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Complaint no. LA/E/102 concerning an alleged contravention of the Councillors' Code of Conduct by Councillor Eric Milligan of City of Edinburgh Council

1. Complaint number LA/E/102 alleged a contravention of the Councillors' Code of Conduct ("the Code") by Councillor Eric Milligan ("the respondent").

2. It was alleged that the respondent had contravened the Code, in particular, the key principle of Leadership in section 2 and the terms of paragraph 3.13 of the Code which deals with Hospitality.

3. The person complaining ("the complainant") Mr D, alleged that on Wednesday 12 May 2004 Eric Milligan, Convener of Lothian and Borders Police Board used police transport from the City Chambers in Edinburgh to attend a football match between Rangers and Heart of Midlothian at Ibrox Park, Glasgow. The complainant states a police support driver was dispatched around 17.00 hours to take the respondent and a colleague to the football match, where he waited until the match finished at 21.00, and at 22.20 the driver took the respondent and his colleague to a public house and over an hour later took them to their home addresses.

The complainant also posed the question whether a financial interest had been noted in respect of the receipt of hospitality from a private business in the pursuit of what might be described as lobbying activity.

4. In a written response Councillor Milligan confirmed that (in his capacity as Convener of Lothian and Borders Police Board) he officially attended the football match at the invitation of the Chairman of Rangers Football Club. He was accompanied by Councillor Brian Fallon who is the Edinburgh Council Member with special responsibilities for the safety of sports grounds. They were there to observe how the Strathclyde Police and the clubs worked together to steward major matches.

5. He added that the issues of sports grounds public safety impact on local amenity and the need for the monitoring of crowd dispersal had again come to the fore in Edinburgh as the Heart of Midlothian Football Club had agreed to switch their European matches from Tynecastle to Murrayfield this season and may play all their domestic matches at Murrayfield next season.

6. Also he advised that he is the councillor for the area that surrounds Murrayfield and the local residents most affected by any such change are those he represents as local councillor and as Police Convener. He therefore had a legitimate interest to observe, study and learn from Glasgow's experience of such occasions. Given the official purpose of the visit he had enquired whether he could use a police vehicle and was told he could and that it had been authorised by the acting Chief Constable.

7. He claimed that he arrived back in Edinburgh around 11pm and was home by approximately 11.30pm. He emphatically refuted the accusation by the complainant that he kept the driver waiting outside a public house until 1am.

8. The main part of this complaint related to the alleged misuse of police transport. This aspect of the complaint did not allege possible misconduct under any specific section of the Code (such as section 3 which deals with general conduct) other than by inference to that part of section 2 of the Code which deals with Leadership. The information which I obtained from the Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police established that the respondent was entitled to make use of police transport when carrying out Police Board related duties and the Chairman of Rangers Football Club confirmed that the invitation sent to the respondent had been sent to him in his capacity as Convener of the Police Board. Accordingly, I found no evidence to support the complainant's general allegation of misuse of police transport and possible breach of the Code.

9. The second part of this complaint alleged that the respondent might have failed to record in the appropriate manner the hospitality which he received on the evening in question and might thus have contravened paragraph 3.13 of the Code. I found that the respondent had made an appropriate record of the hospitality he had received. I established that the respondent did record in the appropriate manner the hospitality which he received on the evening in question. Due to a weakness in the Council's recording arrangements the date on which this record was made is not known. I was advised that this weakness in the system has now been rectified.

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

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