A young female politician said she was left “quite worried” by the amount of information requests made about her after being elected last year.
Ellie Byrne became the youngest member of Liverpool Council when she was elected to take up the vacant seat in Everton last April. Her candidacy and subsequent election prompted attention given the position she sought to secure was previously held by her father and current West Derby Labour MP, Ian Byrne.
Cllr Byrne revealed at an extremely short-lived meeting of the city council’s constitutional and governance committee yesterday that a number of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests had been made about her following her victory last Spring.
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During the three-minute meeting, in which Cllr Byrne was the only speaker, she said the number of FOI requests left her “quite worried” and feared they would turn into complaints made against her.
Cllr Byrne, who was elected with 62% of the votes cast in her by-election, said she felt officers could have better explained the complaints procedure to new councillors like herself. The adoption of an amended policy around complaints was the only matter to be heard during the 180 second gathering of councillors on Monday evening.
A new framework is expected to be adopted which will ensure that council members who are the subject of a complaint and those submitting complaints are aware of the process at every stage of the matter. Anyone seeking to raise a complaint about a Liverpool councillor must do so in writing, provide information to substantiate their complaint, outline the resolution they are seeking, and under new changes, confirm their identity.
Changes to the policy mean information relating to the complaint and decision will be retained for a period of six years. Dan Fenwick, Liverpool Council monitoring officer determines whether it is in the public interest to investigate the complaint taking into account and balancing the factors including seriousness of the alleged breach, level of culpability alleged against the subject member including if it is alleged they have financially benefited from the alleged breach.
Other matters considered are what harm if any is alleged to have been caused to the complainant or others, the impact on the wider community of the alleged breach and if an investigation and potential hearing is a proportionate response to the complaint. Following Cllr Byrne’s remarks, the five councillors present agreed to send their recommendations to full council for a final decision.
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