Errors in the data which show how many meetings a councillor attended during a year have been corrected – which means a senior Powys councillor has now exceeded the required 60 per cent threshold.

Next Monday, October 13, Powys County Council’s Standards committee will receive an updated report on councillors’ attendance at meetings.

Back in June, councillors and Independent lay members on the committee were told that three councillors had failed to meet the 60 per cent attendance meeting threshold between May 16, 2024, and May 14, 2025.

This covers the cycle of committee meetings for the 2024/2025 civic year.

At that meeting members received and accepted a written explanation from Cllr Josie Ewing (Liberal Democrat – Llandrindod South) on why she had not met the expected attendance figure.

But Cllrs Karl Lewis (Reform UK – Llandinam with Dolfor) and Sarah Williams (Labour – Abercraf and Ystradgynlais) had not responded with their own explanations.

The data at the time showed that former Planning committee Chairman Cllr Lewis, who defected from the Conservatives to Reform UK earlier this year, had attended 59 per cent of the meetings he was supposed to, while Cllr Williams had only been to 40 per cent of the meetings she had been expected to attend.

Members of the Standards committee had agreed that it was “not acceptable” and that the pair needed to appear in front of them to explain themselves.

Head of Legal Services and Monitoring officer Clive Pinney said: “A letter has been received from Cllr Williams and is being considered by the (Standards committee) Chairman (independent member Stephan Hays) and Vice Chairwoman (independent member Claire Moore).

“Since the last meeting Cllr Lewis has advised that his attendance record incorrectly showed that he was a member of the PSB (Public Service Board) Scrutiny Committee, when he had actually ceased to be a member.

“In addition, it has also been noted that the original statistics for him included attendance at working groups, which was an error.

“With these adjustments Cllr Lewis’s attendance level for the period was 63 per cent.”

The committee will be asked to note Mr Pinney’s report.