South Tyneside councillor Ed Malcolm formally censured - but won't face police action

Councillor Ed Malcolm had several breaches of South Tyneside Council’s code of conduct upheld by a standards panel earlier this year, which considered a complaint about his behaviour.

Cllr Malcolm has served as an elected member for almost three decades with several senior committee roles, cabinet responsibilities and a spell as Mayor of South Tyneside.

For many years, he combined his position as cabinet member for resources and innovation, which included responsibility for developing the council’s annual budget, with a role as chair of South Tyneside Homes (STH).

However a formal investigation was triggered after concerns were raised about the Labour councillor’s apparent failure to raise this at meetings when local authority rules state he should have.

The role included a £10,000-per-year allowance as the chair of the board at STH, an arms-length management organisation created by South Tyneside Council to manage its council homes.

Cllr Malcolm’s allowance for serving as chair of the board was classed as a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI).

Although the councillor correctly registered the DPI on the council’s register of members’ interests, an investigation found that he failed to declare it at a number of council meetings when he should have.

Cllr Malcolm, in a statement presented to the Standards Committee earlier this year, denied any wrongdoing and said any breach of the council’s code of conduct was “unintentional” as the process around declaring interests “was not clear”.

He also suggested that the complaint, which came from independent opposition councillor John Robertson, was “politically motivated”.

At a meeting in March, 2023, the Standards Committee found that there was no evidence presented of “any intention to gain financially from the failure to comply with the requirements to declare interests”.

However councillors agreed Cllr Malcolm had breached several principles of public life, specifically the principles of integrity, accountability, openness and leadership, and referred the matter to the police for “investigation of any potential offences under the Localism Act 2011″.

At a full meeting of South Tyneside Council on June 29, 2023, a Standards Committee update report was presented to councillors recommending a formal censure for Cllr Malcolm.

The report made clear that Northumbria Police had “finalised their involvement in this matter with no further action”.

Information in the council report said police confirmed there was “insufficient evidence to prove an offence” and that “the investigation does not meet the threshold test to submit to the Crown Prosecution Service”.

The report added that it was not for councillors to “re-assess or re-investigate the police’s decision” and “not appropriate for borough council to substitute their views for the police’s views”.

The Standards Committee report was presented to full council by Labour councillor Jane Carter, who was nominated to speak on behalf of the committee.

Following discussion councillors noted the contents of the Standards Committee report and agreed to issue a formal censure.

It was also agreed that Cllr Malcolm cannot be reappointed to the council’s Constitution Committee for the remainder of the 2023/24 year.

Councillor John Robertson, who made the original complaint against Cllr Malcolm, agreed with the sanctions but said they were not “severe enough”.

He added that minutes of a council meeting from June, 2012, indicated that all councillors had been presented with a report setting out requirements around disclosable pecuniary interests.

Councillor Glenn Thompson, independent member, criticised the Standards Committee for granting a “dispensation request” for Cllr Malcolm’s DPI in 2020, while formal investigations were under way.

Several councillors also criticised Cllr Malcolm’s non-attendance at the council meeting where the formal censure was issued, with independent Keith Roberts saying he had “failed to turn up and face the wrath of his colleagues”.

Councillor David Francis, Green Party opposition leader, said he supported the findings of the Standards Committee and thanked the complainant, committee and investigating officer for their involvement in the process.

Cllr Francis added: “I would like to support the findings of the committee.

“I’m sure as a consequence we will all reflect on the way all of our actions and behaviour reflects back on South Tyneside Council and how that impacts public perception of who we are and what we do”.

Cllr Malcolm is no longer a cabinet member or chair of South Tyneside Homes and was previously chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Coordinating and Call-in Committee before a committee reshuffle in 2023/24.

In May, 2023, it was reported that the councillor had been suspended by the Labour Party pending the outcome of an investigation.

At the time of writing in July, 2023, Cllr Malcolm was still listed as a Labour member on South Tyneside Council’s website.