Meeting documents

            Meeting: Standards Committee (County Hall, Durham - Committee Room 1A - 20/11/2007 10:00:00 AM)

                  Item: A6 Ethical Standards Survey

         

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Standards Committee 20 November 2007 Ethical Standards Survey
Report of Lesley Davies, Acting Director (Corporate Services) and Monitoring Officer

Purpose of the Report

1. To present the findings of the Ethical Standards Survey conducted by the External Auditor (Audit Commission) and to discuss and agree with the Committee a resultant Action Plan.

Background

2. As Members might recall, against a background of increasing emphasis on the importance of strong ethical standards in local government, we asked the External Auditor to survey both Members and Senior Officers, using a well-established questionnaire, in order to assess awareness and understanding of ethical standards operating across the Council.

3. The Auditor has subsequently analysed the results of the returned questionnaires, which included comparison with responses from other authorities, and the conclusions and recommendations from this are detailed in the attached draft report, Appendix 1.

4. There has been some discussions with the Auditor prior to the issue of the report and these are reflected in the preliminary comments which appear in the Action Plan. Further comments are detailed in the attached Appendix 2.


Conclusion and Recommendation

5. The Committee is asked to consider the draft report and agree the Action Plan so that the report can be finalised.

Contact: Bill McKibbin Tel. (0191) 383 3507