The Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel Complaints Subcommittee met to consider a non-criminal complaint regarding the conduct of the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Commissioner, and to review a complaints report. The subcommittee was scheduled to consider a process for resolving the complaint, potentially informally. The meeting was scheduled to exclude the press and public due to the confidential nature of the information to be discussed.

Consideration of a Non-Criminal Complaint

The subcommittee was scheduled to consider a non-criminal complaint concerning the conduct of the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Commissioner¹. The role of the subcommittee was described as facilitating informal resolution, aiming to solve, explain, clear up, or settle the matter directly with the complainant without an investigation or formal proceedings. The Agenda stated that this was not intended to be a disciplinary process and would not involve any sanction.

The Complaints Subcommittee Protocol document included in the report pack, outlined the procedure to be followed at the meeting. According to the protocol, the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel had delegated the handling of non-criminal complaints regarding both quality of service and conduct to the monitoring officer (Chief Executive of the Commissioner's Office) to broker local resolutions, resolve the complaints and restore relationships. If local resolutions could not be brokered and the complainant wished to take the matter further, it could be brought to the attention of the Panel, resulting in the setup of a subcommittee to consider the complaint.

The protocol stated that the subcommittee is prohibited from investigating the complaint, but can provide an opportunity for the complainant and person complained against to comment on the complaint. The subcommittee was scheduled to receive a copy of the original complaint, as well as correspondence between the complainant and the Commissioner's Office regarding attempts to broker an informal resolution. Both the complainant and the person complained against were to be invited to attend the meeting in person.

After hearing from both parties, the subcommittee was scheduled to make a decision on how best to proceed in facilitating a resolution. The protocol stated that if the subcommittee determines that the complaint should be subject to informal resolution, it should then consider what action it may take to assist in clarifying or resolving the issues raised in the complaint. However, it was noted that the subcommittee may not conduct an investigation of the matter, overturn a decision, censure anyone, or require or issue an apology.

The protocol outlined potential further actions to resolve the complaint, such as:

• Recommending that further information or an explanation of a situation is provided to the complainant.
• Recommending a change to a policy or practice operated by the Police and Crime Commissioner
• Requesting that the person complained against offers an apology to the complainant (no apology may be tendered on behalf of the person complained against unless that person has admitted the alleged conduct and agreed to the apology)

Both parties were to be advised in writing as to the outcome of the subcommittee's discussions. The Police and Crime Panel may publish its record of the outcome of the informal resolution of the complaint, if it considers publication to be in the public interest, after inviting the complainant and person complained against to comment and considering their views. The subcommittee was scheduled to notify the Police and Crime Panel at the next scheduled meeting of the outcome of the process.

The Procedure for Hearing of the Complaint document outlined the steps for the subcommittee to follow during the meeting, including:

• Complainant to clarify the nature of the complaint
• Sub-Committee to ask questions (to seek clarification on complaint and attempts at resolution).
• Seek Complainant's views on the publication of outcome following meeting.
• Person complained against to make response to the Complaint
• Person complained against to comment on attempts at informal resolution
• Sub-Committee to ask questions (to seek clarification on complaint and attempts at resolution).
• Seek the views of the Person complained against regarding the publication of outcome following meeting.
• Complaints Subcommittee to discuss next steps
• Notification of outcome to complainant and person complained against in writing.

Exclusion of the Press & Public

The Agenda included a resolution to exclude the press and public from the meeting. This was stated to be in accordance with Section 100 A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972². The reason given was that the presence of the public would likely lead to the disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 & 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12 A to the Act, specifically information relating to any individual and/or information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual. It was stated that the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing it.