Agenda item

Consideration was given to the report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services which advised of activities of the Committee on Standards in Public Life (the Committee) in relation to Local Government standards over the course of the past year and the Committee’s forward plan of work for 2016-2017 (for copy see file of Minutes).

The Governance Solicitor reported that the North East Monitoring Officers Group had informed the Committee that Councils were satisfied with their own local standards frameworks but that the sanctions regime was not strong enough to address breaches of the Code of Conduct.

Councillor Clark agreed that the sanctions available needed to be strengthened, particularly as investigations into alleged breaches required a lot of work by Officers.

In response to a comment from Councillor Batson, the Member was informed that, with the exception of Stanley Town Council, Parish and Town Councils in County Durham had adopted the NALC Code of Conduct. 

Resolved:

That the report be received.