08.00 - 09.00 Registration for 1 day delegates
Light refreshments available
08.15 - 09.00 Drop-in sessions (advance booking required)
An opportunity to talk to Standards for England team members about your specific Code queries, managing local assessment, or any other part of the standards framework
The drop-in slots are available on a first-come, first-served basis and must be booked in advance via these web pages.
Click here to book a drop-in session.
09.15-10.30 Breakout sessions
Please select one of the following sessions.
All sessions last for one hour 15 minutes.
Train the trainer
Workshop (places strictly limited)
Aimed at: Standards committees
Confirmed speakers:
- Philip Rodgers OBE, Standards Committee Chair, Lincolnshire County Council
- Paul Turnbull, Trainer, Reed Training
Outlining the key training standards committees can provide for members and officers, followed by hints, tips and techniques for the delivery of successful training sessions.
Sharing good practice
Question and answer forums
Aimed at: All delegates
Confirmed speakers:
Monitoring officers:
- Neeraj Sharma, Head of Legal Services and Monitoring Officer, Sandwell Borough Council
- Alan Eastwood, Director of Chief Executives Department and Monitoring Officer, Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council
- Kim Sawyer, Head of Legal and Monitoring Officer, Peterborough City Council
- Caroline Elwood, Legal Director, Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council
- Mark Trillo, Corporate Director, Staffordshire Moorlands District Council
- Mark Heath, Solicitor to the Council, Southampton City Council
- Freda Sharkey, Head of Professional Standards, Standards for England
- Mark Jones, Principal Lawyer, Standards for England
Standards committee chairs:
- David Watson, Standards Committee Chair, Devon and Somerset Fire Authority
- Christine Bainton, Standards Committee Chair, City of York Council
- Andy Simpson, Standards Committee Chair, Telford and Wrekin Council
- Andrew Neville, Standards Committee Chair, Rossendale Borough Council
- Mike Wilkinson, Standards Committee Chair, Leeds City Council
- Mark Scrimshaw, Standards Committee Chair, Newcastle City Council
- Malcolm Mason, Standards Committee Chair, Newark and Sherwood District Council
- Paul Hoey, Head of Strategic Relations, Standards for England
- Tim Leslie, Director of Regulation, Standards for England
Delegates choose a discussion and advice session chaired by either a panel of experienced monitoring officers, or experienced standards committee members, supported from the Standards Board.
The sessions are a great opportunity to ask questions and advice on any topic relating to the Code or wider standards issues. The panel will share their expertise and open the floor to delegates, giving you the chance to share your challenges, hear alternative solutions and develop good practice ideas.
10.30-11.00 Networking and refreshments
11.15-12.15 On the brink: Coming back from ethical collapse
Hall 1 plenary
Aimed at: All delegates
Whether it's in a major corporation or the smallest parish council, ethical collapse has a devastating effect - destroying public trust, breaking reputations and generating conflict. This session looks at lessons from history. What are the warning signs and is there anything local government can learn from the private sector? We'll also look at the experiences of local authorities who've fought their way back from the brink, and consider what role high standards have played in getting them back on track.
Confirmed speakers
- Pete Moore, Executive Director for Resources and Community Safety, Lincolnshire County Council
- Kim Ryley, Chief Executive, Shropshire County Council
- Alan Lawton, Professor, University of Hull
12.15 - 13.00 Drop-in sessions (advance booking required)
An opportunity to talk to Standards for England team members about your specific Code queries, managing local assessment, or any other part of the standards framework
The drop-in slots are available on a first-come, first-served basis and must be booked in advance via these web pages.
Click here to book a drop-in session.
12.15-13.15 Lunch
13.30-15.00 Breakout sessions
Please select one of the following sessions.
All sessions last for one hour 30 minutes.
Other action: Examples and results
Workshop
Aimed at: All delegates
Confirmed speakers:
- Fiona McMillan, Senior Lawyer and Monitoring Officer, South Cambridgeshire District Council
- Ian Rickard, Head of Corporate Services and Monitoring Officer, Mid Suffolk District Council
- Jennifer Rogers, Ethical Standards Officer, Standards for England
- Alex Oram, Investigator, Standards for England
Explore the decision-making process, management and final outcome of a range of cases where other action has been used. Build your knowledge of the short and long-term value of other action, and discuss the challenges you've faced when putting it into action. You'll look at how the subject member and complainant might respond to the process, and share your techniques on how to deal with this. The session will give you practical resources, including a flowchart for selection of other action options, good practice examples and a quick guide to mediation.
The highly effective standards committee
Workshop
Aimed at: Standards committee members
Confirmed speakers:
- Mike Wilkinson, Standards Committee Chair, Leeds City council
- Professor Alan Lawton, University of Hull
- Anne Rehill, Advice and Guidance Manager, Standards for England
What features do successful standards committees have in common? In this session you'll get practical advice and good practice ideas from experienced standards committee chairs including:
- the right skills for a top quality independent chair
- understanding the profile of an effective and influential standards committee
- how to recruit and develop the right members
- how to build a positive profile for your committee
- how to establish a clear work programme with maximum positive impact.
Work with your peers to map the current effectiveness of your standards committee, set out what you want to achieve and the steps you need to take to get there.
Local standards live
Workshop
Aimed at: All delegates
Watch a series of performances and spot the potential Code breaches. You'll get to question and advise the actors, drawing on your own experiences to challenge situations and raise issues. You'll pick up tips from colleagues on different ways of dealing with the scenario, and discussgood practice ideas and the pros and cons of your preferred approach.
Local assessment: Sharing lessons learnt (monitoring officers)
Discussion forum
Aimed at: Monitoring officers, heads of legal and democratic services and other officers in a similar role
Confirmed speakers:
- Mark Hynes, Director of Legal and Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer, Lambeth Council
- David Wilcock, Head of People and Law, Burnley Borough Council
Managing large numbers of complaints, dealing with confidentiality issues and anonymous complaints, when/how to issue decision notices and case summaries.These are just some of the challenges monitoring officers have told us they've dealt with over the past twelve months. Take part in this forum to share your experiences of the local assessment process. Discuss the challenges that have come up and the solutions you've developed to manage them. By the end of the session, delegates will put together their 'top ten' local assessment problems and solutions, which the Standards Board will share with the wider standards community via our website.
Local assessment: Sharing lessons learnt (standards committees)
Discussion forum
Aimed at: Standards committee members
Confirmed speakers:
- Malcolm Mason, Standards Committee Chair, Newark and Sherwood District Council
- Peter Blackwell JP DL, Standards Committee Chair, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council
- Peter Rowland, Ex Independent Member, South Shropshire District Council
This forum allows standards committee members to focus on the main challenges of putting local assessment and the wider standards framework into action. This is a great opportunity to review your experience of a range of issues, including the composition of sub-committees, how to deal effectively with conflicts of interest and when and how to issue decision notices and case summaries. By the end of the session, delegates will put together their 'top ten' local assessment problems and solutions, which the Standards Board will share with the wider standards community via our website.
The parish council toolkit
Mini plenary
Aimed at: All delegates
Confirmed speakers:
- David Greig, Parish Liaison Officer, Taunton Deane Borough Council
- Philip McCourt, Head of Legal Services, Milton Keynes Council
- Cllr Shirley Flint, Board Member, Standards for England
The launch of the latest parish council toolkit. The session reviews the tools to build good governance within town and parish councils, including clear protocols for member/officer relations, clear schemes of delegation, and guidelines for effective administration and communication of council meetings. Speakers will provide examples of what can go wrong when these tools are not used. An opportunity to discuss the strategies you've used to respond to governance issues, and get an insight into how to use the toolkit to build good governance, promote ethical behaviour and reduce complaints about member conduct.
Working together
Mini plenary
Aimed at: All delegates
Confirmed speakers:
- Tim Mumford, Assistant Chief Executive - Legal and Democratic Services, Rotheram Metropolitan Borough Council
- John Williams, Relationship Manager, Standards for England
Hear from authorities who have worked with Standards for England to iron out conduct issues and improve their ethical governance. What did the process involve and what were the benefits? Was there anything they’d do differently? The session also explains how Standards for England intends to use its legal powers, build its relationships with local authorities, and our work to date on risk modelling.
Engaging leaders and embedding standards
Workshop
Aimed at: All delegates, may be particularly helpful for independent chairs of standards committees
Confirmed speakers:
- Georgina Butcher, Independent Member of Standards Committee, South Cambridgeshire District Council
- Dr Michael Macaulay, Head of the Centre for Public Service Management and Reader in Governance and Public Ethics, Teeside Business School
- Mark Scrimshaw, Standards Committee Chair, Newcastle City Council
How do you get your leader and chief executive to engage with your work? Is it possible to put standards right at the heart of your authority's culture and governance? What difference can this make? This is your chance to talk to standards committees who are well on the road to embedding standards and engaging the leadership of their authority. They'll reveal how they made it happen and provide ideas and inspiration you can take back to your authority. We'll also hear from a council leader and chief executive who have got the standards message loud and clear, and find out what it took to get them on board and proactively promoting standards to their authority and beyond.
15.00-15.15 Comfort break
15.15-16.45 Breakout sessions
Please select one of the following sessions.
All sessions last for one hour 30 minutes.
Managing investigations with confidence
Workshop
Aimed at: Monitoring officers, heads of legal and democratic services and other officers in a similar role
Confirmed speakers:
- Nicole Jackson, Assistant Chief Executive (Corporate Governance), Leeds City Council
- Jonathan Wigmore, Ethical Standards Officer, Standards for England
Delegates share their learning and good practice ideas to develop a checklist for effective investigations management. The session will look at practical techniques for guiding a fair and proportionate investigation, and how to confidently communicate the process and the investigation outcomes to your standards committee. Discuss techniques for managing the expectations of your standards committee, including how to help them understand the components of an effective and thorough investigation, the differences between working with an internal and external investigator, planning realistic timescales, and producing high quality investigation reports.
Focus on determinations, sanctions and appeals
Workshop
Aimed at: All delegates
Confirmed speakers:
- Beverley Primhak, Chair, Adjudication Panel for England and Head of Legal and Democratic Services, Peak District National Park Authority
- Gill Cooper, Head of Legal Services, Craven District Council
- Gylian Murphy, Lawyer, Standards for England
Experienced local authority speakers use a range of real-life scenarios to describe what happens when the determinations process does not go smoothly. Delegates have the chance to contribute their own experiences and discuss practical solutions. Case examples are examined to help you to get to grips with the levels of sanction commonly applied to the most frequent Code breaches. The session examines examples of successful appeals to the Adjudication Panel for England (APE). It also provides examples of when the APE has agreed with the sanction applied, and why this is the case.
Putting the public in the picture
Workshop
Aimed at: Standards committee members
Confirmed speakers:
- Richard Scott, Head of External Affairs, Standards for England
- Neil Molyneux, Communications Manager, Rossendale Borough Council
- Tony Quinlan, Principal Consultant and Chief Storyteller, Narrate
What are proactive standards committees doing to raise their profile with their authority and with the public? Take part in this practical workshop which will give you a guide to the tools you can use to generate the right kind of coverage for your work. Successful authorities share good practice ideas and practical hints and tips for quick wins and longer term communications strategies. We also aim to bring you a Q&A opportunity with web experts and a local media journalist.
Supporting planning and licensing committees
Workshop
Aimed at: All delegates
Confirmed speakers:
- James Button, Solicitor, James Button and Co Solicitors
- Jane Foxley, Solicitor, James Button and Co Solicitors
- Anne Rehill, Advice and Guidance Manager, Standards for England
Planning and licensing are amongst the most difficult issues for councillors to deal with – potential minefields of conflicts of interest and complex information. This session uses practical scenarios to put you in the place of the councillors on these committees. You'll get an insight into their role and the decisions they face, helping you to provide more effective guidance, support and training for your authority.
Focus on Code changes
Workshop
Aimed at: All delegates
Confirmed speakers:
- Mark Jones, Principal Lawyer, Standards for England
- Andrew Laycock, County Secretary, Hertfordshire County Council
An opportunity to increase your knowledge of the key changes to the Code of Conduct. Working with other delegates and an experienced member of the Standards Board team, you'll work through a selection of real-life scenarios and build a clearer picture of how to implement the changes and effectively advise members.
Joined up regulation
Mini plenary
Aimed at: Standards committee members
Confirmed speakers:
- Alison Kelly, Strategy Advisor Governance and Accountability, Audit Commission
- Vivienne Horton, Director of Risk, Standards for England
- David Bond, Director of Law and Democracy, Stockton on Tees Borough Council
- Francis Hayes, Standards Committee Chair, Stockton on Tees Borough Council
An overview of Comprehensive Area Assessment as relevant to standards committees, including an explanation of how the annual returns information submitted by standards committees is used as part of your authority's assessment. Example authorities will also present their experiences of the Audit Commission and IDeA ethical governance toolkits, and explain how they used the findings to improve their ethical governance. The session will help delegates to start to build a picture of the health of their authority's ethical governance, and develop an action plan for their authority.
Effective joint working: Protocols and practice
Mini plenary
Aimed at: All delegates
Confirmed speakers:
- Joy Bowes, Head of Legal and Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer, St Edmundsbury Borough Council
- Natalie Ainscough, Guidance and Information Officer, Standards for England
A straightforward explanation of how to develop and run joint standards committees, delivered by authorities that have recently put the process and protocols into practice. Build your knowledge of tried and tested joint working models, understand the outcomes of joint working in action, and consider practical examples that show how you can anticipate and deal with potential challenges.
Standards and partnerships
Mini plenary
Aimed at: All delegates
Confirmed speakers:
- Dr Stephen Brookes, Manchester Business School
- Carole Pattison, Interim Assistant Chief Executive (performance), Manchester City Council
- Steve Barrow, Director of Standards, Standards for England
Practical guidance, based on the latest research, to help you to build robust and transparent ethical and governance arrangements into your working partnerships with public, private and voluntary sector organisations.
16.45-17.15 Networking and refreshments
17.15 Close of conference