Essex nets "Legal Team of the Year" at LGC Awards 2010

Essex County Council was this week named "Legal Team of the Year" at the LGC Awards 2010 for its work on the use of well-being powers.

The team at Buckinghamshire County Council was highly commended in the category.

Leeds City Council meanwhile secured the Standards & Ethics award, which was sponsored by Standards for England.

The council was praised for its ‘From Good to Great’ plan, which outlined a series of measures designed to drive up and raise awareness of ethical standards.

These included working on the standards committee’s assessment and investigation procedures. Leeds also focused on engaging leadership, arranging for the standards committee chair, the monitoring officer and the leaders of all five political parties to meet to discuss issues every quarter.

Cllr Richard Brett, joint leader of Leeds City Council, said: “We are very pleased that standards and ethics at the council have been singled out as some of the best in local government for this year, and we will continue to work on this and all other areas.”

Waveney District Council was also highly commended for its efforts in promoting high ethical standards. Its innovative approaches included a poster competition and a ‘Young Filmmaker Competition’.

The biggest winner at the awards was the London Borough of Hackney, which took home gongs for children’s services, employee engagement and place of the year.

Hammersmith & Fulham won Council of the Year.