Setting the standard

Councillors have a clear and comprehensive code of conduct to ensure they carry out their work to a high ethical standard. Four local politicians discuss their role on the board of Standards for England

Under the local standards framework, local authority standards committees have the twin role of promoting high standards and dealing with complaints against individuals.

Helping them, and providing the independent national oversight necessary for a robust and consistent standards regime across the country, is Standards for England.

It is perhaps not widely known that Standards for England, at times criticised as an unelected quango with power over elected members, in fact includes four local politicians on its 10-strong board.

One brings the perspective of an Independent district councillor and parish councillor. The other three are leading local government figures in the Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour parties.

Having a councillor from each of the main parties on the board encourages ownership of the standards framework across the political spectrum and ensures that a cross-section of views is taken into account.

Here, they set out their opinions on the contribution a strong local standards framework and code of conduct makes to the public’s trust in democracy.

Cllr Sir Ron Watson (Con)
Sefton

Sir Ron has been a councillor since 1969 and has held most leadership positions, including council leader. He has held a number of roles at the LGA, including deputy chair. He is currently vice-chair of the Urban Commission, chair of the Southport and Ormskirk NHS hospital trust and a member of the UK delegation to the former EU Committee of the Regions. He is an accredited member peer at the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) and recently joined the board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The move to local assessment in 2008 was a major change. I believe it is right for authorities to manage complaints against individuals and investigations themselves as far as possible, bringing the responsibility for assessing ethical standards complaints back to those who are best placed to deal with local issues.

My role as the Conservative board member for the organisation can be an interesting one, and I am always conscious of the fact that the Conservative party has committed itself to the abolition of Standards for England in its current form, but in this context it is a function that is important. I engage with fellow Conservative councillors on ethical standards issues, and most agree that a firm commitment to high standards is essential.

There is no doubt that there is considerable public concern over ethical standards for all politicians at every level. It seems that some framework for dealing with these issues in respect of councillors is an essential part of the process in restoring trust in all of us.

What does seem to be of concern is the proportionality and fairness with which complaints are treated, and the potential for the code of conduct to be used as a tool for political point-scoring. I do believe, however, that robust political debate is healthy, and this has always been a feature of my life as a Conservative councillor on Merseyside.

I would hope that the local assessment of complaints – the point at which the local standards committee decides whether to refer an allegation – would be most effective at weeding out politically-motivated allegations, as the context of complaints is better understood at a local level. Of course, where there are conflicts of interest or similar sensitivities surrounding a local case, Standards for England can and will continue to take on the investigation itself.

It is clear, though, that there is still work to be done in ensuring that the framework is perceived, by both members and complainants, to be fair and proportionate.

Cllr Mehboob Khan (Lab)
Kirklees

Cllr Khan is leader of Kirklees council and a member of the LGA safer communities board. He also sits on the LGA fire services management committee and is leader of the Labour group on the West Yorkshire fire authority. He is a non-executive director of NHS Kirklees, vice-chair of the Socialist group of the Council of Europe, and a member of the Labour party national executive committee/local government committee.

During my time as the Labour board member, there have been substantial changes in the standards system. Standards for England has had to adapt to those changes, often rapidly, and for that reason I believe that we can’t afford to be complacent. It is essential for us to keep looking at the ways in which we work, and to change and improve them if necessary.

If Standards for England is to be fully effective, we need the right range of powers and responsibilities. The organisation is regulatory, rather than legislative. But that doesn’t mean we can’t play an active role in reviewing our statutory powers and advising the government of any changes we think are necessary to make sure we’re able to oversee the standards regime as efficiently as we can.

Although most cases are handled locally from start to finish, a significant part of our role is still the investigation of allegations that can’t or shouldn’t be dealt with by authorities themselves.

The board is confident that our investigations are managed consistently and effectively, and past research tells us that most members under investigation feel that their treatment was fair and the process satisfactory.

Last year we reviewed our investigations process, benchmarking against other agencies and looking at how to deliver quality and yet minimise timescales to the benefit of all concerned.

Finally, we’ve been taking a look at the organisation itself to ensure it is structured to fulfil our role as a strategic regulator effectively for the foreseeable future.

Cllr Stephen Knight (Lib Dem)
Richmond upon Thames

Cllr Knight is deputy leader of the council and cabinet member for resources. He was formerly the political advisor to the Lib Dem group at London Councils and is now vice-chair of the London Councils grants committee as well as being an accredited member peer at the IDeA.

As a councillor, I was, of course, familiar with the code of conduct before I took up my current post as the Lib Dem board member for Standards for England last March. Like 89% of councillors and officers, I believe it is necessary to secure the confidence of the electorate in its local representatives.

These days, however, it is not just councillors who are involved in local governance arrangements. Increasingly, councils are working with other public bodies, and the private and voluntary sectors, to deliver local services and benefits to their communities.

Wherever decisions are being taken, the electorate must have confidence that ethical risks are rigorously controlled.

Another challenge that Standards for England faces is the broad range of its audience. We talk about standards in local democracy as a whole, but in reality local democracy is more multi-layered than we tend to imply. We work with authorities ranging from the Greater London Authority to parish councils.

Even within the parish sector we can’t necessarily afford to take a one size fits all approach – there are some parishes that represent as many as 65,000 residents.

We’ve got to recognise and respond to their differing needs, and finding ways to do that has got to form part of our plans for the coming year.

There is also the question of how we communicate with the public about the standards regime. In the past we’ve tended to focus most of our communications on councils themselves, but over the coming year we’ll need to review the way we engage with stakeholders, including the general public – who tend to make the majority of complaints about councillors.

Cllr Shirley Flint (Ind)
North Kesteven

Cllr Flint was elected in 1995. She has previously been chair of the council’s standards committee, the tenant liaison committee and the housing and environmental health committee. She is also a member of Skellingthorpe parish council.

As I am a parish councillor as well as a district one, part of my role on the board of Standards for England is to represent parishes as well as Independent councillors.

Standards issues can be problematic for parish councils.

The support networks and training that are readily available to councillors at other levels are not always so accessible to parishes and, as parish councillors play a key role in the local democratic process, it’s important we don’t neglect their needs.

Standards for England has been working with parish partners for some time on a capacity-building bid, funded by the Department of Communities and Local Government, which aims to develop good governance and leadership in parish councils through two particular programmes.

The first is a toolkit which provides a step-by-step guide and a set of agreements to be used by county associations, standards committees and monitoring officers, to help them work together to raise standards in town and parish councils.

The second is a programme of peer mentoring, whereby trained councillors will work with their town and parish counterparts to share best practice and strengthen parishes’ political and managerial leadership.

In the year ahead, we’ll be looking at the evaluation of these programmes so we can learn the lessons and formulate best practice.

This sort of project, in which Standards for England provides an independent national oversight to help authorities improve and maintain standards, will continue to be to key to our developing role as a strategic regulator.