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Standards are a winner for Leeds
25 March 2010
Leeds City Council has been named as one of the most ethical authorities in the country, winning in the Standards and Ethics category at the LGC Awards 2010.
Standards for England (SfE), which supports the award, was impressed by Leeds’ approach to ethical governance within the authority.
Leeds’ ‘From Good to Great’ plan outlined a series of measures designed to drive up and raise awareness of ethical standards. These included working on the standards committee’s assessment and investigation procedures. The authority also focused on engaging leadership, arranging for the standards committee Chair, the monitoring officer and the leaders of all five political parties to meet to discuss issues every quarter.
Leeds was named as the winner at the LGC Awards ceremony in London last night (Wednesday 24 March). The other shortlisted authorities were Waveney District Council, Kent County Council, the London Borough of Bromley, South Cambridgeshire District Council and West Somerset District Council.
Waveney District Council was also highly commended by the judges, for its efforts in promoting high ethical standards. The authority’s poster competition and ‘Young Filmmaker Competition’ were among the innovative approaches it took to communicating standards.
Examples of notable practice and profiles of all six authorities can be found on Standards for England’s website here.
Dr Robert Chilton, Chair of Standards for England, said: “We were very impressed with Leeds City Council’s commitment to high ethical standards. Their success in the Standards and Ethics category shows the innovation and hard work put into areas such as communicating standards and engaging leadership.
“The judges were very pleased to be able to recognise and celebrate the notable practice of all six shortlisted authorities in this year’s award, and we were encouraged by their clear commitment to promoting and maintaining high standards of member conduct.”
Councillor Richard Brett, joint leader of Leeds City Council said:
“The LGC Awards celebrate the very best in local government and it is a great achievement for us to be included on the winners list.
“We are very pleased that standards and ethics at the council have been singled out as some of the best in local government for this year, and we will continue to work on this and all other areas.”
For media enquiries, contact the press office on 0161 817 5400 or email press.enquiries@standardsforengland.gov.uk.
Notes for editors
1. For further information on the authorities shortlisted in the Standards and Ethics category of the LGC Awards 2010, please visit www.standardsforengland.gov.uk/Resources/Notablepractice/Localauthoritycasestudies
2. For media enquiries, please contact the press office on 0161 817 5400 or email press.enquiries@standardsboard.gov.uk
