Cornwall to lobby for "meaningful sanctions" over serious conduct breaches

Cornwall Council is to lobby the Government for the restoration of powers allowing local authorities to apply “meaningful” sanctions against members who commit serious breaches of a code of conduct.

In letters to the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Committee for Standards in Public Life (CSPL), the unitary authority will urge a return to the pre-Localism Act position where councils had the power to suspend councillors for up to a period of six months for serious breaches of the code.

Local authorities could also refer the most serious breaches to the First-tier Tribunal, which could disqualify a member from holding public office for up to five years. 

Following the Localism Act, the most serious sanction available to Cornwall is the option of imposing a formal censure.

In the letters, Cornwall will also ask ministers to consider introducing a democratic ‘right of recall’ in circumstances where a serious breach of the code is found. Such a procedure would force councillors to stand for re-election.

Cllr Loveday Jenkin, chairman of Cornwall’s standards committee, highlighted concern over the limited sanctions available under the current regime.



She said: “Local residents have the right to expect high standards of conduct in the people they elect to represent them. While the majority of councillors do abide by these standards, it is vital that we have meaningful sanctions to deal effectively with those who commit serious breaches of the Code of Conduct."



Cllr Jenkin added: “The council’s standards committee, which is made up of eight Cornwall councillors, five town and parish councillors and five members of the public appointed as lay members, has a key role in promoting and maintaining high standards in public life and I am delighted that the full council has backed this recommendation.”



“I will also be contacting the Local Government Association to see if other councils are interested in working with us on this matter.”

In April the CSPL said it expects to undertake an assessment of the state of local government standards in 2014/15.

The watchdog had previously put the regime on a 'watching brief', firing a warning that the lack of available sanctions and independent scrutiny risked damaging public confidence in the probity of local government.

Commenting on Cornwall's announcement, a committee spokeswoman said: "The committee remains concerned about the lack of meaningful sanctions available to local authorities to combat poor behaviour. The only sanctions currently available are censure or criminal prosecution. We continue to believe that these are insufficient."