The standards implications of local government reorganisation

Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) is commonly viewed as a financial, constitutional and service-delivery opportunity or challenge, depending on your viewpoint. Less attention has been given to its implications for member conduct and standards. Yet when councils merge, they bring together not only services and governance structures, but also political cultures and norms, different experiences of standards processes, and differing expectations regarding member behaviour and accountability.

Differences may arise in attitudes to officer-member relationships, social media conduct, declarations of interest, approaches to scrutiny, expectations regarding civility in meetings or the use of informal resolution processes. While constitutions can be harmonised relatively quickly, developing a shared culture of conduct is often a longer-term challenge.

The significance of these issues is heightened by the Government’s recent response to its consultation on strengthening the local government standards framework. This has promised significant reforms to the local government standards regime, promising stronger sanctions, mandatory standards committees and the reintroduction of suspension powers.

This article considers why member conduct should form part of every authority’s reorganisation planning and explores the governance risks that may arise when new authorities inherit not only different structures, but different political cultures.

How much of a local authority’s success depends on governance structures, and how much depends on member behaviour?

While governance structures, constitutions, and decision-making arrangements are essential to the effective operation of any authority, they cannot by themselves guarantee good governance. The success of a local authority ultimately depends upon the people who operate those structures and the culture within which decisions are made. This is important because new unitary authorities will need public confidence from day one. Member disagreements and a series of standards investigations can undermine confidence in a new organisation. Standards arrangements are therefore not merely a compliance issue but a key part of organisational legitimacy, setting the cultural tone.

Periods of local government reorganisation are likely to place particular pressure on political and officer relationships. Difficult decisions must often be made regarding service delivery, governance arrangements, staffing, assets and local representation. Such issues will generate strong opinions, heightened political tensions and increased public scrutiny. All of this will only increase pressure on monitoring officers who are already tasked with overseeing member conduct and standards issues. In these circumstances, standards arrangements can provide an important framework for ensuring that disagreement and political challenge remain robust but respectful, observing basic principles of civility.

A well-drafted constitution can establish rules, but it cannot ensure trust between members, nor can it ensure constructive engagement between councillors and officers. Equally, a code of conduct cannot prevent all disputes from arising. However, clear behavioural expectations and effective standards processes can help authorities navigate periods of significant change while maintaining public trust and confidence.

Member standards should not be viewed simply as a reactive complaints mechanism. Instead, they should be regarded as a core component of organisational resilience and a signifier of cultural tone. As local authorities prepare for reorganisation, attention should therefore be given not only to how decisions will be made, but also as to how elected members and officers will work together in delivering those decisions.

Reorganisation is taking place at the same time as the standards framework itself is likely to become more robust. Authorities, therefore, need to consider not only how they will integrate differing political cultures, but also how they will operate within a standards regime that may soon provide stronger sanctions and more formal governance mechanisms.

If standards are a reorganisation issue rather than simply a compliance issue, what should local authorities be doing now?

1. Treat standards as a separate LGR workstream.
2. Review member and officer behavioural expectations early – authorities should focus not only on combining constitutions but also on establishing an agreed set of behavioural expectations for members and officers.
3. Review codes of conduct and complaints procedures to reflect the above.
4. Invest in member inductions, including sections on current hot topics such as social media use.
5. Implement cultural change training throughout the authority.
6. Consider what additional governance support, deputy arrangements and resilience measures are required during the transition to support your monitoring officer.
7. Conduct a standards due diligence audit.