Concerns have been raised about how Code of Conduct complaints are handled by the States of Alderney.
A former States Member recently lodged a complaint against the President of the States of Alderney relating to comments made in a meeting attended by ten other people in December.
However, the President of the States of Alderney usually deals with any Code of Conduct complaints lodged in the island.
The way the Code is written means that the President would also deal with complaints raised against themselves, however, when Bruce Woodhead lodged his complaint earlier this year William Tate was off-island so the Vice-President dealt with it.
The complaint was dismissed but the complainant says that won’t be the end of the matter as far as he is concerned as the Vice-President was also conflicted because he was present at the same meeting.
Mr Woodhead is now calling for future Code of Conduct complaints to be handled by someone outside of the States.
“The really important factor here is the Code of Conduct procedure. It has to be done by the States of Alderney and I think this demonstrates that it is not fit for purpose, and therefore they have to change,” he said.
Mr Woodhead said previous examples of the way Code of Conduct complaints are handled in Alderney also suggest that off-island support is needed.
“It is almost not worth having a Code of Conduct under these circumstances, because we are a very small island,” he said. “And even if it was a normal situation, and going before the President, he would then, if he felt there was a reason for the Code having been broken, he would then go to a committee of lay-people, not people connected with the States, but who are previously chosen by the States, and they would judge the situation.
“But I know for a fact that one member had a Code of Conduct against him, and the Chairman of the group that was being tested was a direct enemy and it was a ridiculous situation but the President at that time may not have been aware of it. No action was taken, but you can see what I’m really saying is that the choice is very difficult when you’re on such a small island and it has to go off island.”
The Code of Conduct complaint against Mr Tate was dismissed after the Vice-President, States Member Steve Roberts, found that it was unsubstantiated.
However, Mr Woodhead said that Mr Roberts was put in an unviable position when he was tasked with considering the complaint.
“The outcome was a letter from the President’s office, which read ‘pursuant to paragraph 13.1.3 of the code, the Vice President, having reviewed the complaint and on the completion of a preliminary investigation, has found that the complaint has not been substantiated and determined that that no further action will be taken’.
“Now the point here is that (Mr Roberts) should never have been in a position of making any statement at all because he was in the meeting, so he was compromised. There’s absolutely nothing against Steve Roberts, who’s the Vice President, but the point being that that’s ludicrous. He had nowhere to go after Steve Roberts, and the fact that he was not in the position really to make a judgment because of his conflict, therefore the process is completely wrong.”
