South Wales Evening Post - 28 October 2008
Opposition councillors in Swansea are being investigated by Wales's public service watchdog.
The Public Service Ombudsman has confirmed he is investigating 32 members of Swansea Council following a heated meeting about the council's ill-fated eGovernment project.
The July meeting proved controversial when Labour and the Conservatives insisted the financial aspects of the deal between the council and its IT partner CapGemini should be discussed in public.
When the Lib Dem-led administration objected, opposition members called a vote against excluding the public, only to be defeated.
Councillors David Phillips and Rene Kinzett — leaders of the Labour and Conservative groups respectively — then led their party members out of the council chamber, refusing to take part in a private debate.
Council leader Chris Holley then made the complaint to the ombudsman, suggesting the Labour Party and the Conservatives had broken the members' code of conduct by voting to hold the discussion in public.
Holley said the opposition members had voted against the specific advice of the monitoring officer and head of legal services, plus the Section 151 officer for a report on eGovernment going into private session. In voting against advice, none of the members gave any valid reason why the monitoring officer or the 151 officer might be wrong or against the public interest," he said.
Following the complaint, Andrew Walsh, director of investigations at the Public Service Ombudsman for Wales, has decided not to investigate the complaint.
However, after an appeal from councillor Holley, the investigation has been reopened.
A spokeswoman for the Public Service Ombudsman for Wales said: "Councillor Holley did ask for an appeal.
"In view of additional information received, the Ombudsman decided that councillor Holley's complaint should be investigated.
"Letters have gone out to 32 members (of Swansea Council)."
In a statement issued on behalf of the leaders of the Labour and Conservative opposition groups, a spokesman said: "We are disappointed that the Ombudsman has overturned his original decision.
"This matter affects almost half of the elected councillors on Swansea Council and has grave implications for the effectiveness of the democratic process.
"We will be defending ourselves robustly."
