Welcome to new Councillors!
Working with Monitoring Officers and Standards Committees of local authorities, we want to help councillors maintain the standards of conduct and to meet public expectations by sustaining the highest standards of conduct in public life.
We aim to support proper decision making and the proper use of public resources and to maintain public confidence in local government and in the democratic process itself.
The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales is also responsible for considering complaints that members of local authorities, community councils, fire and rescue authorities, national park authorities and police and crime panels in Wales have breached their authority’s Code of Conduct.
We strongly believe that Code of Conduct training is essential to being a good councillor, and we encourage all new councillors to participate in that training. We also encourage councillors to have a look at the ‘Information for Elected Members’ page on our website. It includes all our resources to help them in their new role, including:
- guidance for councillors on the Model Code of Conduct
- factsheets on different aspects of our Code of Conduct process – including how we determine whether it is in the public interest for us to investigate a complaint
- an explanation of what we do when we get a complaint about an elected member’s conduct
- guidance on how to submit a complaint about a councillor’s conduct.
We will be also adding more video resources to that site shortly.
Michelle Morris, the Public Services Ombudsman, said
“I would like to offer my personal congratulations to all returning Councillors including those new in role and those returning for another term in office. I look forward to working with you and your Officers to support you in maintaining the standards of conduct set out in the Code of Conduct for Councillors.
When you sign your declaration to be a Councillor you are agreeing to abide by the Code and I encourage you all to attend the training offered to you and to access the Guidance and other information on our website.”
If you would like more information about our Code of Conduct work, please contact us on 0300 790 0203 or ask@ombudsman.wales