The Standards Committee deals with the conduct
of Councillors and is responsible for ensuring the adopted
arrangements to deal with complaints against Councillors are
effective and that the Council operates to high ethical
standards.
The arrangements for handling complaints
delegates authority to the Chair of the Standards Committee to
consider and determine complaints following consultation with
fellow committee members, independent persons and the Monitoring
Officer. This is typically through a consultation meeting which is
not open to the public.
In most cases, the Chair will determine the
complaint through this consultation process, but if not, then an
independent investigation may be commissioned. The outcome of a
commissioned investigation is reported to the Standards
Committee.
A report is presented to the formal public
Standards Committee providing an anonymised summary of new, pending
and closed complaints on a rolling basis.
Details of how to make an official complaint
against a councillor and the arrangements for handling complaints
is set out in Part 6 of the Constitution.