The Flintshire County Council Standards Committee met on 1 September 2025 and approved its draft annual report, and adopted a revised procedure for dealing with reports of alleged breaches of the members' code of conduct. The committee also reviewed the forward work plan and received information from the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (PSOW).

Review of Hearings Procedure

The committee adopted a revised procedure for dealing with reports regarding alleged breaches of a local authority's code of conduct for members, as set out in Appendix 2 - Hearing Procedure for Code of Conduct Complaints - Revised clean copy. The procedure will form part of the Standards Committee rolling review of procedures once every authority term, and at any other time that it considers appropriate, to ensure that the procedure remains up to date and pertinent.

The Standards Committee is responsible for dealing with reports referred to the council's Monitoring Officer by the PSOW, under section 69 of the Local Government Act 2000¹. The Legal Services Manager explained that the revisions to the procedure captured suggested changes that were identified in informal working group sessions, and simplify and, where relevant, expand upon practical details that will need to be addressed in dealing with a report from the Ombudsman.

Key changes to the procedure include:

• Clarification of the narrow scope of the initial determination that the committee is required to make.
• A two-stage process for liaising with the subject member and the Ombudsman prior to a hearing.
• A requirement for reasons why a pre-hearing review is being requested.
• Clarification that parties are entitled to legal representation at all stages, but this is not provided by the council.
• Clarification that information will be published as soon as reasonably practicable following the conclusion of the proceedings.

Draft Annual Report

The committee approved the draft annual report, which is required by section 63 of the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021². The report includes:

• a description of the committee's work
• any notices it has received from the Adjudication Panel for Wales
• any cases referred to it for a hearing by the PSOW
• its opinion on whether group leaders have complied with their duty to promote good behaviour
• any recommendations to the council on the functions of the committee

The draft annual report is attached as App 1. Third Draft annual report 24 -25.

Public Services Ombudsman for Wales Annual Report for the Year 2024/25

The committee considered the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales Annual Report for the Year 2024/25 and Annual Letter for Flintshire County Council.

The Chief Officer (Governance) told the committee that the majority of the report relates to the PSOW's functions to investigate service complaints. Pages 29 - 44 and the statistics at page 184 relate to code of conduct complaints, which are within the committee's remit.

The purpose of the annual report is to report on the PSOW's performance over the year, provide an update on developments carried out and to deliver any key messages arising from the work.

The annual report sets out the workload that has been dealt with by the PSOW during 2024/25. For code of conduct complaints, the numbers are:

Overall, the number of complaints has dropped compared to last year. The Ombudsman investigated 49 complaints and referred 15 for a hearing, slightly fewer than last year but still higher than 2022/23.

Of these, 56% were about equality and respect, which is roughly the same as last year, and is always the largest category of complaint. This is broadly reflected in the complaints about Flintshire's community, county and town councillors.

The Ombudsman has appointed more staff to deal with complaints, and so there has been a fall in the number of outstanding complaints.

The Annual Letter for Flintshire is attached as App 1 Annual Letter 2024-25. It lists the number of complaints against councillors from different councils within Flintshire. Due to differences in reporting, it isn't possible to easily compare the total number of complaints received in previous reporting periods.

The Ombudsman does not make statistical comparisons between councils in respect of code of conduct complaints.

Overview of Ethical Complaints

The committee considered the Overview of Ethical Complaints, which shows a summary of the ethical complaints alleging a breach of the Code of Conduct that have been submitted to the PSOW.

The report gives the committee an understanding of the number and types of complaints being made, and the outcome of consideration by the PSOW. The complaints distinguish between community, county and town councillors, whilst still remaining anonymous.

Since the last report (28 April 2025) one complaint has been received. The PSOW's office continue to work through the backlog of older complaints, resolving another that has been outstanding for a little over 12 months.

Public Services Ombudsman for Wales 'My Findings' Publication

The committee considered the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales My Findings publication.

The PSOW considers complaints that members of local authorities in Wales have breached the Code. There are four findings the PSOW can arrive at:

1. that there is no evidence of breach
2. that no action needs to be taken in respect of the complaint
3. that the matter be referred to the authority's Monitoring Officer for consideration by the Standards Committee
4. that the matter be referred to the President of the Adjudication Panel for Wales (the APW) for adjudication by a tribunal

Occasionally an investigation may be discontinued, where circumstances change during the course of an investigation and it is considered that it would not be in the public interest to continue to investigate.

The PSOW's website includes a tool called Our Findings, which includes a search function to allow summaries of cases to be accessed by reference to the relevant organisation, matter type, dates, case reference numbers, or outcome.

In cases where the matter has been referred for consideration by the Standards Committee or to the APW for adjudication by a tribunal, the PSOW findings only contains summaries of those cases for which the hearings by the standards committee.

The committee last considered the findings up to and including 1 September 2023 for a 12 months period. The attached Appendix contains details of findings between 22 September 2022 and 21 August 2025.

During the period from 1 September 2023 there are 52 findings. The breakdown of cases per category over this period are as follows:

For comparison, there were 40 findings over a 2 year period prior to September 2023. Additional data has been requested from the PSOW with a view to being able to present this information in the form of a line graph over a longer reference period, which may assist in identifying trends.

Of the 52 findings in the latest 24 month period, Promotion of Equality and Respect remains the most common category but of the 27 findings over this period in this category, only 4 relate to social media. This may indicate that that awareness around appropriate official use social media is improving.

September Forward Work Plan 2025 - 2026

The committee considered the September Forward Work Plan 2025 - 2026 and agreed to the following:

• Review of Hearing protocol for Code of Conduct complaints September.
• Suggested training topics to be forwarded to the Monitoring Officer.
• Protocol for Dispensations November.
• Review of Flintshire Standard January or March 2026.
• National Standards Conference to be removed from 'reports to be scheduled'.

Other Matters

• Councillor Hilary McGuill submitted a request for a dispensation[^3]. [^3]: In local government, a dispensation is a permission granted to a councillor to participate in a discussion or vote on a matter in which they have a personal interest.
• Feedback was provided from the National Forum for Standards Committees.
• Feedback was provided from the Ethical Liaison Meeting held on 28 May. An Ethical Liaison Meeting would be arranged following the completion of the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) peer sessions in October, with the outcome to be reported back to the Standards Committee.