Committee details

A meeting of the standards committee to consider the monitoring officer’s investigation report must be convened under Regulation 17 of the regulations. The sub-committee will consider whether or not to accept the investigating officer’s findings, as laid out in the report.

The members may overturn or endorse the officer’s findings and then recommend as appropriate that:

• No further action be taken

• A Standards (determination) hearing sub-committee and meeting be convened, which will consider the facts of the case and decide on any possible breach and, where appropriate, on sanctions.

• The case be referred to the first-tier tribunal for a hearing.

Regulation 8(6) allows the consideration of any information presented for that purpose to be considered as exempt information. The members of the sub-committee will decide at the meeting whether the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. This will necessarily depend on the facts of the case.