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Complaint no. LA/SA/637 concerning an alleged contravention of the Councillors' Code of Conduct by Councillor Nan McFarlane of South Ayrshire Council

1. Complaint number LA/SA/637 alleged a contravention of the Councillors' Code of Conduct ("the Code") by Councillor Nan McFarlane ("the respondent").

2. It was alleged that the respondent had contravened the Code, in particular, paragraph 3.2 (Relationship with Council Employees) and paragraphs 2 and 20 of Annex C (Protocol for Relations between Councillors and Employees in Scottish Councils).

3. The person complaining ("the complainant") alleged that, as a result of comments in a letter which she wrote to the Glasgow Herald and which was published in the newspaper on 25 September 2007,the respondent failed to respect the Chief Executive or treat him with courtesy (paragraph 3.2 of the Code), did not work in an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust with the Chief Executive (paragraph 2 of Annex C, Protocol for Relations Between Councillors and Employees) and raised matters relating to the conduct or capability of the Chief Executive in public, contrary to paragraph 20 of Annex C.

4. The respondent stated that she replied to the article which appeared in the Glasgow Herald on 22 September 2007, about the Chief Executive's proposed departure from the Council, because she found the comments, that the Corporate Management Team had issued an ultimatum saying they had already lost confidence in the Chief Executive and did not believe they could work with him, not only insulting to the Chief Executive but extremely disrespectful of him and the Council as a whole.

5. In her letter to the newspaper the respondent was critical of the fact that the Chief Executive's abilities were not assessed on the basis of any objective or systematic appraisal but on subjective opinion and innuendo. I considered that her comments about the absence of an appraisal system were not intended as a criticism of the Chief Executive but of what she perceived to be the unfair manner in which his performance had been assessed. She, in fact, attributed responsibility for the absence of an appraisal system to previous Tory and Labour administrations and to the most senior directors. Having regard to these factors I did not consider that the respondent's comments were directed at the Chief Executive and I found, therefore, that her comments were not disrespectful or discourteous to him, or that they represented a breach of trust. Accordingly, I found that the respondent had not breached paragraph 3.2 of the Code or paragraph 2 of Annex C.

6. The respondent stated that she wrote her letter to the Glasgow Herald as a response to the article which appeared in the newspaper on 22 September 2007. This was factually the case and I accepted, therefore, that it was not the respondent who first raised the issue about the Chief Executive's conduct and capability in public but the unidentified "source" behind the article which appeared on 22 September 2007. I considered, in any event, that the focus of the respondent's comments was on the process, or lack of it, by which it had been concluded that the Chief Executive was not capable of carrying out his duties as Chief Executive, rather than on the Chief Executive's conduct or capability. I found that the respondent did not raise matters relating to the conduct or capability of the Chief Executive in public and that she had not, therefore, breached paragraph 20 of Annex C.

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

D Stuart Allan,
Chief Investigating Officer.
Forsyth House
Innova Campus
Rosyth Europarc
Rosyth
Fife
KY11 2UU
20 December 2007