Councillors standards of behaviour
Councillors put themsleves forward as leaders of the community and it is right that the public should expect them to demonstrate high standards of behaviour.
From 2007 until 2011 it was a legal requirement for councils to have a Code of Conduct, enforcement of which was primarily by a system of local Standards Committees consisting of councillors and lay members. In addition there was guidance in the form of the Ten Principles of Public Life. During this period there was also a national coordinating body called Standards for England who oversaw the system, collected statistics and carried out investigations of the more serious cases where they were referred by local standards committees.
Following the MPs expenses scandal of 2009 one might have thought that the Coalition Government of 2010 would be acutely aware of the widespread public interest generated. Given that there are only 650 members of parliament compared to over 21,000 councillors in larger local authorities and approximately 100,000 in town, parish and community councils, the potential for quite a few bad apples is certainly there!
The need for effective enforcement of Codes of Conduct is increased in the case of Town, Parish and Community Councils because there is no effective oversight of their activities as they do not come under the Local Government Ombudsman scheme.
A number of websites and blogs have been set up to highlight problems with councils. Descriptions of very poor behaviour by councillors and weak enforcement of standards can easily be found. A few of these websites and blogs are mentioned on the Links page. See also Standards and LPC for a good insight into that council's attitude towards any code of conduct.
Given the above it is perhaps difficult to understand the thinking behind the standards section of the government's Localism Bill. What this will do is to weaken an already feable system for enforcement. In future one might expect to see more blogs and websites protesting the behaviour of councils and councillors as people realise just how loaded the "proper channels" are against ordinary folk.
Unfortunately this Bill has now been given the Royal Assent and is law. Chapter seven of Part 1 of this Bill deals with standards and wipes away the existing system. the full text of the Bill can be read here.
Standards for England, the national coordinating body is to be scrapped probably on 31 March 2012. Councillors Codes of Conduct will no longer be based on a model code. It will be for councils to decide what the code will be, although it must be consistent with the seven principles of public life. Standards Committees to enforce codes of conduct, will now be optional. Given the amount of misbehaviour that goes on under the existing system this can only be considered to give free rein to councillors who put their own interests before that of the communities they are supposed to represent.
In theory there is a tightening up in one area and that is in the declaration of Councillors' interests. It is to become a criminal offence to fail to register or declare certain interests. How on earth is this likely to work? Do the police have time to investigate the wrongdoings of councillors or the courts the spare time to hear such cases? It is difficult enough for ordinary members of the public to make a complaint under the standards committee system and one wonders how many would be prepared to go to court against a local councillor with all that might entail.
Concern over the effect of the Localism Bill has even been expressed by Sir Christopher Kelly, Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life. His well written press release dated 14th December is recommended reading for anyone who actually cares about councillors' standards of behaviour.
It seems that we will have a situation where town and parish councils can behave precisely as they please with no comeback on the councils or the councillors themselves. As many parish councils comprise members who have been co-opted or "elected" unopposed the Localism Bill will do nothing to strengthen local democracy, quite the opposite. For those councillors who have no respect for the Code of Conduct, and who do not wish to see effective enforcement of standards, this Bill is welcome news indeed
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