Part III Conduct of local government members and employees
Chapter II Investigations etc: England
Functions of ethical standards officers
I159 Functions of ethical standards officers.
1
The functions of ethical standards officers are to investigate—
a
cases referred to them by the Standards Board for England under section 58(2), and
b
other cases in which any such officer considers that a member or co-opted member (or former member or co-opted member) of a relevant authority in England has failed, or may have failed, to comply with the authority’s code of conduct and which have come to the attention of any such officer as a result of an investigation under paragraph (a).
2
The Standards Board for England may make arrangements in relation to the assignment of investigations under this section to particular ethical standards officers.
3
The purpose of an investigation under this section is to determine which of the findings mentioned in subsection (4) is appropriate.
4
Those findings are—
a
that there is no evidence of any failure to comply with the code of conduct of the relevant authority concerned,
b
that no action needs to be taken in respect of the matters which are the subject of the investigation,
c
that the matters which are the subject of the investigation should be referred to the monitoring officer of the relevant authority concerned, or
d
that the matters which are the subject of the investigation should be referred to the president of the Adjudication Panel for England for adjudication by a tribunal falling within section 76(1).
5
Where a person is no longer a member or co-opted member of the relevant authority concerned but is a member or co-opted member of another relevant authority in England, the reference in subsection (4)(c) to the monitoring officer of the relevant authority concerned is to be treated as a reference either to the monitoring officer of the relevant authority concerned or to the monitoring officer of that other relevant authority (and accordingly an ethical standards officer who reaches a finding under subsectio (4)(c) must decide to which of those monitoring officers to refer the matters concerned).