A councillor has been forced to take extra “training” after she told a call handler to “speak English” over the phone.
Janet Cleverly, an independent councillor for Newport City Council, made the remarks as she reported a fly-tipping incident.
At a council standards committee meeting, she later apologised and said she was “mortified” by her actions.
According to the ombudsman report, the August 2024 incident was “not what is expected of an elected member”.
Mrs Cleverly was said to have interrupted the call handler to ask for “somebody who’s speaking English.”
The handler had been in the job for four weeks after they had come to Britain from Sri Lanka in 2022.
A few minutes later, she added: “Sorry? I can’t understand anything you’re saying. Speak English!”
She emailed the cabinet member responsible for the environment later that day, complaining the call handler took her information wrong.
“I phoned in a complaint about fly tipping this morning and the person I spoke to, could not speak English properly,” she said.
“Why would you have someone manning a call centre… I am all for equal opportunities but this person took all my information wrong after I had to repeat everything three to four times and spell everything lots of times,” she said.
A manager listened to the recorded call and flagged it for her “unnecessary” tone, and the council monitoring office told Mrs Cleverly it would be investigated.
Janet Cleverly made the remarks as she reported a fly-tipping incident
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NEWPORT CITY COUNCIL
The monitoring officer said he found the independent councillor for Bettws’s comments to be “consciously or otherwise, racially motivated” and “discriminatory”.
The call handler was “very emotional and upset” about the incident and the monitoring officer determined the handler’s English to be fluent.
Mrs Cleverly told the ombudsman she had previously “worked in BME communities”, and had “lots of BME friends” (Black and Minority Ethnic).
She said the phone call was on a “really bad line” and said it was not her intention to upset the handler as she apologised.
Newport City Council building, where Janet Cleverly has now been made to take additional training
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WIKIMEDIA
The panel heard how Mrs Cleverly was “absolutely mortified” by her actions and did have difficulties hearing the call handler.
Councillor Kevin Whitehead, leader of the Bettws ward’s independents, said the phone call showed a “lack of etiquette” but did not believe it was racial in nature.
Mrs Cleverly had received messages of support from people of various backgrounds, and had a long career helping young people in Bettws, he added.
The committee heard how Mrs Cleverly had previously completed training on equalities and equal opportunities, and the council’s code of conduct.
The call handler was said to be ‘very upset’ as Janet Cleverly said to ‘speak English’ (file photo)
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GETTY
The panel found her to have breached three points of the council’s code for members, relating to equality, respect and consideration of others, and disreputable conduct.
She was censured and required to complete further training for the accident by the committee.
The ombudsman, Michelle Morris, found that her “underlying motivation” was that she was “irritated from the outset by the way the call handler spoke”.
Chairman Andrew Mitchell said the panel was “extremely concerned” and had considered a suspension.
The censure serves as a “formal reprimand”, the council’s deputy monitoring officer said.