As local government lawyers meet this week for their annual conference one of the issues on the agenda will be the new responsibilities to local authorities from next April for investigating complaints of standards. Michael Burton talks to David Prince who is stepping down as chief executive of the Standards Board.
It may come as a surprise to critics of the Standards Board but it actually only directly investigates 20 out of 100 cases of which 12 are sent back to the respective local authority to be acted upon. Out of 100 cases just eight are therefore left for the board itself at national level to complete.
David Prince, stepping down as chief executive of the board from next summer (the vacancy for the board’s chief executive was advertised in The MJ last week at £125,000) cites this figure as an example of how the board has changed in its seven-year existence. Its programme of devolution has put the onus of handling and investigating complaints down to local level aided by the introduction of a more flexible code of conduct introduced last May. As he says: ‘Moving from a rules-based system to focus on appropriate behaviour has been essential. People recognise that government isn’t just about ticking boxes.’
The board, set up in 2001, went through a torried early period, overwhelmed by a torrent of cases, many from parish councils and many vexatious, and a protracted investigation into the appointment process of Islington LBC’s chief executive which ended in the case being found not proven.
But since then the backlog has been cleared and the Manchester-based board is now on top of its brief, handling a small number of the most contentious cases that cannot be investigated locally. ‘The number of allegations has always been about 3,500 a year and is fairly stable,’ adds David Prince. ‘The majority now come from the public but we throw out the the politically-motivated vexatious cases pretty quickly. We’ve speeded up the initial assessment and turn round complaints in ten days on average and we’ve reduced the number being investigated from 50% to 20%. We only hold onto cases where we think there’s a public interest in not keeping them local.’
Some four out of five cases are rejected for being groundless or trivial leaving just the serious cases for the board to handle. Even these have fallen in number. ‘There’s evidence that conduct has improved. Of the most serious cases the issues tend to be failure to declare an interest or oppressive, bullying behaviour, both of which are difficult to deal with at local level. We agree that members should have the right to robust views and that accusations of bullying must never be a refuge for poor performance. But when a member is dealing with an office it should be in any officer environment.’
Changes from next April under the new local government Act mean the investigation system being turned on its head with council local standards committees now receiving the allegations first as part of a local standards framework.. This will remove the drama from the procedure with less of the ‘The Standards Board has been called in…’ local media headlines but it might also encourage more complaints. The board has been working with 36 pilot authorities on the new procedures. As he says: ‘Going local is a challenge to chief executives, leaders and monitoring officers.’ Indeed local government lawyers meeting at their annual conference for the Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors, it will be one of the key topics on their agenda.
As local government minister Parmjhit Dhanda told the board’s 6th annual assembly last month in Birmingham: ‘The Standards Board will be a much lighter touch national regulator. Its main job will be to make sure there is a consistent approach across the country. It will also deal with those rare cases which the local committee cannot handle with confidence. They might be the most serious cases or there might be some special reason why they have to be passed on. But we do not expect there to be many.’
David Prince steps down from next June when he will be 60 after a career that included being a chief executive and helping to role out the CPA at the Audit Commission. He intends to focus on non-executive roles after some 40 years in local government. He is currently on the General Social Care Council and also on the Rural Payment Agency’s audit committee because, as he says, ‘I’m a farmer’s son.’
He says there is ‘evidence’ that behaviour has improved and adds: ‘Local government should take more pride in its high standards. When councillors join new partnerships they’re often the only people well versed in good governance as well as having the democratic mandate. We need to indentify the appropriate governance arrangements for partnerships and keep it simple. Councillors are uniquely well-placed for this.’
