The next Brent Council meeting is on Monday and will see a major overhaul of the Standards system. This is driven by the Localism Act, and has the effect of much reducing the demands on Councillors to follow rules of conduct.
The most serious offences are left to criminal prosecutions. Suspension of the sort in the Bertha Joseph case, will no longer by possible. The sanctions will be decided on by a politically balanced committee, which I would have thought opens the way to partisan abuse, and will be confined to demanding an apology, removing someone from a committee or giving them training.
The long standing practice of declaring either a personal or prejudical interest will also be replaced by a new concept of a pecuniary interest. However, the Standards Committee may end up with more to do, as the rules on dispensations are made much looser.
1 comment:
Well said James. The committee should be split equally, as it is now. This change is a recipe for corruption.
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