Communities secretary Eric Pickles has responded to concerns among standards experts that councils are unprepared for the new code of conduct.

In a letter to Mr Pickles on 28 June, Sir Christopher Kelly, who chairs the committee on standards in public life, claimed the revised standards regime for councillors, which took effect from 1 July, depended on ‘relatively modest sanctions', and warned ‘a less-than-robust independent input… already carries inherent risks'.