The government has announced plans to strengthen the standards regime for local authorities in England, from town and parish councils to strategic mayoral authorities. The reforms aim to ensure that misconduct by councillors is dealt with swiftly and fairly across the country. Plans include:
powers for authorities to suspend elected members for a maximum of six months for serious code of conduct breaches
introducing premises and facilities bans either in addition to a suspension or as a standalone sanction
a new disqualification criterion for any elected member subject to the maximum period of suspension more than once within 5 years
the creation of a national appeals function, to consider appeals from members to decisions to suspend them, and for complainants if they consider their complaint was mishandled
Code of conduct complaints would still be dealt with by the Monitoring Officer at the principal (district or unitary) council.