Part III Conduct of local government members and employees

Chapter II Investigations etc: England

Functions of ethical standards officers

59 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 F158(2) F158(1), 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 F2is no evidence of any F2has been no failure to comply with the code of conduct of the relevant authority concerned,

(b)

F3that no action needs to be taken in respect of the matters which are the subject of the investigation,

F3that there has been such a failure to comply but no action needs to be taken,

(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 F4First-tier Tribunal for adjudication.

(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).