07/05/2008: Code of conduct complaints
Changes to the complaints procedure
From Thursday the 8 May 2008 the responsibility for considering any complaint that a member of the Council has breached the Brent Members Code of Conduct will become the responsibility of the Standards Committee.
The members of the council are the elected members, co-opted members and independent members.
- Elected members are councillors
- Independent members are appointed as members of the Standards Committee which considers matters of conduct and ethics. They are completely independent of the Council and their impartiality helps ensure the integrity of the Standards Committee. There are currently three independent members.
- Co-opted members work on the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee. This committee contains four voting and two non-voting co-opted members from education and faith groups.
This procedure does not cover council officers.
What this means to you
From 8 May 2008 onwards if you want to complain about the conduct of a member you must submit your complaint in writing to:
The Monitoring Officer
London Borough of Brent
Town Hall Annexe
Forty Lane
Wembley
HA9 9HD
You will receive an acknowledgement of your complaint within five working days and the complaint will be considered by the Standards Committee soon after that.
Please note that the Standards Committee can only deal with complaints that a member has breached the code of conduct. The committee cannot consider complaints about the council as a whole, council services or council officers.
You should also note that until 8 May 2008 the Standards Board for England remains responsible for carrying out this function and complaints made before 8 May should go to the Standards Board.
The Standards Board's website at http://www.standardsboard.gov.uk/ has useful information about the process and what can be complained about.