§ (".—(1) Any case tribunal which gives notice to a standards committee of a relevant authority under section 52 may also make recommendations to the authority about any matters relating to—
- (a) the exercise of the authority's functions,
- (b) the authority's code of conduct. or
- (c) the authority's standards committee.
§ (2) A case tribunal must send a copy of any recommendations it makes under subsection (1) to the relevant Standards Board.
§ (3) A relevant authority to whom recommendations are made under subsection (1) must consider the recommendations and, within a period of three months beginning with the day on which the recommendations are received, prepare a report for the relevant Standards Board giving details of what action the authority have taken or are proposing to take as a result of the recommendations.
§ (4) A relevant authority's function of considering a report under subsection (3) must be discharged only by the authority or by the standards committee of that authority.
§ (5) If the relevant Standards Board is not satisfied with the action the relevant authority has taken or proposes to take in relation to the recommendations, the Board may require the authority to publish a statement giving details of the recommendations made by the tribunal and of the authority's reasons for not fully implementing the recommendations.
372§ (6)In this section "the relevant Standards Board" means—
- (a) the Standards Board for England where the relevant authority concerned is in England,
- (b) the Standards Board for Wales where the relevant authority concerned is in Wales.").
§ The noble Lord said: We believe that the new ethical framework is not simply about investigating allegations of councillor misconduct and punishing those who are found to breach the code. The new ethical framework is about disseminating good practice, training members, making sure that the internal workings of authorities support ethical behaviour, and clarifying those areas of the new codes of conduct that may be unclear.
§ In order to help further these wider aims for the new ethical framework, it is necessary for the case tribunals to have the power to make recommendations to relevant authorities. The recommendations could be in respect of issues such as member training, internal organisation, reporting arrangements, and the role of the local authority's standards committee. These are in addition to, and go wider than, its recommendations for the treatment of individual councillors who come before it. The new clause (Amendment No. 358) makes provision for this.
§ In order to ensure that an authority acts on any recommendations made, the clause also provides that the authority to which the recommendations are made is obliged to consider the recommendations made and must respond within three months specifying whether it proposes to take any action and, if so, what it will be.
§ If the standards board is not satisfied with that response, provision is made that it may require the authority to publish a statement specifying the recommended action and the reasons for not taking it. I beg to move.
§ On Question, amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 53 [Disclosure and registration of members' interests etc.]
§
Lord Whitt moved Amendment No. 359:
Leave out Clause 53 and insert the following new clause—