should have been provided by the Subject Member to the Complainant, but this had not been provided.

Questions of the Independent Investigator

Mr Lingard made the following points in response to questions from Committee Members:

·       Mr Lingard felt it unlikely that a private conversation between colleagues in a public house would be subject to the Code of Conduct. In his view the WhatsApp ‘conversation’ was different as the group was formed by serving Councillors and candidates, with political discussions held.

·       Mr Lingard considered there was no difference between comments being made either verbally or in writing.

·       Concerns had been raised by participants of the WhatsApp group and the posts were made public as a result of those concerns. Mr Lingard interviewed those individuals who had chosen to remain anonymous. The concerns were in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

Purpose: To make a determination as to whether a breach of the Code of Conduct has occurred after considering the Investigator’s report about a complaint received from Councillor Tony Vickers (Complainant) in respect of Councillor Ross Mackinnon (Subject Member) from West Berkshire Council submitted on 25 January 2024.

Should the Committee determine that a breach of the Code of Conduct has occurred they will need to determine an appropriate sanction.

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 4) concerning a complaint regarding an alleged breach of the West Berkshire Council Code of Conduct.

The Committee was required to determine whether a breach of the Code had occurred after considering the Investigator’s report about a complaint received from Councillor Tony Vickers (Complainant) in respect of Councillor Ross Mackinnon (Subject Member) of West Berkshire Council (WBC) submitted on 25 January 2024.

Should the Committee determine that a breach of the Code had occurred they would need to determine an appropriate sanction.

Presentation from Independent Investigator

The Independent Investigator, Mr Richard Lingard, presented his report and highlighted the following points:

·       The information shared by the Complainant had not been intended to be viewed by the Opposition party and was sent to them in error.

·       The Subject Member agreed to delete the e-mail on the first occasion it was sent, doing, in the Complainant’s words, ‘the decent thing’. The Subject Member did not however do so on the second occasion when being aware it was not meant for him.

·       Mr Lingard did not agree there was public interest in disclosing the information and was done for political gain.

·       Mr Lingard felt the WBC Code of Conduct had been breached as a result of the disclosure of confidential information.

Questions of the Independent Investigator

Mr Lingard made the following points in response to questions from Committee Members:

·       He had produced his report and formed his views based on the information he had available to him at the time of the investigation. However, the determination rested with the Committee who could form a different view if, for example, they considered that the matter had become in the public interest.

·       Mr Lingard drew Members’ attention to the definition of confidentiality in paragraph 5.9 of his report. This included ‘information confided should not be used or disclosed further, except as originally understood by the confider’. The mistaken sharing of the information should not have resulted in it being taken advantage of.

·       The fact that the information had been shared on two occasions did not make it any more acceptable to release it publicly.

Mr Lingard made the following points in response to questions from the Complainant:

·       He accepted the point that Councillor Vickers had believed the e-mail group to have been corrected and the fact that it was not was due to a system error. Mr Lingard did however feel that Councillor Vickers could have exercised more caution when resending the e-mail.

Mr Lingard made the following points in response to questions from the Subject Member:

·       He felt that Councillor Mackinnon was aware that the information shared should have been considered as confidential, having used the words ‘I’m sure you didn’t intend to send it to us’ when the e-mail was sent on the first occasion.

·       In reference to the second occasion, Councillor Mackinnon had made the point during the investigation that ‘it gave the Conservatives a very good insight into the internal thinking of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.