Agenda item

The Presiding Chair confirmed that all parties had copies of the relevant documents and outlined the procedure to be followed during the hearing.

The subject Member confirmed his agreement to the publication of his bundle of evidence, subject to items 4 and 15 of Form B remaining confidential.

It was agreed that the main issues for consideration were:

1.  the subject Member had mis-spoken and that when he referred to the two murders in the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham (LBBD) he had meant to say “attempted” murders; and

2.  in relation to the third murder, he intended to say that the girl from the college was from LBBD, not murdered in LBBD.

Received and noted the Investigating Officers’ Report, following which the video, the subject of the complaint, was viewed.

It was further noted that:

1.  the subject Member advised that he would not be answering questions on his statement; and

2.  the tenth paragraph on page 47 of the agenda (page 21 of the Investigating Officers’ report) be amended to read “February 2009” and not “January 2009”.

Following questions from the subject Member and the Sub-Committee Members to the Investigating Officers and witnesses, Councillor Mrs Valerie Rush and Police Inspector Boyle, the Sub-Committee agreed that the evidence before them was sufficient for them to come to a decision.

At 3.40 pm the two Sub-Committees adjourned to separate rooms to consider the matter.

The meeting re-convened at 4.39 pm when the Presiding Chair advised that decisions had been reached by both Sub-Committees.  The following is the decision of the Barking and Dagenham Sub-Committee*:

1.  That, by virtue of his actions described in the complaint, Councillor Barnbrook failed to comply with the Members’ Code of Conduct in that he brought his office and that of the Council into disrepute.

2.  That Councillor Barnbrook breached the Protocol relating to Communications for Council Members (included within the Council’s Constitution) which requires that all elected Members of the Council, whatever political party, have a duty both to the Council and to residents to ensure that in commenting on the policies and work of the Council, they make every effort to ensure that everything they say, whether verbally or written, is factually correct.

The list of sanctions was read out to the meeting, following which the Presiding Chair asked the subject Member to comment on what an appropriate sanction would be.

The subject Member made a statement in mitigation and apologised unreservedly for making the mistakes he had but not for bringing knife crime to light in London and LBBD.

At 4.57 pm the Sub-Committees agreed to adjourn to separate rooms to consider the sanctions.

The meeting re-convened at 5.59 pm.

The Chair reported that the Sub-Committee had agreed to impose the following sanctions:

1.  to suspend Councillor Barnbrook for a period of one calendar month during the month of October 2009;

2.    to require Councillor Barnbrook to publish an apology on his personal blog with regard to (a) the inaccuracies on the video regarding three murders in Barking and Dagenham, and (b) the recording not having been removed from the blog/website, or at least amended, once Councillor Barnbrook knew the information to have been incorrect; and

3.  that in the event that Councillor Barnbrook does not publish such an apology in an agreed form to the satisfaction of the Monitoring Officer by the end of October 2009, the suspension to be extended until such time as he does.

It was pointed out by the Chair that Members of LBBD under suspension must not take part in any formal business of the authority, have access to Council facilities and their Council allowance will be suspended.

The meeting closed at 6.02 pm.

*These minutes refer to the joint hearing but only record the decisions of the Barking and Dagenham Standards Sub-Committee (Hearing) relating to the complaint against Councillor Barnbrook in his position as a Member of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.  For the decisions of the GLA Standards Sub-Committee (Hearing) in relation to his position as an Assembly Member, see:

http://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/stnds-hearing/2009/sep24/decision-notice.pdf