Agenda item

Complaint against Embsay with Eastby Parish Councillor Vince Smith

 

Reference: SGC/2024/039

 

Decision Notice

 

Complainant: Mrs Hannah Heinemann, Head of Housing Delivery and Partnerships, North Yorkshire Council

 

Subject Member: Parish Councillor Vince Smith

 

Relevant authority: Embsay with Eastby Parish Council

 

Chair of Hearings Panel: North Yorkshire Councillor Monika Slater

 

Other Members of Hearings Panel:

North Yorkshire Councillor Clive Pearson

North Yorkshire Councillor Peter Wilkinson

 

Deputy Monitoring Officer: Jennifer Norton, Assistant Director Legal and Deputy Monitoring Officer, North Yorkshire Council

 

Investigating Officer: Bernice Elgot, external Investigator

 

Independent Person: Mrs Louise Holroyd

 

Parish/Town Council representative: Parish Councillor Peter Speed, Rainton Parish Council

 

Others present:

Harriet Clarke, Senior Democratic Services Officer, North Yorkshire Council

Moira Beighton, Senior Lawyer (Governance), North Yorkshire Council

Josie O’Dowd, Governance Officer, North Yorkshire Council

 

On 9 December 2024 the Standards and Governance Committee Hearings Panel, in consultation with the Independent Person for Standards, considered a complaint by Ms Hannah Heinemann, Head of Housing Delivery and Partnerships, North Yorkshire Council (the Complainant), that Embsay with Eastby Parish Councillor Vince Smith (the Subject Member) may have failed to follow the Parish Council’s Code of Conduct for Members.

 

Background

 

North Yorkshire Council has agreed arrangements for dealing with complaints that an elected or voting co-opted Member has failed to comply with the relevant Council’s Code of Conduct for Members, in accordance with Sections 28(6) and (7) Localism Act 2011 (“standards complaints”).

 

North Yorkshire Council is the principal authority for parish and town councils in North Yorkshire for the purposes of the standards provisions in the Localism Act 2011. It is responsible for receiving and handling complaints that a parish/town councillor may have breached that authority’s code of conduct for Members. That is the extent of North Yorkshire Council’s jurisdiction in respect of parish/town council governance; parish/town councils are separate legal entities and North Yorkshire Council has no jurisdiction to consider other complaints for example about the way in which the parish council has or has not done something, or about particular parish council decisions.

 

Where a standards complaint has been assessed by the Monitoring Officer/Deputy Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Independent Person for Standards, and referred for investigation, and the investigation report subsequently concludes there is evidence of a failure to comply with the relevant Code of Conduct, then the Monitoring Officer will consult the Independent Person and consider whether local resolution may be possible. Where the parties are not agreeable to local resolution or it is not appropriate, then the investigation report will be referred to a Hearings Panel of the Standards and Governance Committee for consideration and determination of the complaint in accordance with the Hearings Panel Procedure.

 

Summary of complaint

 

The complaint concerns an offensive racist phrase used by the subject Member at a Parish Council planning working group meeting on 31 January 2024.

 

Summary of findings and determination of complaint

 

Findings

 

The Panel considered the information presented and representations made and made the following findings and determinations on a balance of probabilities:

 

a)    The subject Member was acting in his official capacity as a Parish Councillor at the relevant time. More particularly, the phrase was made by the subject Member at an informal meeting at another Parish Councillor’s home, attended by some but not all of the Parish Councillors and a North Yorkshire Council officer, to discuss an item of Parish Council business;

 

b)    The subject Member used the phrase during this informal meeting, does not dispute this fact, and has further acknowledged using the phrase deliberately to have an impact. He wanted to register his concern about the long history of failures by North Yorkshire Council to provide affordable housing in Embsay and Eastby and in particular the prospect of obtaining a rural exception classification.

 

c)     That the North Yorkshire Council officer in attendance challenged the subject Member on the use of the phrase at the meeting.

 

d)    That the use of the phrase did have an impact on those present but no evidence had been presented that any other Parish Councillor directly challenged the subject Member at the meeting.

 

e)    The subject Member had not directed the phrase at any specific individual and he has commented that it was no more than a figure of speech.

 

f)      The use of the phrase was completely unacceptable and offensive as a figure of speech or otherwise.

 

g)    That the subject Member had apologised for causing offence by using a figure of speech that on his reflection “was unprofessional”.

 

Determination

 

That in using the phrase, the subject Member had breached paragraph 3.1 of the Parish Council’s Code of Conduct which provides that he shall behave in such a way that a reasonable person would regard as respectful.

 

The Panel found that use of the phrase was disrespectful under the Code and went beyond being unprofessional. The Panel was concerned that through use of the phrase and subsequent communications from the subject Member that he had not sufficiently appreciated the offensive and unacceptable nature of the long-outdated phrase.

 

The Panel made it clear that it is not making a judgement against the character of the subject Member in using the phrase, but determining whether use of the phrase is in breach of the Code of Conduct.

 

Sanctions and Recommendations

 

The Panel recommends the following sanctions to the Parish Council:

 

       i.         That the subject Member undertake inclusion and diversity training;

 

     ii.         That the other Parish Councillors also consider undertaking inclusion and diversity training to enable confidence in recognising and challenging inappropriate language and terminology in the future.

 

The Independent Person’s and independent parish council representative’s views were taken into account at all stages of the Hearing and the findings and determination made by the Panel are consistent with their views. Their specific views regarding publicity for the outcome of the complaint are set out below.

 

Publicity

 

The Panel concluded that to satisfy the legitimate public interest in the accountability of local authorities in handling standards complaints, a Decision Notice, with third party personal information withheld, should be sent to the parties and the Parish Council and be published on North Yorkshire Council’s website.

 

The Independent Person was hesitant for the public Decision Notice to reference offensive phraseology due to concerns that this may characterise the subject Member as a racist person for using an unacceptable expression, however she noted that the Panel was not making any judgement about the subject Member’s character and that the Decision Notice published would make this clear.

 

The independent parish and town council representative expressed similar views.

 

No Right of Appeal

 

There is no right of appeal in relation to this decision.

 

If either party believes North Yorkshire Council has not followed its procedures in handling the complaint, they may complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

 

For further information about this matter please contact the Monitoring Officer at MonitoringOfficer@northyorks.gov.uk

 

Councillor Monika Slater

Chair of the Standards and Governance Committee Hearings Panel

North Yorkshire Council

 

17 December 2024