‘The Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL), established in 1994 by John Major to advise the prime minister on arrangements for upholding ethical standards of conduct across public life in England, clearly expected more from the government in this area. For while the CSPL’s January 2019 review of Local Government Ethical Standards contained 26 recommendations, on 4 October 2022, the CSPL’s chair, Lord Evans, wrote to the secretary of state for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC), at the time Simon Clarke MP, indicating that it was “very disappointed that many of its careful recommendations have not been accepted”. Among other things, Lord Evans noted “clear frustration within local authorities at the limited powers within the local government standards regime to address poor behaviour by a minority of individuals”. Because while the 2019 report indicated that “the vast majority of councillors and officers want to maintain the highest standards of conduct in their own authority”, it nevertheless noted that a “minority of councillors engage in bullying or harassment, or other highly disruptive behaviour, and a small number of parish councils give rise to a disproportionate number of complaints about poor behaviour”.’
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Law Society's Gazette, 24th February 2023
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
