The conduct and behaviour of Liverpool’s councillors and officers will be the focus of a newly strengthened body set up in the wake of a damning government inspection.
The council’s standards and ethics committee, set up in its current form after the publication of the Caller Report, will meet next week.
The committee is likely to play a key role in scrutinising a number of the reforms brought about in the aftermath of the Caller Report with the aim of r estoring public trust in the council and reinforcing its governance systems.
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According to council documents, it will also have the task of “dealing with allegations of Breach of the Member Code of Conduct, where these are referred to them by the Monitoring Officer, and the imposition of sanctions as appropriate in accordance with the law, the Council’s Constitution and relevant procedures adopted by the Council ”.
The council already had systems and committees in place for investigating complaints against councillors but the structure of this committee marks a change.
In a rare move, it is set to appoint an independent chair in an attempt to provide further external scrutiny.
Max Caller’s report into the council raised a number of concerns about the way some interactions between members and councillors had been handled in certain departments in the past.
The committee will also examine the council’s current complaints process, something which mayor Joanne Anderson has specifically prioritised for an overhaul.
Next week’s meeting will see it focus on an ongoing review of the council’s member and officer protocol, which sets out the ways councillors and council staff should interact with each other and with the public.
The standards and ethics committee will meet on Thursday, July 15.
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