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Complaint no. LA/AC/720 concerning an alleged contravention of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct by Councillor Norman Collie of Aberdeen City Council

1. Complaint number LA/AC/720 alleged a contravention of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct (“the Code”) by Councillor Norman Collie (“the respondent”).

2. It was alleged that the respondent had contravened the Code, in particular, the provisions in paragraphs 2.1 and 3.14 relating to the requirement to Respect other councillors.

3. The person complaining (“the complainant”) Councillor Mark McDonald, alleged that the respondent had made comments in the press to the effect that, at a meeting of the Council’s Members’ Services Working Group, “younger members” of the Council had requested a budget allocation of £2000 to meet the cost of providing soft drinks and sweets. The complainant regarded himself as falling within the ambit of the respondent’s comments and stated that neither he nor any of his colleagues made any such request and accused the respondent of disseminating inaccurate information and making remarks which were ageist.

4. The fact that the respondent made remarks of the type alleged by the complainant did not appear to be in dispute and so the issue was whether the nature of the remarks was such as to constitute a breach of the Code.

5. I noted that the comments complained of were not directed at a named councillor. More significantly, I took the view that if one holds political office one has to accept that, from time to time, the office-holder may be the subject of comments which are robust, personal and, on occasions, factually less than accurate or exaggerated, that being the nature of politics in a democratic society where freedom of expression is a well-established principle.

6. I took the view that it is not the role of the Chief Investigating Officer’s office to act in an adjudicatory manner in relation to such matters unless the comments are of an extreme or threatening nature or display some other feature which would warrant their investigation. I did not consider that the comments in question could reasonably be taken as falling into that category.

7. I pointed out that the Code sets out rules for conduct and requires all councillors to respect other councillors and indeed political groups but it does not prescribe the terms in which councillors should conduct political debate or make public statements. Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which sets out the right to freedom of expression provides that the right is to include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority. The right is of fundamental importance in matters of public administration and any restrictions must be narrowly interpreted and applied only where it is necessary to do so. I took the view that the respondent was exercising his right to comment on a matter of public expenditure and – although I accepted entirely that the complainant neither accepted nor agreed with what he said – his comments could not, given the freedom of expression, reasonably be taken to amount to a breach of the Code.

8. Having considered the information that arose from my investigation, I concluded that Councillor Norman Collie had not contravened the Councillors’ Code of Conduct.

D Stuart Allan

Chief Investigating Officer

Forsyth House

Innova Campus

Rosyth Europarc

Rosyth

KY11 2UU

16 April 2008