Blog: 19/11/21 - Quetin Baker, LLG President

Last Friday saw the second day of the LLG Governance Conference host a wide variety of speaker sessions (virtually) by our valued corporate partners. The Bulletin today (number 44) provides a comprehensive roundup of legal topics discussed, but it is also worth noting the management advice given by Tanya Corsie from IKEN on the virtual world; "Pay attention to virtual burn out, there is no more visual management to rely on. Managers cannot 'walk around the office and judge the mood'. Key metrics are now more important than ever".

Moving to national matters, in PM's questions this week Boris Johnson went as far to say that it was a "mistake" to conflate the Paterson row with his plan to overhaul the disciplinary process for MPs which followed his announcement on Tuesday to stop MPs working as political consultants. On Wednesday, whilst answering questions by the Liaison Committee, he said it was a "mistake" not to ban MPs from taking jobs as paid consultants after a 2018 report by the Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) recommended it. Which at least reassures us somewhat that the government is still alive to the recommendations within the 'Ethical Review', which include of course those all-important sanctions LLG continue to call for. Perhaps the government will now move the response to the Review further up the agenda?

Keeping on that theme, look out at the start of December for the LGSCO's published 'Triennial Review' which picks up the CSPL's recommendations for a role in local authority standards complaints. I met with the LGSCO this week to discuss their proposals further and seek clarity on the detail. I will report further on that when we know more.

Finally, there is still time to book onto our course, 'The Role of the In-House Local Authority Lawyer' presented by Bethan Evans. Understanding how to work for a politically led public body whilst discussing the key relationships between the Monitoring Officer, elected members and client departments as well as being part of a multi-disciplinary team has never been more essential for the local government lawyer of today.

Best wishes

Quentin Baker

LLG President