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Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

Answer

Mr. Drew: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many complaints against councillors he has received in each year since the inception of the Standards Board, broken down by local authority; and whether the complaint (a) was proven, (b) was unproven or rejected for lack of evidence and (c) is pending in each case. [194279] Mr. Raynsford: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has no remit in the consideration of allegations of misconduct against local authority members. The investigation of such allegations is a matter for ethical standards officers appointed by the Standards Board for England. The Standards Board does not hold information in the form requested, and it could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, information in respect of the number of cases received in 2003-04 is tabled as follows, of the total of 3,566 allegations listed in Table 1 about 1,100 cases were referred for investigation. The types of finding made following the completion of investigations are set out in Table 2. Table 1 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Type of authority Number of allegations received 2003-04 County council 156 District council 932 Unitary council 296 Parish/Town council 1,754 London borough 146 Metropolitan borough 252 Other authority 30 Total 3,566 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Table 2: Type of finding following investigations completed 2003-04 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Number Either no breach or a breach but no further action needed 661 Referral of cases for determination by standards committees at 60 local level Referral of cases for determination by the Adjudication Panel 102 Total 823 _________________________________________________________________________________________________.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

194279; 425 c1330-1W

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Complaints Councillors Local government Misconduct Standards Board for England

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk