Decision details

The report before Members set out the findings of a review of the Members’ Code of Conduct as assessed against the Committee on Standards in Public Life’s (CSPL) best practice recommendations published in January 2019.

The CSPL’s key findings and recommendations were reported to the Governance Committee on 7 March 2019 and the Committee noted that officers would report back on the 15 best practice recommendations which the CSPL expects all local authorities to implement.

Attached at Appendix 1 to the report was a review of Havering’s Member Code of Conduct, as assessed against the relevant best practice recommendations, to inform discussion on what changes, if any, should be implemented. Both the code and the Council’s arrangements for dealing with complaints (i.e. the complaints procedure) are set out in Part 5 of the Council’s Constitution and published on the Council’s website.

A number of Members commented that there needed to be a project plan for the implementation of best practice in havering involving Group Leaders.

It was noted that a full review of the Members’ Code of Conduct and complaints procedure would be undertaken and reported back to the Committee, along with a project plan for the consideration and implementation of the CSPL’s best practice recommendations.