'Bullying' complaint upheld against former South Tyneside Council leader Iain Malcolm

Councillors have upheld the findings of an independent investigation into South Tyneside Council’s former leader, which concluded he “bullied” senior council officers.

Iain Malcolm, former Labour leader of the local authority, was the focus of a council Standards Committee hearing this week in relation to a formal complaint lodged back in July, 2020.

The complaint was submitted by Stuart Reid, the council’s corporate director for business and resources, and Nicola Robason, who was then the council’s head of corporate and external affairs and monitoring officer.

The complaint alleged that Cllr Malcolm had breached several parts of the council’s code of conduct, including “treating others, including council officers, with respect and decency”, along with allegations of “bullying” behaviour.

This included claims the council leader “explicitly threatened Mr Reid with dismissal should a complaint about him claiming telephone expenses proceed”, as well as concerns about “actions and behaviours” during meetings.

The complaint said that “statutory officers are no longer able to effectively fulfil their statutory duties” and that there was a “culture of fear and control driven by the leader”.

Mr Malcolm resigned as a council leader and a councillor in November, 2020, following the code of conduct complaint letter being made public and against the backdrop of a police investigation into “concerns of a financial nature” at the council.

In recent months, it has been confirmed that Mr Malcolm’s use of a corporate credit card while a councillor had been investigated, but that no further action would be taken due to “insufficient evidence”, according to a council statement.

On March 15, 2024, South Tyneside Council’s Audit Committee discussed the historic credit card use, which was described by one councillor as a “spending spree from the public purse”.

On March 20, 2024, a report on the separate code of conduct complaint matter against Mr Malcolm was presented to the council’s Standards Committee.

The report referenced complainants describing Mr Malcolm’s behaviour as council leader as “hostile, threatening and aggressive” at one meeting, as well as an incident where he “instructed” the monitoring officer to “stop providing council papers and IT access to certain opposition councillors”.

Stuart Reid, in an investigation interview, also referenced a working atmosphere where “officers feel on edge” and where council decision-making and policy discussions became “very centralised”.

Elsewhere, a statement from Stephen Gerrard, interim monitoring officer for the council for four months from June, 2019, described the “atmosphere and the interface” between councillors and council officers as “toxic”.

The Standards Committee report noted Mr Malcolm did “not accept the allegations made against him” and that the matter could not be resolved without a formal hearing.

The council report also said there was a “public interest” in the complaint being “concluded in a transparent manner”.

A Standards Committee report outlined statements from Mr Malcolm during the external investigation where he “did not recognise” the alleged culture of fear of control, and “categorically denied any bullying or harassing behaviour” towards the complainants.

The report also referenced the behaviour of some opposition councillors at the time of the complaint, which Mr Malcolm said should have been addressed by council officers, along with suggestions that council officers were “seeking to deflect attention away from their failure to action specific activities”.

A council report added Mr Malcolm “can unintentionally raise his voice, due to having a severe hearing impairment” and while “he considers the complaint to be malicious, he has not treated either complainant less favourably in response to it”.

An independent investigation report from solicitor Olwen Brown was presented to councillors on the Standards Committee this week at South Shields Town Hall.

The report into the complaint concluded that the council leader made “attempts to exercise control over the behaviour and judgements of statutory officers against the constitution and their own legal duties”.

The independent investigator acknowledged the council leader had “been the subject of extensive abuse on social media” both before and after the 2019 elections.

However, the report added that there was “significant evidence of behaviour on the part of Cllr Malcolm which is unacceptable towards these two officers; and that this behaviour was longstanding and unreasonable; amounting to bullying, threatening and undermining them”.

Mr Malcolm, in a written statement provided to the Standards Committee, said he had “no confidence in the ability of the council to run a fair and procedurally correct complaints investigation process”, and that he would not be attending.

The statement added that “no discourtesy is intended” and that “he would like the Standards Committee to consider these written submissions and to give the investigation the proper scrutiny it deserves”.

Mr Malcolm asked the committee to look at the “disclosure” of the complaint to the Labour Party by council officers, along with claims the investigation was “unjustifiably expanded” after he was interviewed.

Reference to “allegations of use of a council credit card” in the investigation was also labelled as a “serious procedural error” by the former council leader.

This included concerns about the lack of “distinction” between the use of a council credit card for personal expense, where “any personal expense is repaid”, and the use of a council credit card for personal expense in “an attempt to obtain a pecuniary advantage”.

Mr Malcolm stressed that since the code of conduct complaint was made public he had faced “trial by media ever since, making his position as a councillor untenable”.

The former council leader’s statement added: “Notwithstanding attempts by council officers to involve the police there has been a clear and unambiguous decision that here will be no further action against Iain Malcolm”.

At Wednesday’s Standards Committee hearing, councillors were asked to “test the robustness” of the external investigation report into the complaint.

Investigating officer Olwen Brown, who appeared at the meeting via videolink, discussed the investigation report and answered questions from members of the panel.

She said that Mr Malcolm’s behaviour as council leader was “exceptional, consistent and unacceptable” and in directing a council officer to “remove” an opposition councillor’s email access, went “against democracy”.

Several of the former council leader’s questions were not put to the investigating officer by the independent chair of the Standards Committee.

Although some questions were asked on behalf of Mr Malcolm, around the differences between a draft and final investigation report and the disclosure of the complaint to the Labour Party, the investigating officer stressed these matters did not alter the external investigation’s findings.

A number of Standards Committee members stressed that Mr Malcolm should have attended the meeting to raise these issues himself.

Councillor Ian Forster, a member of the panel, added the focus should be on the code of conduct allegations and claimed Mr Malcolm’s statement to the committee was attempting to “muddy the waters”.

After private deliberations, the Standards Committee returned its findings on the complaint, which were delivered by independent chair Professor Grahame Wright, a non-voting member of the panel.

The official response from the Standards Committee found that Mr Malcolm had breached several aspects of the council’s code of conduct.

This included “failing to treat the complainants with respect”, conduct that “amounted to bullying”, attempts to “influence the actions of statutory officers” and bringing “both the council and the office of councillor into disrepute”.

The Standards Committee also considered evidence from “character witnesses” about Mr Malcolm’s role as a council leader.

However, the committee’s decision notice said that those who had provided statements “could not be expected to provide any insight into the way in which the subject member behaved towards his senior officers in private”.

The Standards Committee noted the complaint was “made in good faith” and that Mr Malcolm “did know the impact which his behaviour was having on the complainants, and could not have been unaware of it, given its longstanding nature”.

Although the committee noted that “frustrations can and did arise in this case for a variety of reasons” between the council leader and council officers, this did not “justify the conduct”.

The committee were also “satisfied that the delay in bringing this matter to a conclusion was a matter which was outside of the control of either Mr Malcolm, the complainants or the council”.

The Standards Committee had no powers to impose sanctions, as Mr Malcolm is no longer a councillor, but independent chair Mr Wright said “the breaches found are serious and would have warranted an equally serious response in terms of sanctions”.

At the time of the investigation, Mr Malcolm had been a councillor for more than three decades and had been leader of the South Tyneside Council Labour Group since 2008.

Following Wednesday’s Standards Committee, South Tyneside Council has stressed the culture of the council has improved since 2020, with the local authority “inviting and welcoming external review, challenge and support”.

Councillor Tracey Dixon, Labour leader of South Tyneside Council, said work included “improving officer and member relationships, strengthening the constitution, and increasing transparency, challenge, and scrutiny”.

Cllr Dixon said: “South Tyneside Council in 2024 is completely different to the organisation I took over in 2020.

“As a local authority we have faced significant challenges in achieving our vision for residents to live healthy, happy and fulfilled lives.

“From governance issues to cultural shortcomings, the need for transformation was evident.

“We have worked so hard to create a positive culture and to take the workforce on this journey with us”.

The council leader added: “This has been a challenging period for the council, but we have faced those challenges head on and will continue to do so.

“I am excited about where we are now and for the future of South Tyneside.”

The full decision notice of the Standards Committee has been published on South Tyneside Council’s website.

Caption: Cllr Iain Malcolm