A BOROUGH's parish and town councils are to be asked their views on how to monitor standards within their own authorities.
The new Local Government Act 2000 makes standards committees responsible for promoting and maintaining high standards of conduct by parish and town councils in their districts and advising, training or arranging to train their members on ethical issues.
The act also allows standards committees to appoint a sub-committee to take on this responsibility after consultation with parish councils about the arrangements.
Stockton's standards committee is also required to consult parish and town councils about the number of members serving on the sub-committee and their terms of office.
Francis Hayes, chairman of Stockton Borough Council's standards committee said: "Letters will be sent out to all 16 parish and town councils in the borough inviting their views.
"We are also looking at arranging a meeting with them to debate the issues as part of our consultation process.
"This is all about safeguarding high standards throughout local government and setting up the right procedures to help us monitor our code of conduct.
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