Committee of Inquiry into the Conduct of Local Authority Business (Widdicombe Committee):...

Minutes, agendas, oral and written evidence, notes of visits and working papers of the Committee of Inquiry into the Conduct of Local Authority Business (Widdicombe Committee).

The Committee of Inquiry into the Conduct of Local Authority Business (Widdicombe Committee) was appointed by the Secretaries of State for the Environment, for Scotland and for Wales, with the following terms of reference:

'To inquire into practices and procedures governing the conduct of local authority business in Great Britain, with particular reference to: the rights and responsibilities of elected members; the respective roles of elected members and officers; and the need to clarify the limits and conditions governing discretionary spending by local authorities; and to make any necessary recommendations for strengthening the democratic process'.

These terms of reference, together with the appointment of D Widdicombe as the chairman of the committee, were announced in the House of Commons by the Secretary of State for the Environment on 6 February 1985. The appointment of the other members of the committee was announced on 8 March and 18 April.

The committee's report The Conduct of Local Authority Business: Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Conduct of Local Authority Business was published in June 1986.