Agenda and minutes

Councillor Avey was elected Chairman for the meeting.

To agree that the Chairman, in consultation with other members of the Employment Matters Appeals Panel, sign the minutes outside of the meeting.

It was agreed that the Chairman, in consultation with other Members of the Employment Matters Appeals Panel, signs the minutes outside of the meeting.

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Wicks. 

A member need only disclose at any meeting the existence of a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) in a matter to be considered at that meeting if that DPI has not been entered on the disclosable pecuniary interests register maintained by the Monitoring Officer.

A member disclosing a DPI at a meeting must thereafter notify the Monitoring Officer in writing of that interest within 28 days from the date of disclosure at the meeting.

A member may not participate in a discussion of or vote on any matter in which he or she has a DPI (both those already registered and those disclosed at the meeting) and must withdraw from the room during such discussion/vote.

Members may choose to voluntarily disclose a DPI at a meeting even if it is registered on the council’s register of disclosable pecuniary interests but there is no legal requirement to do so.

Members should also ensure they disclose any other interests which may give rise to a conflict under the council’s code of conduct.

In line with the training provided to members by the Monitoring Officer members will also need to consider bias and pre-determination in certain circumstances and whether they have a conflict of interest or should otherwise leave the room for Code reasons.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other interests

There were none.

This report summarises the content of agenda item 6, which, in the opinion of the proper officer, contains exempt information within one of the categories in Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. It is a matter for the Committee to determine whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of document.

The Employment Matters Appeals Panel agreed that the press and public be excluded from the meeting for agenda item 6 (Matter of decision) as consideration of these matters in public would disclose information falling within one of the categories in Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, and, in all the circumstances of the case the Employment Matters Appeals Panel considered that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

Appeal against dismissal as detailed in the attached schedule. 

Discussion

The Panel considered an appeal against dismissal on four grounds of gross misconduct.

The Panel very carefully considered all the information presented and decided to uphold the decision to dismiss.

Decision:

The Panel decided to uphold the original decision and confirmed the appellant’s dismissal from Medway Council.