A Happy New Year!
I'd like to send my congratulations to the many figures from local government and public service honoured in this year’s New Year's Honours. Reading of some of their achievements is a reminder of the very high standards in public life we do have in this country.
Standards for England 's board meets for the first time in 2010 on January 26. The board brings together a cross-section of men and women committed to standards - including four senior local politicians representing the three major parties and England 's independent councillors. We gather from all directions - North Kesteven, Southport, East Sussex, Westminster (and other places) - to debate the papers before us in our Manchester offices.
As part of our commitment to being transparent in the way we conduct our business - and as part of the improvements we've been making to our website - you can now see our agenda and read some of the papers we’ll be discussing here.
Among them you’ll find an interesting update on work we’ve been doing on identifying ethical issues arising in partnerships between local government and others, a research report on how our advice and guidance is received and an update on plans for our 2010 Annual Assembly.
We follow our formal board meetings with a presentation and discussion on a topic of interest. This month we’ll be hearing about the results of an initiative which the board has considered to be of great importance to the standing of Standards for England . Project Excellence has been a thorough and far-reaching review of our investigation processes and practices to ensure our work is as good as it can be - timely, accurate, proportionate and courteous. We’ve made great strides in the past 12 months - including reducing the typical time we take to complete an investigation significantly. It’s important, as an organisation concerned with the standards of others, that our own work is of the highest standard too, and I’m confident we’re taking every possible step to ensure it is.
Bob Chilton - Chair
January 2010
