Calls for 'stronger teeth' to tackle any bullying or harassment at Hartlepool Borough Council

Steps have been taken to update Hartlepool Borough Council’s code of conduct, which will now include clauses condemning bullying of staff by councillors.

A motion was previously put before Hartlepool Borough Council in 2019 hitting out at bullying and harassment in society, following concerns nationally.

Cllr Marjorie James, who raised the previous motion, said she was pleased to see the council will now have something in place around bullying and harassment of staff by elected members.

She also called for ‘teeth’ in the arrangements to allow anyone found guilty to be removed from public office.

However Hayley Martin, council chief solicitor, noted this would need the Government to update legislation to provide stronger sanctions for local authorities.

Cllr James said: “I’m quite happy that we should at last have something around bullying and harassment of staff by elected members.

“There has to be some teeth within these arrangements.

“We should have the right to remove from public office any elected official or representative if they are proven to have broken what is the law if we were a paid member of staff.

“It’s just unacceptable. Whether they are an MP or a councillor is irrelevant to me, they are an elected representative and they should not have any more rights than a member of staff.

“If they err from the line that they should be on, then they should be removed from office.”

The comments were made as a report went before the audit and governance committee to provide an updated code of conduct for the local authority.

It came after calls from the Local Government Association for authorities to create an updated Model Member Code of Conduct following a report from the Committee on Standards in Public Life

Cllr Brenda Harrison also agreed with the calls from Cllr James for stronger ‘teeth’ to tackle any bullying or harassment.

She said: “I think it’s an appalling situation to have people in office who have been elected who can’t behave in the way that they should be behaving.

“I still don’t think the teeth are there strong enough, but let’s hope they get stronger.”

The proposed code of conduct will now go before the Constitution Committee and Full Council for adoption.

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