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Complaint no. LA/ED/168 concerning an alleged contravention of the Councillors' Code of Conduct by Councillor John Dempsey of East Dunbartonshire Council

1. Complaint number LA/ED/168 alleged a contravention of the Councillors' Code of Conduct ("the Code") by Councillor John Dempsey ("the respondent").

2. It was alleged that the respondent had contravened the Code, in particular, paragraph 2.1 (Duty and Selflessness); paragraph 3.19 (Appointments to Partner Organisations) and paragraph 5.10 (Non-Financial Interests).

3. The person complaining ("the complainant") alleged that the respondent's involvement with the renewal of the lease for the property, including telling the Council officer who was dealing with the renewal how long the lease should be, was improper and a breach of the Code.

4. Regarding the alleged breach of paragraph 3.19 of the Code (Appointments to Partner Organisations), where a possible conflict of interest arises between the Partner Organisation and the Council the councillor should take advice on his respective responsibilities to the Council and to the Partner Organisation.

5. A councillor is bound by the rules of a Partner Organisation with a duty to act in the interests of that organisation they are at the same time bound by the (over-arching) duties imposed by the Code. Paragraph 3.19 goes on to say how the councillor must act, by taking advice, if a conflict of interest arises between the interests of partner organisation and the Council.

6. In this case, however, the interests of the Initiative and the Council were not in conflict either under the terms of the partnership with the Initiative or in any other way.

7. Regarding the alleged breach of paragraph 5.10 of the Code, I found that as Councillor Dempsey had registered his appointment to the Initiative as a non-financial interest he had recognised that it was a significant non-financial interest.

8. The information provided by the complainant and by the Council did not show any divergence of interest between the Council and the Initiative. I therefore found that the respondent was not required to declare any interest.

9. The complainant stated that she did not know the Initiative had an interest concerning the property. I received no evidence that she was told or that she knew, prior to the negotiations for the lease that the Initiative would effectively be a party to those negotiations or that it would ultimately own the property. I found that this omission did much to fuel the complainant's concerns and feeling of ill-treatment. The Council could have explained the situation to her at the time the Initiative was created and had it done so she would have been better informed and thereby would undoubtedly have had a better understanding of her position.

10. Having considered the information that arose from my investigation, I concluded that Councillor Dempsey had not contravened the Councillors' Code of Conduct.

D Stuart Allan,
Chief Investigating Officer.
Forsyth House
Innova Campus
Rosyth Europarc
Rosyth
Fife
KY11 2UU
12 October 2005