On this page you will find out how we expect our councillors to conduct themselves when on council business, how we hold them to account and how you can complain about a councillor.
Code of conduct
All councillors and co-opted members of our committees are expected to follow our Code of Conduct whenever they are on council business.
The code sets out how councillors should behave in their council role.
Read the Code of Conduct in Part 5.1 of our Constitution
How we hold councillors to account
Breaches of the Code of Conduct are investigated by the Standards Advisory Committee.
The Committee also advises Full Council on making revisions to the Code of Conduct.
The Standards Advisory Committee is made up of up of five independent people and four councillors.
Complaints about council services
We have different procedures for you to complain about our services or a member of staff.
Make a complaint about a councillor
If you believe a councillor or a co-opted member of a committee has breached the Code of Conduct you can write to the Monitoring Officer.
The Monitoring Officer
Newham Dockside
1000 Dockside Road
London
E16 2QU
Or email the Monitoring Officer on Committees.Partnerships@Newham.gov.uk
Or, you can also make a complaint using our online form, if you believe a councillor or a co-opted member of a committee has breached the Code of Conduct fill in our complaints about councillors online form.
Considering your complaint
The Monitoring Officer is a senior officer with a legal background. He or she will consult with the appointed Independent Persons – two people appointed by the Monitoring Officer to help in keeping up high standards of conduct within the council.
If they agree that your complaint is valid, it will be investigated by the Standards Advisory Committee.
Read the Complaints procedure in Part 2, Article 9 of our Constitution
Time limit
There is no time limit for lodging a complaint, but the Monitoring Officer will take into account how long ago the incident took place and when the complaint was lodged.