Important review underway

At the beginning of December I met with the standards committees of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham.

It’s always interesting for me to get the chance to talk – and listen – to members of standards committees and this was an informal and friendly occasion. I was able to give them an update on current work at Standards for England.

I charted the history of local standards and gave an update on the first year of the devolved regime from our perspective, covering some of the conclusions in our annual review. I told them that it seems to me local government is generally 'consenting' of the revised regime, with most criticism focused on its now past predecessor.

For their part the standards committee members were interested in what a change in government would mean for the standards regime.

In my view there is still plenty of thinking to be done about the detail of future arrangements for local standards, whatever happens in the next General Election. At Standards for England we are working hard to ensure that future policy makers are informed by an accurate view of the strengths – and weaknesses of the current system. Having that oversight is a key part of the job of a strategic regulator.

Hence we’re in the middle of a quick, but thorough review of the local standards framework looking particularly at its effectiveness and proportionality based on 18 months experience.

We’re looking at issues such as timeliness, cost, sanctions, process, transparency and how we deal with trivial / tit-for-tat / vexatious complaints. We’re drawing upon monitoring returns, recent and new research and consultation with representative bodies. The Board will consider the findings in the New Year with a view to submitting our recommendations to CLG in the spring.

Bob Chilton - Chair
December 2009