Hounslow Council to handle complaints against local Councillors
Hounslow Council has taken on responsibility for handling complaints against local Councillors, a move which they believe will increase ethical standards in local government.
Previously all complaints went to national body the Standards Board for England, who assessed them to see whether they were worthy of investigation, either by the local authority or by the Standards Board itself.
All councillors have agreed to a code of conduct to ensure that they maintain the high ethical standards the public expect from them. If someone thinks that there has been a breach of this code, the London Borough of Hounslow may refer the allegations for investigation or decide to take other action. Investigations themselves will also be managed by the Council, except in cases where a conflict of interest or other unusual circumstances mean that it would be more appropriate for the Standards Board for England to handle them.
Once cases have been investigated, the Council’s independently-chaired standards committee will decide what action should be taken against the member. On rare occasions this responsibility will be given to the Adjudication Panel for England, an independent judicial tribunal. The Standards Board will continue to provide guidance to authority standards committees and will monitor their effectiveness to ensure that results are consistent.
“Handling and investigating complaints at a local level will give Hounslow the opportunity to take control of and enhance its ethical standards and should streamline the process for both the complainant and the member under investigation,” said Councillor Peter Thompson, the Leader of the Council. “Naturally, we expect high standards of behaviour among our elected members, and we shall continue to make every effort to ensure that such standards are maintained. The majority of members will never find themselves subject to an investigation, but for the small number of cases where there is cause for concern, we will aim to deal with the allegations quickly and efficiently.”
Dr Robert Chilton, Chair of the Standards Board, said, “we wait with interest to see whether the change to a local framework will bring a change to the pattern of cases referred for investigation both locally and to the Standards Board.
This site asked for for more information about the composition of the Standards Committee in the borough but the Council did not respond.
August 14, 2008
|