Working in partnerships with other authorities

A commitment to partnerships and joint working allows authorities to share experience, knowledge and resources.

Notable practice from the 2009 annual returns

• Suffolk County Council organised a seminar on ethical governance, which included a focus on "What is good ethical behaviour in partnership working?"
• Swindon Borough Council invited partners to a "standards in partnerships master class".

Examples from the 2010 LGC standards and ethics award shortlist

The Audit Commission said that the London Borough of Bromley provided a useful reference site for another authority looking to improve its work on standards.

Leeds City Council has worked hard to assist parish councils in Leeds by carrying out the first audit of their ethical arrangements. They also provided focused and tailored support based on the results. The independent chair of the standards committee is also chair of the Yorkshire and the Humber Independent Members Forum, making it easy for the committee to share notable practice with other authorities. The authority also organised a West Yorkshire Regional Standards Conference.

With over 100 parishes, South Cambridgeshire District Council has a clear focus on training parish councillors and clerks. Following consultation with parishes to find out what was important to them, they worked with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Association of Local Councils to develop a series of well received training forums. These covered the Code, planning powers and dealing with FOI requests.

Waveney District Council launched a ‘We Pledge’ campaign in Local Democracy Week 2009, to get a range of public bodies signed up to the Ten General Principles of Public Life. The intention is to maintain trust and make residents of Waveney aware of the standards it can expect from its representatives. Key partners such as Lowestoft College, Suffolk Police, Primary Care Trust, Suffolk County Council and Suffolk Association of Local Councils have signed up.

Examples from the 2009 Standards and Ethics Award shortlist

• Ceredigion County Council hosted the Welsh Standards Conference with Wales ACSeS Group at Aberystwyth University for monitoring officers and standards committee members to share their experiences of the new Code. The Council is also developing close links with the University and the Monitoring Officer will shortly be providing a talk to law students in the University in relation to legal careers in local government.
• Rossendale Borough Council advises Burnley Borough Council on their protocols and work for the standards committee. 
• Newark and Sherwood District Council provide best practice, advice and support to other authorities via Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire standards forums, monitoring officer groups and the organisation of an annual Monitoring Officers' conference.
• Newcastle City Council standards committee has built a proactive relationship with chief whips.
• Newark and Sherwood District Councils monitoring officer has been proactive in leading a Nottinghamshire Monitoring Officers Group which meets regularly to discuss ethics and standards and to share learning and knowledge. As a result, the Nottinghamshire districts have developed common procedures and protocols for dealing with standards complaints.
• Rossendale Borough Council’s proposals for a Joint Standards Committee with other councils will provide increased capacity and make it easier to avoid any conflicts of interest. This will create a stronger support and advisory function which can draw on its collective experience to promote greater consistency in procedures and decisions.
• Ceredigion County Council produced a flow chart to assist with training for councillors, which has been distributed to all monitoring officers in Wales.
• Leeds City Council's standards committee maintain a close relationship with the Corporate Governance and Audit committee (CGA) and send them a progress report every six months.
• Newark and Sherwood District Council adopted a deliberate policy to share their learning and best practice not just locally, but regionally and nationally.
• Nottinghamshire Monitoring Officer Group identified a particular problem in respect of the understanding of governance issues within parishes and responded to this by developing the ‘Parish Council Toolkit’. All parish councils in Newark and Sherwood District Council have received a copy and many have adopted its model procedures. This has been welcomed by the Society for Local Council Clerks (SLCC) who is working closely with the group to produce version three of the toolkit.

Links

• For information on the Quality Parish Council initiative visit: http://www.defra.gov.uk/rural/quality_parishes/