Research and analysis

Local government ethical standards: progress made against best practice recommendations

The Committee has published progress made by local authorities against best practice recommendations made in its report, Local Government Ethical Standards.

• From: Committee on Standards in Public Life
• Published: 8 January 2021

Documents

Local government ethical standards: progress made by local authorities against best practice recommendations

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 900 KB

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August 2021 update: progress made by local authorities against best practice recommendations

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Details

Local Government Ethical Standards

In January 2019, the Committee published a report and recommendations on local government ethical standards, an area of long-standing interest for CSPL.

This work wasn’t prompted by specific allegations of misconduct, it was a health check of the current framework established by the Localism Act 2011. The 2019 report provided assurance that the arrangements in place in local authorities are promoting and maintaining standards expected by the public and that the majority of local councillors do maintain high ethical standards.

We recommended though that some improvements were required, in particular, the need for maximum independence in local complaints processes and the need for greater sanctions, where appropriate, in the rare cases of significant or repeated breaches of the code of conduct.

Reviewing progress against best practice recommendations

We have reviewed actions since the 2019 report, following up progress against our 15 best practice recommendations. The replies we have received can be found in the attached spreadsheet. The responses we have received from local authorities to date have been positive with most local authorities confirming that they have already implemented or are taking steps to implement our best practice recommendations.

CSPL is of course aware that the COVID-19 pandemic has involved significant additional work for those in local government and we will continue to accept responses.

See our recent blog post on local government follow up here.

Published 8 January 2021