Standards committee

The main role of the Standards Committee is to promote and maintain high standards of conduct by Members and to monitor the operation of the Council's Statutory Code of Conduct for Members.

The Council is required by law to adopt a Code of Conduct for Members, which regulates the standards of conduct which Members must observe. Complaints about the conduct of Councillors can be raised using the online form on the complaints about the conduct of councillors page. Where appropriate, the complaint may be considered by a Sub-Committee of the Standards Committee known as a Local Assessment Panel. 

The Local Assessment Panel decides whether a complaint should be formally investigated. If the Local Assessment Panel decides that a complaint should be investigated it will normally ask the Council's Monitoring Officer to arrange an investigation.

If the investigation finds that there appears to have been a breach of the Code of Conduct for Members, the matter will be referred to another Sub-Committee of the Standards Committee, known as a Local Adjudication Panel. 

The Local Adjudication Panel has power, if it finds there has been a breach of the Code of Conduct for Members, to impose various sanctions on the Councillor concerned.

The Council's Standards Committee consists of 15 Members of which 10 are elected Members and 5 are independent Members who are not connected with the Council. Independent Members are appointed for a period of 4 years.

Independent Members must be people who are not Councillors or employees of the Council, or relatives or friends of Councillors or employees of the Council.

The Standards Committee is non-party political and the elected Councillors on the Standards Committee will be drawn from all three political parties represented on the Council.

For details of the current membership of the Standards Committee please see Part 3 of our Constitution.

The Standards Committee meets three times a year to consider such issues as the operation of the Code of Conduct, training for Members of the Council and consultation documents issued by the Government. These meetings are usually held at 6.00 pm in the evening.

Local Assessment and Local Adjudication Panels are convened specifically to hear allegations into the breaches of the Council's Code of Conduct for Members. Such meetings when held are likely to be held in the daytime.