Our statement
We believe in a strong ethical organisational culture. We aim to promote the highest levels of conduct by our members and officers, to increase public trust in the delivery of our vision and objectives, by:
- maintaining openness and transparency in conducting its business
- being accountable for all it says and does
- ensuring that everyone knows what is expected of them
- offering appropriate training and development programmes
- promoting the work of its standards and governance committee
North Yorkshire Council is also the principal authority for parish and town councils in North Yorkshire for the purposes of the standards provisions in the Localism Act 2011. It is responsible for receiving and handling complaints that a parish/town councillor may have breached that authority’s code of conduct for Members. That is the extent of North Yorkshire Council’s jurisdiction in respect of parish/town council governance; parish/town councils are separate legal entities and North Yorkshire Council has no jurisdiction to consider other complaints about them for example about the way in which the parish/town council has or has not done something, or about particular parish/town council decisions or employees. Such complaints should be made to the clerk of the relevant parish/town council.
There are few remedies available regarding complaints about parish/town council decisions and governance – the main recourse tends to be through the four-yearly elections to parish and town councils through the ballot box. Members of the public may however choose to pursue a complaint through the parish/town council complaints procedure, raise the matter at the annual parish/town council meeting, ask questions in accordance with the parish/town council’s standing orders; or object to the council’s auditor during the public inspection period of accounts; or by joining with a group of local electors to call for a parish poll on the matter. If it is believed a parish council decision is unlawful, then a member of the public may be able to bring a judicial review action in the courts.
Although parish and town councils have a relationship with North Yorkshire Council as its unitary authority, neither North Yorkshire Council nor Government has the power to intervene in relation to general parish council matters.
Further information about parish and town councils is available on our parish and town councils page, our decision making at the council page and on the parish council contact details page.
Codes of conduct for members
Copies of our code and register of members’ Interests are available for inspection by members of the public, during office hours, at County Hall, Racecourse Lane, Northallerton, North Yorkshire, DL7 8AD and are also available to view below.
View the code of conduct for members.
Each parish and town council is also required to adopt a code of conduct for members. The codes of conduct for parish and town councils may be published on any website they may operate or will be available through contacting the relevant council clerk.
All elected councillors and voting co-opted members on council committees must comply with the relevant code of conduct for members when they go about their official duties.
The code of conduct states that councillors must behave in certain ways, such as treating others with respect. It also sets out the rules about registering and declaring interests. The register of elected members' interests is published online and voting co-opted member interest forms are available to view. The interest forms are also open to public inspection at County Hall, Northallerton, during office hours.
Registers of members’ interests for parish and town councils in North Yorkshire are published online.
Complaining about a breach of the code of conduct (“standards complaints”)
Before you submit a complaint, please consider whether or not it is an alleged breach of the relevant code of conduct for members.
- if you have a complaint against a North Yorkshire Council councillor/voting co-opted member which does not involve an alleged breach of the code of conduct, then you should submit your complaint online
- if you have a complaint about a parish/town council or one of its councillors which does not involve an alleged breach of that council’s code of conduct, then please submit your complaint to the clerk of the relevant parish/town council
- complaints that a member/voting co-opted member of North Yorkshire Council (or of a parish or town council within North Yorkshire) may have breached the relevant code of conduct must, by law, be made in writing, preferably using the complaint form here (docx / 43 KB)
The Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer
North Yorkshire Council
County Hall,
Northallerton,
North Yorkshire
DL7 8AD
Tel: 01609 532173
Email: MonitoringOfficer@northyorks.gov.uk
Using the complaint form will guide you through giving the information expected by the Monitoring Officer to enable a full consideration of your complaint.
Please ensure you are referencing the relevant Code of Conduct in making your complaint.
What happens next?
Pre-assessment consideration by Monitoring Officer
The Monitoring Officer/Deputy Monitoring Officer will undertake an initial consideration of all standards complaints received to ascertain that it is appropriate for them to progress to a formal assessment in consultation with the Independent Person for Standards.
A standards complaint will not progress to a formal assessment where:
a) it is not made against a named Member
b) it is a blanket complaint made against all Members of an authority, without specifying the precise allegations against each individual Member
c) it is, in essence, a complaint against a decision of, or actions by, the authority rather than a complaint that individual Member behaviour has breached the relevant Code of Conduct
d) the Member the subject of the complaint was not in office at the relevant time
e) it is a complaint about officers
f) it relates to individual behaviour which was clearly undertaken in a Member’s private capacity
g) the complaint, if proven to be true, would clearly not amount to a breach of the relevant Code of Conduct
h) it is, or is likely to be, the subject of a Police or other regulatory investigation: in such circumstances the Monitoring Officer may hold the complaint in abeyance pending the outcome of such investigation. If the complaint identifies potential criminal conduct or breach of other regulation, the Monitoring Officer will consult the Police and/or such other regulatory agencies as they consider appropriate. This may have an impact on the handling of the standards complaint and may require it to be held in abeyance pending the outcome of any criminal or regulatory investigation
i) the complainant refuses or is unable to particularise or substantiate their complaint, such that on a formal assessment it would be unlikely to be referred for investigation or any other action on the basis that there is insufficient information submitted
j) it is a substantially similar complaint to one previously submitted by the complainant and no new material evidence has been submitted
k) it is part of a series of complaints by connected parties in relation to particular circumstances where the issues have been or are being considered and where the standards regime is not the appropriate mechanism for resolving the issues and the wider public interest would not favour further public resource being expended on the matter
The initial consideration by the Monitoring Officer will ensure that there is an appropriate, proportionate, balance between maintaining high ethical standards and protecting the public purse and Council resources in terms of officer, Member and Independent Person time spent in handling standards complaints.
Assessment with Independent Person for Standards
Where a complaint is to be assessed, the Monitoring Officer/Deputy Monitoring Officer will seek the views of the member complained of regarding the complaint and then assess the complaint, in consultation with the independent person for standards, in accordance with agreed local assessment criteria. The assessment of the complaint is not an investigation and makes no determination as to the truth or otherwise of the allegations. It simply looks at whether the complaint falls within jurisdiction, disclosing a potential breach of the Code, and, if so, whether it warrants any further action being taken.
The procedure for dealing with standards complaints is set out in the standards arrangements document and, if a complaint progresses to a Hearing, in the Hearings Panel Procedure. There is no right of appeal against a decision of the Monitoring Officer, Deputy Monitoring Officer, Standards and Governance Committee or Hearings Panel, however if a party feels that North Yorkshire Council has failed to deal with the complaint properly they may make a complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
The Monitoring Officer will not refer for investigation, matters which are, in their opinion, and after consultation with the Independent Person, vexatious, offensive, trivial, disproportionate, politically motivated or where it is not in the public interest to take any action. Regard may be had to the Standards and Governance Committee Protocol for dealing with Unreasonably Persistent/Vexatious Complainants in this respect and in relation to the handling of such complaints generally.
Where the Committee has been consulted by the Monitoring Officer under the Protocol for dealing with Unreasonably Persistent/Vexatious Complainants and a decision made that a standards complaint has ended, any further complaints on essentially the same issue(s) do not need to be considered through the assessment process in the usual way.
The Committee also has a Protocol regarding the relationship between code of conduct complaints and local authority grievance procedures. Where an allegation of bullying, intimidation, harassment or discrimination is made by a member of staff (including a parish or town council clerk) against an elected or co-opted member of a local authority the proper course for the formal consideration of such alleged behaviour is through North Yorkshire Council’s procedure for considering complaints that the code of conduct has been breached.
The standards and governance committee
The standards and governance committee, supported by the Monitoring Officer, promotes and maintains high standards of conduct within the authority, assists and advises members and the council on standards and governance issues, monitors the operation of the code of conduct, and, where necessary, determines complaints that members may have breached the code. The committee also has a role in relation to other governance functions such as elections and community governance.
The committee has 10 elected council members. Current membership is set out in the council constitution. The independent persons for standards are also invited to meetings of the committee and are consulted on all key standards issues.
You can view standards and governance committee agenda, reports and minutes here.
The committee periodically produces a standards bulletin, circulated to Members and relevant officers, to keep them informed of key developments in the standards regime.
The committee regularly monitors standards complaint activity. Statistical information regarding standards complaints is available to view.
Standards complaints statistics
Statistical and contextual information relating to standards complaints received are published below: