Agenda item

The Chief Executive reported there was a question from Mr. Darron Abbott.

Question asked by Mr. Darron Abbott pursuant to paragraph 10 of the Rules of Procedure as set out in the Constitution:-

“At every local election I can remember the promise of being open and accountable has appeared on Conservative leaflet.  Is this a commitment made by the candidate alone if elected or is it extended to making a promise that the whole Council will become open and accountable and to whom is this promise made?”

Response by Councillor Nigel Welton

“Thank you for your question Mr Abbott, yes indeed openness and accountability whether on a leaflet or not is something that I am sure every candidate aspires to.

Once elected all members are bound by the current code of conduct which is based on the Seven Principles of Public Life, also known as the Nolan Principles.

I am sure you are aware of these principles which is available on the .gov website and our councillors code of conduct is accessible on our website.

If you wish, I can send you links to both, but for clarity the seven principles are:-

·         Selflessness

·         Integrity

·         Objectivity

·         Accountability

·         Openness

·         Honesty and

·         Leadership

I hope this provides some insight and answers your question.”

Supplemental question asked by Mr. Abbott pursuant to paragraph 10.8 of the Rules of Procedure as set out in the Constitution:-

“You received my supplementary question at 2 p.m. this afternoon so should be able to answer.

So do we put this into practice all of the way through this Council.

There is a requirement to publish details of the contract register, after checking this morning the final entry is 18/19 Q4, this was brought to the attention of the relevant portfolio holder earlier this year, nothing done.

The deal with Garfit’s park for a local football club to have exclusive use of the facilities for a rent of £1,500  per year. The agreement that was never passed over to the finance department to raise an invoice for the rent that was never paid. Then the Council officers deliberately gave misleading information twice in Freedom of Information request before being honest in the third attempt regarding this arrangement. The continual fly tipping in the park by one person and despite assurances by Christian Allen the blind eye continued to be turned.

We had the Asda/Tesco Fly tipping fiasco with lots of strange deals that has now been covered over and all forgotten about apart from the Portfolio Holder that lost their position in the cabinet because of the mess. I understood that the new contracts were to be agreed and signed by the end of November but has still yet to be approved by Cabinet.

Then more confusion and misleading information in a freedom of information request about £2000 paid out of a budget that does not exist.  This contradicting information given to a portfolio holder by an officer.

The cover up of events last week which I am sure you are aware, let’s just refer to this as operation dam buster.

The refusal to answer a subject access request because some of the documents will cause embarrassment to the Council.

Finally an item on this evening’s agenda the city status bid I have emailed both Councillors Noble and Austin for details of the costs of this application, in fact at the last Cabinet meeting you raised concerns that there was no mention of the costs of preparing the bid. I note that the costs are minimal, whilst I appreciate that Councillor Austin is not bound by the openness and accountable policy that applies to other conservative members, I would have thought someone could have given me some idea of what this project is costing.

After these instances would you agree that the open and accountable policy is only operated when it is great publicity for this Council?”

Response by Councillor Welton

“I did receive your supplementary question and having read through it I can only find one question in the last sentence and the answer to that is no.”