Standards for England "remains open for business", calls on MOs to meet obligations
Standards for England has insisted that it remains “open for business” in the run-up to its closure and that standards committees and monitoring officers have an obligation to keep the local standards framework going.
In a bulletin issued last week, the organisation said primary legislation is needed for its abolition and that these provisions were expected to be included in the Decentralisation and Localism Bill.
The Bill is due to be presented in late 2010, with Royal Assent anticipated between July and October 2011. On this timetable, Standards for England would close for good sometime between 31 December 2011 and 31 March 2012.
The agency said: “In the light of these circumstances we have reviewed our business plan for this year and next. Our current priorities are to fulfil our statutory duties, to support local authorities in maintaining high standards and to assist the government in developing and implementing any new arrangements they may choose to put in place.
“In the meantime, the local standards framework still exists and standards and monitoring officers have an obligation to keep the system operating.”
The organisation said it would:
- continue to provide advice and information
- update its guidance on the framework to make it easier to use, and change it where it is out of date, inaccurate or incorrect
- produce an updated case review as a result of a request from the Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors.
- continue to carry out investigations referred to it by standards committees
- maintain existing relationships with key stakeholder organisations
- meet requests for staff to give presentations or attend training events, and
- maintain its website as a resource to support standards committees.
Standards for England revealed that it had reviewed the factors it takes into account when accepting cases in the public interest for investigation, to see whether they were appropriate given the government’s stated policy, its localist approach to regulation of local government and its reduced budget.
It said: “We concluded that both the underlying criterion of public interest and the relating factors are consistent with our statutory purpose and continue to be valid while the current standards framework remains in place. Therefore we have not made any changes to the factors or criterion.
“However, when considering whether to accept cases we will have to have regard to the resources we have available and take account of the relative importance of cases.”
The organisation has advised that so long as the original appointment of an independent member was carried out with all the correct legal requirements of the time – “e.g. approved by full council, after being openly advertised and having assessed the suitability of all the applicants” – then an authority can extend the member’s term beyond two terms of four years.
This would need to be done during their term of office and with approval of full council. If the term has expired, then full recruitment procedures will have to be followed again.
Standards for England had previously recommended that independent members serve no more than two four-year terms. However, it has changed its tack after some authorities suggested that – given the uncertainty over the future of the standards regime – it would be preferable to retain those who have been trained and understand the role, rather than to try and recruit new members.
The organisation said it would no longer request submission of quarterly or annual returns from local authorities. “We do not anticipate re-establishing these procedures, unless a specific monitoring need arises in which we have to play a part,” it said.
Standards for England paid tribute to those staff leaving after a first wave of redundancies. “We are losing people who have contributed much to this organisation, and many of whom have worked for us for some time,” it said.
