Dear Mr. Barnbrook,
Your complaint against Mr Alabi
Thank you for your email received on 3 February 2014 providing details of your
complaint. I understand from your email that your complaint is that
Mr. Alabi failed to properly investigate, at the review stage, the conduct of
Councillor Cheryl Bacon on 19th June 2013 at a Public Realm Meeting.
The conduct of Councillor Bacon was the subject of a complaint by you under the
Members’ Code of Conduct. Mrs. Tyler provided a response to your complaint
on 23rd August 2013 and Mr. Alabi has undertaken a review of that response.
Mr. Alabi wrote to you on 10th February confirming that, having undertaken a
review, he has concluded that there was no breach of the Code of Conduct.
You will be aware that there is no further right of appeal or review of Mr. Alabi’s
decision under the procedure for considering complaints against Members
in relation to the Members’ Code of Conduct and it is not be appropriate for the
complaints procedure to be used to re-examine the substantive issues.
I reject your complaint as being outside the scope of the Council’s Complaints
Procedure because the issues fall under the procedure for considering complaints
under the Members’ Code of Conduct.
Mr. Alabi’s letter of 10th February specifically states that he and the
Independent Person, Ms. Sandhu, had concluded that it was not necessary to
interview any other person. It is clear that the issue of whether
Councillor Slaughter should be interviewed was considered as part of Mr. Alabi’s
review and I see no basis for any complaint, even if it were appropriate to
pursue this matter under the Council’s Complaint Procedure. I am also
satisfied that Mr. Alabi has conducted a diligent, thorough and competent review.
The circumstances giving rise to this correspondence took place in June 2013 and
have been the subject of extensive correspondence, meetings and discussion.
I do not consider that it is reasonable for the Council to be required to enter
into any further correspondence or to expend further resources in relation to these matters.
Yours sincerely
Nick Hollier
Deputy Director HR and Corporate Support
28th February 2014