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Calls have been made for the deputy leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council to resign after a complaint was made about him to the Public Services Ombudsman of Wales. Local Democracy Reporter Rhiannon James explains.

Councillor Jamie Pritchard is the deputy leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council.

Representing Labour for the Morgan Jones ward since 2012, Cllr Pritchard was appointed deputy leader in July last year – after the resignation of predecessor Sean Morgan.

In January 2022, the council’s Standards Committee received a referral from the Public Services Ombudsman of Wales watchdog that accused Cllr Pritchard, of breaking the Code of Conduct governing councillors’ behaviour.

This followed a complaint from Caerphilly town councillor Huw Jackson, of Plaid Cymru. As well as being a county councillor, Cllr Pritchard is also a member of Caerphilly town council alongside Cllr Jackson.

It is no secret there is a certain level of animosity between Labour and Plaid Cymru members on the town council.

The complaint by Cllr Jackson stems from a drink-related criminal conviction against Cllr Pritchard dating from November 2019. Reporting restrictions on the case prevent further details from being published, but it is something that Cllr Pritchard has acknowledged in the past when speaking to Caerphilly Observer about his mental health struggles.

Cllr Jackson complained to the Ombudsman because Cllr Pritchard did not declare his conviction to the council or to the school where he is vice-chair of governors.

According to a summary of the Ombudsman’s report, which has yet to be published in full, Cllr Pritchard’s conduct and his failure to report the conviction to the school had the “potential to impact on the mutual relationship of trust which must exist between a member and the council, and between elected members and the public”.

The report also said Cllr Pritchard’s conduct could “reasonably” be regarded as behaviour that could bring the council into disrepute.

As a result, the Ombudsman referred the matter to the council’s standards committee – a body made up of fellow councillors and members of the public.

The committee decided the deputy leader had complied with the Code of Conduct and no further action was required – with five voting for and one abstention.

Two county councillors attended the meeting, held on January 20 – Cllr Colin Mann, leader of the Plaid Cymru group, and Labour councillor Diane Price.

Under council rules, the committee meeting was not open to the press or public. Any records of discussion, the reasons why members voted the way they did, will not be published.

Cllr Huw Jackson, who made the original complaint to the Ombudsman, is now calling for Cllr Pritchard to resign and called the decision of the committee “truly perverse”.

Cllr Jackson said: “Cllr Pritchard needs to consider his position as deputy leader and as vice-chair of governors. The public need to have confidence that councillors will abide by the rules, however, difficult the circumstances might be.

“In the interests of transparency, Cllr Pritchard needs to let people know what exactly the conviction was for and why he failed to report that conviction to the council which was only revealed during routine checks.”

Cllr Pritchard did not want to comment directly on the matter but insisted he would not be resigning.

Speaking to Caerphilly Observer in February last year about his mental health struggles, Cllr Pritchard said: “For a short period of time I found it incredibly difficult to keep everything together. I chose not to seek help. I thoroughly regret not being able to cope properly during this difficult period.

“No matter how difficult things are, having a drink, however small in quantity, is not the answer. It is a bitter regret of mine.”

After this article was first published, Cllr Pritchard got in touch with the following statement: “I decided to speak out a year ago about my past difficulties in order to help others in my situation.

“In the past year I’ve been in touch with many people who have undergone similar mental health pressures. I won’t be afraid to speak out in the future in order to help others.”

A spokesman for the council said: “The Standards Committee is made up of councillors and lay members from the community who carefully consider all the relevant facts in such cases before making a recommendation. It would be inappropriate to comment on the specific details relating to this matter.”

Plaid Cymru councillor Phil Bevan, who represents the Morgan Jones ward alongside Cllr Pritchard, said: “It will be difficult for the public to understand why the Ombudsman’s decision was ignored by the Standards Committee. Surely, the body that is designed to adjudicate on complaints, must be as confused as the public will be, over the ignoring of its ruling.

“It begs the question if the Ombudsman decisions are ignored, why do we have such a toothless body? I would like to know what evidence, other than that presented by the Ombudsman, was given to the Standards Committee that allowed a no blame decision to be made.”