Neill seeks to clarify standards requirements

Ministers have warned council monitoring officers that 'gold plated' approaches to registering councillors' interests or investigating their behaviour have no place under the new standards system.

Local government minister Bob Neill said practical guidance on openness and transparency, issued today by the Department for Communities and Local Government, made clear how 'the new local standards strike a common sense balance between electoral accountability and personal privacy'.

In a letter sent accompanying the guidance to all local authority leaders, the local government minister stated: 'It [the guidance] makes clear to monitoring officers that any heavy bureaucratic, gold-plated approach has no place in the new localist standards arrangements.'

However, critics of the new regime, which took effect 1 July, have complained the new regulations have been poorly drafted, and contain provisions which mean all current councillors will not be required to declare personal interests until 28 days after they are re-elected.

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