Councillors: Conduct

(asked on 18th November 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to monitor and maintain standards amongst members of local government since the abolition of the Standards Board for England.


Answered by
Luke Hall Portrait
Luke Hall
Minister of State (Education)
This question was answered on 23rd November 2020

The Localism Act 2011 abolished the Standards Board for England and decentralised responsibility for maintaining high ethical standards to local authorities. Local authorities must adopt a code of conduct for elected and co-opted members consistent with the ‘Nolan’ principles of selflessness, honesty, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness and leadership.

Abolishing the Standards Board and devolving responsibility for ethical standards has encouraged local authorities to take ownership for building and maintaining a culture of high ethical standards. It has also provided the flexibility and discretion to resolve standards issues informally where appropriate and to tailor procedures to their specific circumstances. The Government has no plans to re-establish the Standards Board for England or to reimpose a central code of conduct on local authorities.

The Localism Act 2011 also requires local authorities to put in place procedures for considering complaints where members are alleged to have breached the code of conduct, including appointing an independent person to advise the authority before it decides on an allegation. As it is for individual local authorities to determine their own complaints procedures, it would not be appropriate for the Government to investigate individual complaints against members of a local authority.

If a member of the public has a concern about the actions, decisions or conduct of their local authority, they should first look to use the authority’s formal complaints system. If they remain unsatisfied, an individual can ask the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman to investigate cases where they are alleged to have suffered personal injustice arising from maladministration by a local authority.

My department has responsibility for the core Local Authority Governance & Accountability Framework, for ensuring that it is functioning effectively and contains the right checks and balances. The Committee on Standards in Public Life’s Report on Ethical Standards in Local Government affirms that there is a willingness and capacity to uphold the highest standards of conduct amongst local government in England. The Report makes a number of?recommendations to strengthen the standards and conduct system for local government. The Government is carefully considering the report and will respond in due course.

Reticulating Splines