Report of an investigation by Wilkin Chapman LLP, appointed by the Monitoring Officer for Rutland County Council, into allegations concerning Councillor Alderman, a Member of Rutland County Council. 22 March 2019 VOLUME 1 REPORT Cartergate House 26 Chantry Lane Grimsby DN31 2LJ a limited liability partnership registered in England no. OC343261, authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority Page 1 of 20 This page is intentionally blank Page 2 of 20 Contents Page 1. Executive Summary 4 2. Councillor Alderman’s official details 5 3. Relevant legislation and protocols 6 4. The evidence gathered 7 5. Summary of the material facts 10 6. Councillor Alderman’s additional submissions 11 7. Reasoning as to whether there have been failures to comply with the Code of Conduct 12 8. Conclusion 20 Volume 2 Appendix A Schedule of evidence taken into account and list of unused material Page 3 of 20 1. Executive Summary 1.1 Councillor Richard Alderman is a Member of Rutland County Council having been elected at a by-election held on 12 July 2018. Councillor Alderman signed a Declaration of Acceptance of Office on 13 July. 1.2 Prior to his election Councillor Alderman maintained a Facebook page. Between April and July 2018 a number of messages were posted on the Facebook page some of which were offensive. 1.3 After the election of Councillor Alderman the Council received a number of comments on the messaging site [email protected]. These questioned the suitability of Councillor Alderman as an elected representative in view of the inappropriate comments he had posted on Facebook. 1.4 The matter was referred to the Police and to the Council’s Monitoring Officer. 1.5 Following a Police investigation Councillor Alderman pleaded guilty at Birmingham Magistrates Court on 26 September to charges under the Communications Act 2003. Councillor Alderman was sentenced on 4 October 2018 to a 6 Month Community Order and a 6 Month Curfew for making public posts which were menacing and grossly offensive. 1.6 On 1 November 2018 the Council’s Conduct Committee considered a report from the Monitoring Officer regarding Councillor Alderman’s conduct. The Committee determined there was sufficient evidence to warrant that the matter be investigated. The complaint was referred to us for investigation, the allegations were; Councillor Alderman had:- (i) not treated others with respect; (ii) caused the Council to breach its obligations under the Equality Act 2010; and (iii) brought his office or the Council into disrepute. 1.7 We have concluded that Councillor Alderman was not acting in an official capacity when he posted comments on Facebook and when he was quoted in the Rutland and Stamford Mercury. 1.8 Our conclusion is that there has not been a breach of the code of conduct of the authority concerned by Councillor Alderman. Page 4 of 20 2. Councillor Alderman’s official details 2.1 Councillor Alderman was elected to Rutland County Council (The Council) on 12 July 2018. 2.2 Councillor Alderman signed a declaration of acceptance of office on 13 July 2018. 2.3 We are not aware of Councillor Alderman having received training on the Councillors’ Code of Conduct. Page 5 of 20 3. Relevant legislation and protocols 3.1 Section 27 of the Localism Act 2011 (the Act) provides that a relevant authority (of which the Council is one) must promote and maintain high standards of conduct by members and co-opted members of the authority. In discharging this duty, the Authority must adopt a code dealing with the conduct that is expected of members when they are acting in that capacity. 3.2 Section 28 of the Act provides that the Authority must secure that its code of conduct is, when viewed as a whole, consistent with the following principles:- (a) Selflessness; (b) Integrity; (c) Objectivity; (d) Accountability; (e) Openness; (f) Honesty; (g) Leadership. 3.3 The Authority adopted a Code of Conduct (attached at WC 1) in March 2015 in which the following paragraphs are included:- 3.4 Paragraph 2.1 of the Code states:- The Code applies whenever a person is acting in his or her capacity as a Member or co-opted member of a committee sub-committee or other body of the Council. 3.5 Paragraph 4.2 of the Code states:- Members must treat others with respect. 3.6 Paragraph 4.3 of the Code states:- Members must not: (a) do anything which may cause the Council to breach any of its obligations under the Equality Act 2010. 3.7 Paragraph 4.5 of the Code states:- Members must not conduct themselves in a manner which could reasonably be regarded as bringing their office or the Council into disrepute. Page 6 of 20 4. Evidence and facts Our appointment 4.1 The Council’s Conduct Committee considered a report from the Monitoring Officer regarding complaints received about Councillor Alderman’s conduct. The Conduct Committee identified potential breaches of the Code of Conduct and referred the complaint against Councillor Alderman to Wilkin Chapman LLP Solicitors for investigation on 19 November 2018. 4.2 Work in respect of this matter was undertaken by Jonathan Goolden, and Alan Tasker. 4.3 Mr Goolden is a solicitor and partner of Wilkin Chapman. Mr Tasker is a consultant (non solicitor) and was formerly a local authority Monitoring Officer. Both have significant experience of the investigation of local authority code of conduct cases. 4.4 We wish to record our thanks for the co-operation and courtesy shown to us by all those we had cause to contact during the investigation. The complaint 4.5 Between 18 July and 10 October 2018 the Council received five complaints regarding the conduct of Councillor Alderman (attached at WC 2). These were reported to the Council’s Conduct Committee by the Monitoring Officer. The Committee considered there was evidence of potential breaches of the Code of Conduct and referred the matter to us for investigation. 4.6 The complaints can be summarised as bringing the Council into disrepute by not treating others with respect in posts published on Councillor Alderman’s Facebook account. 4.7 Copies of the complaint, together with other relevant documents are annexed to this report and listed in a schedule of evidence at Appendix A. The Investigation 4.8 The Council provided us with copies of the Facebook posts (attached at WC 3). We contacted Councillor Alderman by letter on 13 December 2018 to arrange an interview with him to provide him with an opportunity to comment on and respond to the complaint made against him. This was followed up with a telephone call on 18 December. Councillor Alderman contacted us by telephone on 3 January 2019 requesting information on the complaint, the Council provided the details to him. We again contacted Councillor Alderman by letter on 22 January as he had requested that contact with him should only be by post. Councillor Alderman contacted us by telephone on 23 January and stated that the matter had been considered by the Court and that we had sufficient information to complete our investigation without further comment from him. Page 7 of 20 Background 4.9 The Facebook posts provided to us indicate that Councillor Alderman (prior to his election as a Councillor) had a Facebook account as “Richard Alderman”. 4.10 Between April and July 2018 a number of messages were posted on the Richard Alderman Facebook page. These were shared posts originally posted on Facebook by other Facebook users. Most of the shared posts had a comment which had been added when they were shared on the Richard Alderman account. 4.11 The posts on the Facebook account were primarily rude, derogatory and threatening comments about various individuals. The complaint 4.12 The Council received a number of complaints about Councillor Alderman, these were submitted to the Council through a Council website “[email protected]”. The Monitoring Officer reported these to the Council’s Complaints Committee (report enclosed at WC 4). 4.13 The Committee agreed that the complaint should be referred for investigation. Facebook posts 4.14 From 17 April to 15 July 2018 Councillor Alderman posted a number of messages on Facebook which contained rude, derogatory and threatening comments about national politicians of both major political parties. Some were comments about a civil servant and members of the Royal Family. 4.15 By the time we commenced our investigation the posts were no longer available on Facebook. Copies of screenshots of the posts were provided to us by the Council. 4.16 Councillor Alderman pleaded guilty at the Magistrates Court to the charges under the Communications Act 2003. We therefore consider this sufficient evidence to conclude that the Richard Alderman Facebook account was Councillor Alderman’s. It therefore follows that we have concluded that the posts were made by Councillor Alderman, albeit with one exception, before he became a Councillor. 4.17 The one message posted after Councillor Alderman became a Councillor, following him signing a Declaration of Acceptance of Office on 13 July 2018, appears to have been posted on 15 July 2018. The copy provided to us is very blurred and was screenshot the day after the post was published therefore it is recorded as being posted ‘yesterday’. However, the Case Summary from the Court Hearing makes specific reference to the post and dates it as being 15 July 2018. 4.18 The 15 July post is a shared post from what appears to be Brexit News. The original post is a picture of Theresa May MP PM with a comment that is illegible on the copy provided to us.