The Chief Officer Legal and Regulatory, Human Resources and Corporate Policy presented a report, the purpose of which was for the Committee to note the consultation on the Independent Review of the Ethical Standards Framework (Penn Review).

She stated that the framework for this remained largely unchanged over the last 20 years and an individual independent review was felt important to maintain confidence in the system.

An effective ethical framework was essential she explained, to ensure people and  local members from all backgrounds have confidence to engage in local democracy and/or stand for elected office.

The independent review was undertaken by Richard Penn, a former local authority chief executive and the former chair of the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales. The terms of the review, were set out in paragraph 2.3 of the report.

The Chief Officer Legal and Regulatory, Human Resources and Corporate Policy stated that the review had concluded that the current framework was fit for purpose and worked well in practise. It was suggested that there be a greater emphasis in the framework on the prevention of complaints and improving the handling of complaints, which will result in already high ethical standards being further enhanced and improved.

She stated that since the publication of the review in July 2021, engagement had taken place with stakeholders, including monitoring officers, the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, the Welsh Local Government Association and One Voice Wales. The reviews recommendations were also discussed at the All Wales Standards Conference in February 2022 and a consultation paper was published in March 2023.

She requested that the committee noted the report and the consultation that had been ongoing and the outcome of the consultation be reported to the committee when it becomes available.

RESOLVED:                      That the Committee noted the report.