Annual Report 2008

Local Government Reform

In April 2008, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government published a Green Paper, "Stronger Local Democracy - Options for Change", which included several suggestions for reform in the ethical area. These were:

• clearer oversight by the Standards in Public Office Commission. Local authorities should still take the lead role in ensuring compliance with ethics obligations. However, the Standards in Public Office Commission could be given a specific role to check on local compliance. For example, in relation to disclosures of donations or of election expenditure, allegations of non-compliance by candidates could be investigated by the Standards Commission. The Standards Commission could also be given the authority to investigate on its own initiative;
• more ready access to declarations of interest could also be provided (for example, publication on-line, but perhaps with protection for the family home);
• at present the chairperson and manager of a local authority have a role in investigating complaints against members. This can put the chairperson, in particular, in a difficult position. An alternative mechanism may be required to deal with complaints, where these are considered to be of serious nature, perhaps by way of a referral to the Standards in Public Office Commission. It would be important to design a mechanism that does not result in the Commission becoming swamped in complaints which are of a trivial nature, or of dubious motivation. Greater guidance could also be provided to local authorities as to how complaints regarding ethical breaches should be processed together with suggested remedies/sanctions where breaches are found;
• the introduction of a directly elected mayor may also be of benefit. Such an office holder, directly elected by the people, should be conscious of upholding high standards in the council over which he or she presides. Such an office holder would also be conscious that criticism of unethical behaviour at council level is likely to be channelled though the office of mayor;
• compliance with other codes and policies, including health and safety, equality and disability requirements, employment protection and entitlement rights, as well as many important "process" requirements in areas such as financial accountability, procurement, official languages, etc.

The Green Paper stated that these issues would be discussed further with the Standards Commission. The Green Paper also noted that the Department was committed to introducing legislation at the earliest possible opportunity to provide protection for persons who complain about inappropriate behaviour in local government matters. The Standards Commission had proposed such a provision in its observations in 2004 on the draft codes of conduct for local authority members and employees.

The Department subsequently confirmed to the Standards Commission that its view was that the implementation of the ethical framework should be kept within local authorities as much as possible and that the role of the Standards Commission would be restricted to matters of significant concern. The Standards Commission's view is that there should be an explicit complaints procedure in the ethical framework clearly setting out the responsibilities at local level and those of the Standards Commission. It was noted that there is provision under the Ethics Acts for statutory guidelines and advice to be given by the Standards Commission, which could usefully be applied under the ethical framework.

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