Corrupt councillors to face criminal court not Standards for England, says minister

Serious misconduct for personal gain will be treated as a criminal act and so councillors will face a court rather than Standards for England, a minister has announced.

In a speech at a New Local Government Network event at the Liberal Democrat conference, Andrew Stunell claimed the Standards for England regime “ended up fuelling petty complaints and malicious vendettas”.

He said: “Nearly every council had investigations hanging over them – most of which would be dismissed but not before reputations were damaged and taxpayer money was wasted.

“Frivolous allegations undermined local democracy and discouraged people from running for public office. That’s why we are axing the unpopular and unelected standards board regime. Instead we will legislate to ensure that if a councillor is corrupt and abuses their office for personal gain, they will be dealt with in the criminal courts.”

Stunell said councilors who behave ineffectively or irresponsibly should be judged at the ballot box by an electorate “with real access to their accounts and personal interests in a new transparent era”.

The minister added that the government wanted to free councillors from central prescription and top down bureaucracy “so they can get on with their job”.

Stunell also announced plans to make local authorities legally required to implement Local Government Ombudsman findings.

Earlier this month Standards for England insisted it “remains open for business” in the run-up to its closure, which is expected sometime between 31 December 2011 and 31 March 2012.

The organisation issued a reminder to standards committees and monitoring officers that they have an obligation to keep the local standards framework going.