The Work of the Standards Board for England

Michael Toft, Political Adviser, the Standards Board for England, UK

“Standards in Public Life: United Kingdom – Republic of Tatarstan”

Kazan, July 2, 2004

Outline of Presentation

An introduction
What is the Standards Board for England?

• Part III of the Local Government Act 2000
• Statutory and independent
• Promote and maintain standards
• Provide guidance
• Consider allegations

Who are we?

• Board Members
• 100+ staff
• Various departments -
  - Policy
  - Legal
  - Investigations
  - Complaints

Why are we here?

• Nolan Committee
• Local government – generally clean bill of health
• Public perceptions – to promote confidence in local democracy through new, consistent arrangements:
  - Model Code of Conduct and
  - The Standards Board for England

Who do we cover?

• 388 Local Authorities
• 8,350 Parish Councils
• 43 Police Authorities
• 31 Fire & Civil Defence Authorities
• 7 National Parks and the Broads Authority
• 6 Passenger Transport Authorities
• The Greater London Authority

What we do not cover

• Officers
• Councils as a whole
• Corporate maladministration
• Members of Parliament
• Civil Servants

The Model Code of Conduct

• Applies when a member:
  - Conducts the business of the authority
  - Conducts the business of the office to which they have been elected or appointed
  - Acts as a representative of the authority
• Does not apply outside official duties, except in limited circumstances

What ‘limited circumstances’?

Breach of Code if at any time:

• Act in a way that ‘might reasonably be regarded as bringing the office or the authority into disrepute’; or
• Use position improperly to secure for any person advantage or disadvantage

What if a member is also a member of another authority?

• Members should abide by the Code of the authority whose business they are dealing  with at the time.

General obligations of The Model Code

Obligation on members to:

• Promote equality 
• Treat people with respect
• Not to unduly influence council officers
• Not to disclose confidential information
• Not to prevent persons seeing documents / information they are legally entitled to see

General obligations of The Model Code (cont.)

• Not to misuse council resources, especially for party political purposes
• Listen to advice of the Monitoring Officer/Chief Finance Officer
• Report breaches of the code to the Standards Board for England

What does the Code say?

• Register of interests
• Declare gifts and hospitality
• New system for declaring interests

What is a Personal Interest?

“…reasonably regarded as affecting individual, family, friend etc, more than other people in the area…”

• Onus on member (personal judgement)
• Declaration and participation

What is a Prejudicial Interest?

“…an interest that is so significant that a reasonable person would regard it as likely to prejudice judgement…”

• Withdraw

Gifts and Hospitality

Members are required to register gifts and

hospitality that they have been given which are

over the value of Ј25.

Some local codes expand this requirement to:

- a series of gifts

- Gifts and hospitality offered but declined

Allegations

• Any person can make a complaint:
  - member of the public
  - council officer
  - council member

Allegations

• Allegations must be in writing:
  - Complaint Form
  - letter, fax, email

and should include:

- code breach alleged

- supporting evidence

Receiving allegations

• Allegations received by Referrals Unit (RU)
  - allegations cannot be retrospective
• RU applies criteria before an allegation is referred to an ESO for investigation:
  - Is it within our jurisdiction?
  - Have we received the same complaint?
  - Is the allegation frivolous or vexatious?

Investigations

• The Investigations team is headed by a Senior Ethical Standards Officer and 3 ESOs
• Cases are allocated to investigators and supervised by ESOs.

ESO Findings

• An ESO can make one of 4 findings:
  - no evidence of code breach
  - code breach but no further action
  - to refer the case for local investigation
  - to refer the case to the Adjudication Panel for England and a tribunal hearing

Investigations

• Over 5000 allegations received to date
• Allegations include:
  - bringing council into disrepute
  - disrespect
  - failure to declare interests

Statistics

• 30% of allegations referred for investigation
• General findings of investigations –
  60% - no further action required
  20% - no evidence of breach
  12% - sent to Adjudication Panel for England
  8% - sent back to local level

Future work

• Providing guidance
• Develop partnerships – local agencies and international regulators
• Support local government
• Raise confidence in local democracy