The Standards Committee promotes the high standards of conduct of councillors and co-opted members. They also deal with complaints about councillors.
Standards Committees do not have to comply with political balance rules in Section 15 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.
The Standards Committee will comprise:
- three councillors;
- three independent members (people who are not councillors or officers of the council or any other body having a Standards Committee); and
- three members of parish/town councils wholly or mainly in the council's area (parish members).
See: Who is on the Standards Committee?
By law the Chairman must be an independent member.. The independent members will be appointed by a selection panel, following advertisement for applicants in a local newspaper. The appointments will need to be endorsed by the Full Council. All parish/town councils in the borough will be invited to submit nominations for parish members of the Standards Committee and a selection procedure will be undertakenfor each of the following categories:
- parishes with less than 400 electors;
- parishes with between 400 and 15,000 electors; and
- parishes with more than 15,000 electors (that is town councils).
The appointments will need to be endorsed by the Full Council. A member of the Cabinet may not chair the committee.
The quorum of the committee will be four members of which there must be at least one borough councillor, one independent member and one representative of town/parish councils. The members of the committee will not have substitutes.
The Standards Committee will has the following roles and functions:
- promoting and maintaining high standards of conduct by councillors and co-opted Members;
- assisting councillors and co-opted members to observe the Members' Code of Conduct;
- advising the council on the adoption and revision of the Members' Code of Conduct;
- monitoring the operation of the Members' Code of Conduct;
- advising, training or arranging to train councillors and co-opted members on matters relating to the Members' Code of Conduct;
- granting dispensations to councillors and co-opted members from requirements relating to interests set out in the
- dealing with any reports from a case tribunal or interim case tribunal, and any report from the Monitoring Officer on any matter which is referred to the Monitoring Officer by an Ethical Standards Officer of the National Standards Board; and
- the exercise of (a) to (g) above in relation to the parish councils wholly or mainly in its area and the members of those parish councils.
The Standards Committee does not cover the conduct of officers, for which separate provisions apply.
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