It oversaw the nationally imposed Code of Conduct (also now abandoned), which covered elected and co-opted members across a range of local authorities.
The board maintained an independent national overview of local investigations into allegations that members' conduct might have fallen short of the required standards.
It could not impose sanctions on members, but if it considered that further action might be necessary, it referred cases to the Adjudication Panel for England or to the relevant authority's own standards committee for determination.
The Standards Board for England was the subject of repeated criticism by the magazine Private Eye for allegedly exceeding its powers, investigating preposterous cases and deterring whistleblowers.
The Liberal Democrat peer Lord Tyler raised similar concerns in the House of Lords, saying: In 2013, in the aftermath of the abolition of the Standards Board, both Bob Neill, the local government minister at the time, and Brandon Lewis, his successor, were critical of the former standards regime in a debate in Westminster Hall and explained the reasoning for abolishing it and seeking a "light touch" approach instead.