The Standards Assessment Board of Durham County Council was scheduled to meet on Friday 17 April 2026 to review updates on code of conduct complaints and to consider a specific complaint in a private session. The meeting agenda indicated that the Board would receive a report detailing the progress of various complaints received under the council's Code of Conduct for Members.

Code of Conduct Complaints Update

The Board was scheduled to receive an update on ongoing complaints received by Durham County Council under the Code of Conduct for Members since the last meeting on 2 April 2026. This report, prepared by Helen Bradley, Director of Legal and Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer, aimed to provide the Standards Assessment Board with an overview of complaints being assessed and those that had been completed. The report was to be considered in accordance with the Council's Procedure for Member Code of Conduct Complaints.

The report indicated that at the time of the previous meeting on 17 March 2026, there were four complaints that had been considered, with decision notices now issued to all parties, all resulting in no further action. Between 24 March 2026 and 8 April 2026, six new Code of Conduct Complaints were received, with two being rejected as they did not engage the Code of Conduct. Reports were being prepared for two further complaints, scheduled for assessment on 11 May 2026, and two complaints were at the pre-assessment stage.

The council has a duty under section 27 of the Localism Act 2011¹ to promote and maintain high standards of conduct by its members. This includes adopting a Code of Conduct consistent with the Nolan Principles², which address expected behaviour from members when acting in their official capacity. The council must also have arrangements in place to consider allegations of breaches of these codes.

Complaint Reference FS-Case-814191546

A significant portion of the meeting was scheduled to be held in private to consider exempt or confidential information. This included a report concerning Complaint Reference FS-Case-814191546, also from the Director of Legal and Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer. The report was expected to provide details of the complaint, the Subject Member's response, the advice of the Monitoring Officer, and the options available to the Board when considering the complaint.