Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council tries to ensure that members have all the help they need when it comes to the Code of Conduct. The declaration of interest form that is provided at every meeting has a set of guidelines on the back to make it easier for members to determine the nature of their interest, for example, and members also take the IDeA’s ‘Modern Councillor’ course.

The standards committee’s work plan is designed to be flexible, and is constantly reviewed and updated.

The work plan can also be informed by meetings between the independent standards committee chairs from Redcar and Cleveland and its neighbouring authorities, which are invaluable for sharing ideas and good practice.

The chief executive also meets with the monitoring officer regularly and discusses issues of standards and probity. This is a good indicator of the importance placed on standards and ethics within the authority – the commitment to standards and good governance is there at the top, and the council has an ethical governance team.

As well as being strongly committed to standards and ethics, Redcar and Cleveland also aims to be open and transparent about such issues. Standards committee minutes are posted on the council’s website and agendas are available as hard copies.