Standards for Councillors in Local Government

All elected Councillors are expected to maintain high standards in their public lives.  The Borough Council's Standards Committee is a group of 16 people appointed by the Council to promote high standards of conduct by Borough Councillors, Parish Councillors and co-opted members. 

Of the 16 seats on the Committee 4 are taken by independent people who are members of the public who responded to our advert in the local press and applied to join the Committee and give their time voluntarily, to serve the community. 

One of the Independent Members Chairs the Committee.  The rest of the Committee is made up of 7 Borough Councillors and five representatives from Parish Councils within the Borough.

The current Membership of the Committee is as follows:-

Independent Members

Mr David Beckwith
Mrs Carol Dawson
Mrs Manjit Dhillon
Mr Stephen Hind 

Borough Council Members

Councillor Mrs J M Dalgarno
Councillor Mrs I E Davies
Councillor Mrs A D Hobbs
Councillor T A Holmes
Councillor S O'Connor
Councillor A H Stafford Northcote
Councillor A J Welch

The Parish Councils Members are :-

Councillor J Allen
Councillor R Ellison
Councillor B Taft
Councillor R Thomas
Councillor Mrs J Wetton

Contact details for the Independent Members and Parish Councillors are available from the Monitoring Officer.

The Committee promotes and maintains high standards of conduct by Borough and Parish Councillors, encourages all Borough and Parish Councillors to observe the Code of Conduct, informs Councillors about the Code of Conduct and helps them to avoid inadvertent breaches.  It arranges training for Councillors on matters relating to the Code of Conduct.

It also deals with any complaints about breaches by Councillors of the Code of Conduct.  If you have a complaint about the conduct of a member of the Borough Council or a Parish Council within the Borough please see the information below. 

Code Of Conduct

As part of the ethical framework for local government set out in the Local Government Act 2000, every Councillor when elected, and before they take up office, has to sign a declaration agreeing to abide by their Council's Code of Conduct.  Click on the following for the Borough Council',s Code of Conduct

Code of Conduct for Members

Copies of Parish/Town Council Codes of Conduct are available directly from the relevant Council. Contact details for each Council can be found on the following link - Parish Clerks/Councils.

For further information and the national guidelines please visit the Standards for England website.

Complaints

Complaints must be made in writing, preferably using the Council's standard complaint form, and addressed to the Council's Monitoring Officer:

Alistair Welch
Head of Law and Administration
Stafford Borough Council
Civic Centre
Riverside
Stafford ST16 3AQ

Tel No: 01785 619204
Fax No: 01785 619619
email: legalservices@staffordbc.gov.uk

The relevant complaint form, together with additional guidance, can be found using the following link - Additional Guidance on Submitting Complaints. Use of the complaints form should ensure that you provide all information that will be required by the Standards Committee in assessing your complaint.