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Note of Decision - Case No. LA/R/09

Complaint against Councillor James Harkins of Renfrewshire Council

1. This is a complaint by Councillor Alastair Nimmo alleging that Councillor James Harkins breached the Councillors' Code of Conduct by being disrespectful to other councillors and instigating a policy of disrespect towards opposition councillors with effect from the first statutory meeting of Renfrewshire Council on 15th May 2003.

2. Both these councillors are elected members of Renfrewshire Council who have their principal offices in Paisley. Both councillors have signed a declaration of acceptance of the office of councillor under the Local Authorities (Councillors) (Declaration of Acceptance of Office) (Scotland) Order 1990, as amended, in terms of which they undertake to meet the requirements of the Councillors' Code of Conduct.

3. The Councillors' Code of Conduct was issued by the Scottish Ministers in terms of section 1 of the Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 and came into effect of 1st May 2003. The general principles set out in section 2 of the Code include -

"Respect

You must respect all other councillors and all council employees and the role they play, treating them with courtesy at all times."

4. Essentially, the main part of the complaint is that the Council is a member of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) which recommends that member authorities should apply a policy of proportionality reflecting the overall political balance of the Council when appointing or allocating members to committees or outside bodies. It is alleged that Councillor Harkins has signed up to this policy on behalf of the Council but has ignored it by filling committees or outside bodies with members of the Labour Group creating heavily weighted majorities for Labour.

5. Following the local government elections in May 2003 the constitution of the Council was made up of 21 Labour members (including Councillor Harkins), 15 SNP members (including Councillor Nimmo), 3 Liberal Democrat members and 1 Conservative member. The Labour members have formed the Administration of the Council. Councillor Harkins is the Leader of the Council.

6. At the first meeting of the Council on 15th May 2003 following the elections, the Council - amongst other items - dealt with the decision-making structure and membership of committees (the main committees being known as Policy Boards within Renfrewshire Council). The meeting had before them a report by the Director of Corporate Services which said that, in appointing members to committees, the Council should apply the principle of party representation in a fair and consistent manner; whilst there was no statutory provision requiring party political balance on committees and sub-committees, COSLA had previously made it clear that it was important that Councils should apply the principle of party representation in a manner which could stand the test of scrutiny. The Administration then moved to maintain the Policy Board decision-making structure which had previously been established for the purpose of the discharge of the Council's functions and to allocate membership of the various Boards and Committees. The SNP moved as an amendment that the composition of the Boards be on a strictly proportionate basis as per COSLA recommendations. On a vote being taken 18 members voted for the amendment and 21 members voted for the motion which was accordingly carried. The relevant decisions of the Council have been recorded in the minute of the meeting of 15th May 2003.

7. In Scotland, the position in law is that local authorities have discretion (other than in certain specific areas) as to how they allocate seats on committees and outside bodies and they are not required to allocate such seats in the same proportion that reflects the political balance of the Council as a whole. There are statutory provisions that deal with the allocation of seats on committees and outside bodies - namely sections 15 to 17 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 - but those sections have not been brought into force in Scotland. I have, therefore, found that there are no statutory provisions dealing with this in Scotland and that the Council are under no legal obligation to allocate seats to committees or outside bodies to reflect party balance.

8. Notwithstanding that, the Administration have, in their view, endeavoured to allocate committee seats in a fair and consistent manner which could stand the test of scrutiny and the complainant contests that.

9. With reference to the Council's decisions on the allocation of seats for committees and outside bodies, I have found that the allocation has generally been applied in a fair and reasonable way that has had regard to the overall party political balance of the Council as a whole.

10. In the case of most committees and outside bodies that were cited by the complainant as examples where there had been an unfair allocation of seats - namely the Licensing Board, the Planning and Development Policy Board, the Strathclyde Police Board, the Strathclyde Fire Board and Renfrewshire Leisure - I have found that the allocation of seats has been made in a fair and reasonable way having regard to the overall party political balance of the Council as a whole.

11. In two other cases that were cited as having an unfair allocation of seats - namely the Leadership Board (where there are 7 Labour members, 3 SNP members and 1 Liberal Democrat member, making a total of 11 members) and the Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority (where all three of the Council's substantive members and all three of the substitute members are Labour members) I consider that it would have been possible to allocate more seats to opposition members and that it would, therefore, be appropriate for the Council to give further consideration to these allocations.

12. With regard to the Council's representation of five members on COSLA, COSLA themselves recommended that in the case of Renfrewshire Council, there should be four Administration members and one opposition member. That recommendation has been applied.

13. With regard to the allegations that the SNP members are not allowed sufficient time to speak during debates compared to Labour members I have found - having regard to detailed information on member participation at meetings held on 24th June 2003 and 4th September 2003 - that the SNP received a reasonable proportion of debating opportunities and time for speaking.

14. A further part of the complaint is to the effect that Councillor Harkins interfered in the process relating to the appointment of the depute convener of the Council's Scrutiny Board (which was to be allocated to an opposition member) by having the Labour Group members vote for the Liberal Democrat candidate rather than the SNP candidate. On this, I have found that there was nothing improper in either the Labour Group members participating in the vote as they intended to do (the matter was not finally put to the vote as the SNP members' nomination was withdrawn) or in any action on the part of Councillor Harkins to encourage the Labour Party members so to vote.

15. With reference to that part of the complaint that Councillor Harkins has behaved personally in a disrespectful or dictatorial way towards opposition councillors, I have found - having due regard to the evidence given at interview by elected members - that there was no misconduct under the Code on Councillor Harkins' part. I would also observe that the decisions that were at the centre of various aspects of the complaint were decisions taken collectively by the Administration and that Councillor Harkins' involvement in intimating or moving these decisions should be seen in that context.

16. I have therefore come to the conclusion that Councillor Harkins has acted properly and consequently has not contravened the Councillors' Code of Conduct in relation to the matters raised in this complaint and I find accordingly.

D Stuart Allan,
Chief Investigating Officer.
Forsyth House
Innova Campus
Rosyth Europarc
Rosyth
Fife
KY11 2UU
21st October 2003