The Monitoring Officer advised that the Committee on Standards in Public Life, in recognition that robust standards arrangements are needed to safeguard local democracy, maintain high standards of conduct, and to protect ethical practice in local government, had launched a consultation exercise to inform their review of local government ethical standards. 

The terms of reference for the review are to:

·  examine the structures, processes and practices in local government in England for:

o  maintaining codes of conduct for local councillors

o  investigating alleged breaches fairly and with due process

o  enforcing codes and imposing sanctions for misconduct

o  declaring interests and managing conflicts of interest

o  whistleblowing

·  assess whether the existing structures, processes and practices are conducive to high standards of conduct in local government

·  make any recommendations for how they can be improved

·  note any evidence of intimidation of councillors, and make recommendations for any measures that could be put in place to prevent and address such intimidation

The Committee gave consideration to the formal consultation document, appended to the submitted report, and the following comments and observations made –

Structures, processes and practices - The Committee considered that structures and procedures were considered to be working to ensure high standards of conduct, though there were concerns about sanctions and timescales, both matters considered under later sections.

Codes of conduct – The Monitoring Officer advised that legislation gave considerable freedom with regard to content of a Code of Conduct.  The Wirral Council Code was comprehensive, following the former Model; this was not the case elsewhere and some Codes contained little more than the Nolan principles.  The Committee agreed that the Council’s Code was extensive, and the approach should be a model followed by all Authorities.

Members agreed that the Code was something that should be included in Member induction, but that the way this was presented needed to be checked given the amount of material available to new members.  Refresher training for all Members should also be required on a periodic basis.

Investigations and decisions on allegations - The Committee considered that the investigation procedure required timescales which ensure prompt consideration and that could be rigorously applied, noting that in instances where the subject member prevaricated or did not respond the timescales for dealing with a complaint became unreasonably long.  It was however noted that a timescale should not be imposed that might allow allegations to be ruled out of order because they were not dealt with; if personal circumstances did not allow for a speedy consideration  this should be accommodated.

It was noted that the only timescale applying was when notifying the subject member of the receipt of a complaint.  Thereafter, timescales were discretionary.  It was suggested that deadlines for each stage should be specified and take no more than six months, and that should a subject member be not compliant with timescales, the Standards Panel should have the ability to hear the case without them.

With regard to the role of the Independent Person, the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35