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Complaint no. LA/R/51 Concerning an alleged contravention of The Councillors' Code of Conduct by Councillor James Harkins of Renfrewshire Council

1. Complaint number LA/R/51 alleged a contravention of the Councillors' Code of Conduct ("the Code") by Councillor James Harkins ("the respondent").

2. It was alleged that the respondent had contravened the Code, in particular, breaching the key principle of Respect set out in section 2 and the provision as to General Conduct set out in paragraph 3.14 relating to Conduct in the Chamber or in Committee.

3. The person complaining ("the complainant"), Councillor Martin, alleged that the respondent had chaired a meeting of the Council's Leadership Board on 21 January 2004 which received a report on Social Inclusion from a Council officer. The meeting having been opened to the floor Councillor Derek Mackay started to speak but the respondent interrupted him to say that he would "only take questions" and thereafter "continually interrupted him". He alleged that Labour members had been allowed to speak without interruption but that Councillor Mackay was not allowed to do so. He alleged that the respondent had treated members of his own party favourably but had treated Councillor Mackay unfavourably. He alleged that the respondent had denied his request to reprimand another councillor (Councillor Williams) and that he had behaved in a partisan manner, abusing and misusing his position as Chairman, in the way he conducted the meeting.

4. My investigation included gathering documentary and witness evidence from a number of sources. The tape recording of the meeting which was provided to me by the Monitoring Officer was of great assistance. That recording showed, inter alia, that once the meeting was opened to the floor, the speakers share of the floor was approximately:-

Councillor Harkins - 16.8%
Councillor Mackay - 53.8%
Councillor Martin - 3.8%
Councillor Williams - 13.6%
Officers - 5.1%
Unidentified speakers - 6.4%

5. Having considered the available evidence I found that the respondent: - (a) had invited questions (b) had not continually interrupted Councillor Mackay, other than to direct him to address the point (c) had allowed an interruption of a Labour member (Councillor Williams) by Councillor Mackay (d) did deny the complainants request that Councillor Williams be reprimanded, this being within his authority as Chair. Furthermore I found that the content of the tape recording of the meeting indicated that the respondent had not conducted himself in a partisan manner nor misused or abused his chairmanship.

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

D Stuart Allan,
Chief Investigating Officer.
Forsyth House
Innova Campus
Rosyth Europarc
Rosyth
Fife
KY11 2UU
16 July 2004