At Wednesday’s full council meeting, members will be discussing and voting on changes to the councillors’ code of conduct and complaints procedure.
As mentioned previously on VB, due to changes in the Localism Act 2011, the Ethical Standards Committee (ESC) is due to be abolished and replaced by new procedures.
Members will discuss the report which makes recommendations on the “proposed local arrangements for a new code of conduct, complaint process and the arrangements for handling requests for dispensations to speak when a member has an interest”.
Approved by Ethical Standards Committee
The proposals were approved by the Ethical Standards Committee at their meeting last month.
Changes to the way complaints are dealt with will include the requirement for a complaint only to be heard by a Committee (the new Appeals Committee) if deemed necessary by the Monitoring Officer.
Complaints reducing
Many will be pleased to hear that complaints against councillors have dropped.
The latest annual report for the Ethical Standards Committee reveals the number of complaints against councillors has reduced from 34 in 2010-11 to just 18 in 2011-12.
Full details of all changes from the current practice are outlined in the papers embedded below for your convenience along with the 2012 Annual Report for the ESC.
