Elected Member Induction Notebooks

The First Few Weeks in Office

Preface

This is the first in a series of seven elected member induction notebooks, designed by the Improvement Service in consultation with councils, to provide you with the information, support and guidance that you need to effectively fulfil your role as an elected member. This notebook focuses on what it is essential for you to know in your first few weeks in office and, wherever possible, local information specific to your council is also provided. We have also highlighted where any area covered by this notebook will be explored in more detail in one of the other induction notebooks:

Notebook 2: The roles and responsibilities of the elected member at ward level

Notebook 3: The roles and responsibilities of the elected member at council level

Notebook 4: Standards, ethics and information handling

Notebook 5: Corporate governance

Notebook 6: The governance of Scotland

Notebook 7: The policy and legislative context

Throughout each notebook, we have included advice from elected members that participated in discussions with the IS in 2016, that will hopefully be of help to you.

Your council may have produced an Elected Members’ Handbook, which will provide you with information specific to your Council. It may also have put together an induction programme for new members. You should attend as many of the induction sessions as possible, and certainly any that are mandatory, and read whatever information is provided. If you are unsure of anything, ask for clarification from your council’s members’ services.

Contents

1. Introduction 4

2. The Elected Member Role 7

3. Getting Started - How Your Council Works 13

5. Working Relationships 22

Checklist for the first few weeks in office 26

4. Getting Started - Support and PracticalInformation 16

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1. IntroductionCongratulations on becoming an elected member, which is a rewarding form of public service and one that puts you in a privileged position.

As an elected member you can make a difference to the quality of other people’s lives and to the communities of which they are part. It equally requires a lot of commitment and hard work. Every day you will have to balance the needs and interests of voters, the broader community, interest groups and the council. This will make demands on your time on top of your own personal responsibilities to family, workplace and friends. However, the rewards will make it all worthwhile.

Having said this, you have achieved something very important:

• Your community has trusted you and your ward colleagues to represent their interests in the council and to ensure that all public services in your area are well run.

• As you are locally elected, rather than appointed, you have the

ability to scrutinise all the public services in your council area, not just those run directly by the council. This means that if your constituents have an issue about another public service, such as the health service, they may well look towards you to take up those issues on their behalf.

• You and your other elected colleagues now make up the council – collectively you are the body that has the responsibility and accountability for improving outcomes for local communities. This is a major opportunity to make sure your communities get the best possible services and that their issues are taken up and addressed. It also carries significant responsibilities and there will be difficult decisions to be made.

“There is a lot of support and it is important for a new councillor to realise that because the first few days can be a bit intimidating.”

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Apart from the Scottish and UK Governments, local authorities are the only institutions in Scotland subject to independent, democratic and universal election. It gives local authorities a democratic legitimacy that other service providers do not have.

The direct election of elected members is at the heart of local democracy. Local communities should be able to choose the type of society they want to be, and should be able to express their wishes through the democratic process. The fact that you are elected ensures that you can be held to account for the decisions you take whilst in office. Furthermore, you can be subjected to democratic pressure to provide services that the electorate want.

Councils are much more accessible to local communities than the Scottish Government or the UK government. Elected members in local government are greater in number and are more directly involved in decision making than the local MSP or MP. They often live within the ward they represent and personally use local public services. Surveys have found that local communities have more confidence in their elected members’ ability to help them than they generally have in other

elected politicians. For example, a survey undertaken by IPSOS MORI in January 2016 found that 43% of citizens trusted local councillors to tell the truth, compared to 21% trusting politicians generally to tell the truth.

As an elected member you will face many challenges. Arguably the most difficult will be dealing with the stark financial pressures your council will be under. Councils have dealt with significant cuts to their budget in recent years at a time when demand for services is increasing. The trend of increasing demand and reduced budgets will continue for some time to come.

You will also be at the heart of the public service reform agenda in Scotland that has four key objectives:

• public services that are built around people and communities;

• public service organisations that work together effectively to achieve outcomes;

• public services that constantly seek to improve performance and reduce costs; and

• public services that focus on reducing inequalities and prioritise the prevention of negative outcomes, rather than simply

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dealing with the consequences when they happen.

The Policy and Legislative Context induction notebook provides further information on the financial challenges facing councils and the public service reform agenda, both of which have a huge impact on you as an elected member.

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LOCAL GOVERNMENTLANDSCAPE

32local

authorities

10% Just under 10% of jobs inScotland are inlocal government

354wards

divided into

Population range

The geographical coverageof councils ranges from

in Dundee

tosq. miles

26

<22,000in Orkney Islands

in Glasgow City

to

Each ward has 3 or 4 elected members

in theHighlands 1227

elected membersin Scotland

<600,000

12,437sq. miles

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2. The Elected Member RoleBeing an elected member involves a range of duties and responsibilities that include:

• representing constituents in the ward in which you are elected

• making decisions

• developing, reviewing and monitoring the performance of services

• demonstrating community leadership

• facilitating the involvement of the public in local decision making

These roles change as elected members take on different responsibilities within, and outwith, the council and as they gain more senior positions in their local authority.

Some councils have developed role profiles for elected members, which outline the key elements of the role of an elected member. Role profiles are also typically available for elected members who hold positions within the council, for example, council Leader, Provost or Convener, Committee Convener/Chair etc.

What the role of elected member does not involve

It is worth highlighting what the role of an elected member does not involve. You are not expected:

• To be an expert on all the services offered by the council. The council offers hundreds of different services to the public and nobody – elected member, chief executive or manager – could possibly know in detail the nature of all of those services. Council officers are experts in their own service areas and they will be able to provide you with background information and briefing notes.

• To manage services on a day-to-day basis. The council employs a large number of people to do that on its behalf. However, you have to be satisfied that the right arrangements are in place to make sure these services are delivered efficiently and effectively. You must also ensure that priorities have been set and that managers and employees understand these priorities.

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• To solve all the difficulties and challenges posed by delivering a complex range of services to communities who often have very high expectations of what the council should do for them. You have officers to advise you on the best use of resources, the community who can tell you what it thinks and what it values, and local partners who, if you work with them closely, can support you to get the most out of the resources available across the public services in your area.

What the role of elected member does involve

The broad roles that you will carry out as an elected member are:

Representation

A key role will be to represent your ward and the people who live in it.

• This demands visibility, being a trusted point of contact and an effective advocate for local people.

• This involves you ensuring that the views of local communities are represented and fed into decisions taken by the council and its partners.

You also have a responsibility

to communicate council policy and decisions to people in your ward. The notebook on Roles and Responsibilities of the Councillor at Ward Level outlines the ward level role in more detail.

Leadership

he key to all of the roles of the elected member is leadership – it does not just apply to those who hold formal roles such as the council leader or committee convener. Every elected member is a leader within and of the community that chose to elect them to represent their area and their interests. Being a community leader involves a number of things, including:

• acting as an advocate for the best interests of your ward and also the wider council area

• lobbying for local concerns/issues that are important to your ward area

• influencing partner organisations to work to a common purpose and outcomes

• resolving potential conflict amongst community organisations

• supporting communities to develop, where appropriate, their own solutions to problems in their area

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• balancing competing demands for resources when making decisions in the best interests of the council area.

Decision maker

Elected members are responsible for the overall governance of the council – i.e. for ensuring the council has a clear direction and accountability and appropriate working arrangements in place to ensure that it achieves what it sets out to do. You will play an important part in the council’s planning and decision making processes. The Corporate Governance notebook explores corporate governance in more detail.

Your council’s governance arrangements will be detailed in the following documents:

• Standing Orders/Rules of Business: rules to ensure that council and committee meetings are run properly, and decisions are made in an open and accountable way.

• Contract Standing Orders: the rules for buying goods and services

• Financial Regulations: rules to make sure the council is honest and open when dealing with public money.

• Scheme of Delegation/Scheme of Administration: delegates duties and responsibilities to committees, sub committees and officers to authorise them to act on behalf of the council.

You will be involved in different types of decision making – from contributing to collective decisions made by the Council to taking individual decisions as a democratically elected representative, for example whether to support a community led campaign. The Roles and Responsibilities of the Elected Member at Council level notebook outlines your decision making responsibilities in more detail.

Developing and reviewing policy

Elected members influence and determine the development and review of the council’s policy. This requires leadership in terms of your ability to influence agendas, priorities and arguments, to create the space for new ideas and to frame a sense of what the council should be aspiring to achieve. You will contribute to policy development through your:

• role in challenging and scrutinising the work of the council

• role as a representative on local community groups

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• role on area forums and committees, where they exist

• case work

• membership of a political group, if you were elected on a political platform

• role with other members on policy or scrutiny committees

Scrutinising service performance

As a locally democratically elected community representative, elected members have a responsibility to hold public services to account for their performance within local areas and on behalf of local communities. You have a key role to play in scrutinising and monitoring how well services are delivered by the council and its partners. Some councils have developed guidance for elected members on scrutiny.

Regulator

Councils are not just service providers – they also regulate the performance of other organisations. This involves elected members in quasi-legal roles on special committees appointed directly by the council, for example, planning committees, licensing committees and some appeals committees. These regulatory

committees operate within a specific set of legislation and guidance, and elected members can only make decisions that are in accordance with such guidance. Most councils arrange mandatory training for elected members undertaking quasi-legal roles. Check with your Members’ or Democratic Services for details of the training that you will be offered in these areas.

The Political Role

Many elected members choose to stand for election on a party platform while others stand as independents. If you have stood for a political party you will have additional duties in:

• Reporting back to the local branch of your party

• Engaging with your district or local party organisation

• Meeting as a political group within the local authority

• Working within a national framework of rules and responsibilities of your political party

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Time commitment

Regardless of the responsibilities you have in the council, your electorate will expect you to be hard working and your duties will likely take up a considerable amount of time. The

Improvement Service surveyed members one year on from the 2012 election and the amount of time members spent carrying

out their responsibilities was significant (Scotland’s Councillors, Improvement Service, 2013)

• The average number of hours councillors spend on council business was 36 hours per week.

• Councillors with no additional employment spent on average 39 hours per week on council business.

• 40% of councillors had some form of additional employment outside of their councillor duties.

• Councillors who had additional employment spent on average 31 hours per week on councillor duties.

• Councillors who had paid employment outside of their councillor duties spent an average of 25 hours per week working in their paid employment.

“I am regularly, 24 hours, thinking about politics, thinking about the community, engaged with the community, speaking to people, listening to their problems.”

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3. Getting Started – How Your Council WorksCouncils perform a range of functions and they are perhaps best known as service providers, delivering services either directly through their employees or by commissioning services from outside organisations.

Councils also play a regulatory role, protecting consumers and the environment through issuing licences for taxis and pubs for example, and providing regulatory services such as trading standards, environmental health and determining planning applications. The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 places specific duties on councils and other statutory bodies. It aims to raise the level of ambition for community planning, setting out a legislative requirement to improve outcomes and ensure that:

• Communities are central to the process

• Effective collaboration and joint resourcing takes place among partners

• A robust evidence base is used to ensure efforts are targeted at areas of greatest need

• A real and sustainable reduction in inequalities is achieved

The Policy and Legislative Context Notebook provides further information on the Act/

Acts of Parliament lay down specific duties that councils must carry out, which are referred to as mandatory functions – for example, ensuring education is provided for school age children, ensuring housing is available for the homeless and the operation of an alcohol licensing scheme. They also lay down permissive and adoptive functions, which are things that councils may do if they wish – for example, the provision of nursery education or the removal of wasps’ nests. Councils have a general power to charge for permissive and adoptive services, provided that they are not prohibited by other legislation and the council does not make a profit.

The 2003 Local Government (Scotland) Act gave councils a general power of wellbeing which allows them to do anything that they think appropriate as long as it promotes the economic, social and environmental well-being of their areas and its communities.

Councils also have a statutory duty to demonstrate best value in all they do. This involves:

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• making improvements in outcomes for people in their area

• balancing the cost and quality of services they deliver

• taking equalities duties into consideration in how they make decisions

On top of these duties and powers, councils act as the voice and leader of their communities, including speaking up on their behalf to Scottish and UK Governments.

The council consists of elected members who are currently elected every five years. These elected members are headed by the Leader of the council, typically the leader of the largest single political grouping in the council. In addition, each local authority elects a civic leader, the Provost or Convener, who chairs council meetings and acts as a ceremonial figurehead for the area. In the cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee, the Provost is known as the Lord Provost.

The full council meeting is the sovereign body of the council. Full council is where all elected members meet to debate and take the key decisions of the local authority. You will be given a calendar of meetings, which includes the dates of all

meetings of the full council and of the council’s committee meetings.

In practice, councils are run by delegating powers to council committees, sub-committees or officials. Each Council will have a Scheme of Delegation/Scheme of Administration or equivalent, detailing the duties and responsibilities they have chosen to delegate to committees, sub committees and officers. The legal responsibility for any decision, however, remains with the full council. It is important to note from the outset that no decisions on behalf of the council can be taken by individual elected members, regardless of their position within their political group or indeed the council.

Councils tend to operate either a traditional committee system or a cabinet/executive style of government. Under a committee system, most, if not all political parties and independents of the council are represented. Committees operate through collective decision making. Under a cabinet/executive structure, a small ‘executive’ group of elected members, typically but not always from the administration, make all the key decisions within a policy framework set by the Council as a whole. Some councils have combined aspects of both the committee and cabinet/executive systems to create

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what could be termed a ‘hybrid’ system of governance. The Roles and Responsibilities of the Elected Member at Council Level notebook explores the responsibilities of full council in more detail and provides details of decision-making structures in place within councils.

Elected members can also be appointed to external local bodies, such as local leisure trusts, economic regeneration companies, as well as a wide range of other local partnerships. If nominated to such bodies, make sure you seek advice from the council or the external body as to your role and responsibilities for that external body.

If you have been elected on a party political platform, the group secretary will invite you to the first group meeting. Most political groups will use this first meeting, or even the first few meetings, to decide which of their members they want to put forward for what positions at the full council meeting, for example, Convener/Chair or Depute Convener/Chair of a committee. In general, the group whip/Business Manager will probably ask you what interests you have and which committees you would like to serve on.

If your council has no overall party in control, then the final decisions regarding who holds which posts may

well be decided as part of discussions to form a coalition between different parties or between parties and independent elected members.

If you are an independent elected member, Members’ or Democratic Services within your council will be able to advise you on the process in place for allocating committee places. The number and the political balance of members on each committee will usually be detailed within your council’s Standing Orders but this can be checked with Members’ or Democratic Services.

Council structure

Whilst all councils in Scotland provide similar services, they are not all structured in the same way. It is important that you understand the structure of your own council. Organisational charts are a good way of gaining an overview of how the council is structured and what services are delivered by departments.

Council policies

Elected members will need to agree and take decisions on a range of policies, some of which are required by legislation and some of which are locally agreed. The Policy and Legislative notebook provides

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guidance on core national policy frameworks within Scotland that set the operating context for councils. In the first few weeks, you should familiarise yourself with key council policies and strategies.

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4. Getting Started – Support and Practical InformationMembers’ Support

To be effective as an elected member you will need a range of supports. All councils offer support but this will vary from council to council and may be dependent upon an elected members’ specific role. Members’ support is only provided to you for carrying out your duties as an elected member and it must not be used for party political and campaigning activities. Your Members’ or Democratic Services team will be a valuable resource. They will know the answers to most of your initial questions and if they do not, they will most definitely know who to contact to find the information that you require.

Support may include:

• office accommodation and equipment

• administrative support to help with caseload and diary management and correspondence

• expert advice from council officers on policy and technical issues

• IT equipment

• information and research to help with responses to enquiries from constituents

• press office/public relations support

• learning and development opportunities

• committee support

• information briefings

If you are in a political party, there may be an experienced elected member who is willing to ‘take you under their wing’ and act as a mentor during your first few weeks in the council. If you are an independent elected member, you may be able to gain support from another more experienced independent elected member.

“They know how the council is structured. They are able to refer you to the correct service or officer or they might even do that for you. Because when you become elected you don’t necessarily know who does what but Members’ Services either have that information in their heads or at their fingertips and are able to supply it very readily.”

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Financial Support

Different forms of financial support are available for elected members. This includes direct remuneration as well as the reimbursement of expenses. Your council will provide you with information on how you claim allowances and expenses and the dates for the submission of claims.

• The basic remuneration for elected members has been set nationally at £16,893 per annum, normally getting paid monthly (each council will decide the frequency of payment). This applies to elected members with no significant additional responsibilities in the council’s policy development or decision making structures.

• Four ‘salary’ levels for Leader of the Council have been set nationally, calculated according to a council’s banding – £28,157, £33,789, £39,418 and £50,682.

• Individual councils have the capacity to make enhanced payments to a specified number of senior elected members with significant additional responsibilities. The maximum which a council can pay a senior elected member is 75% of the pay of the Leader of the Council. Councils decide the level of salary

to be paid to each of the senior elected member within the overall budget limit set for that purpose.

• Membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme if an elected member so wishes.

• Reimbursement of receipted travel and subsistence expenses necessarily incurred during approved council duties.

Remuneration and reimbursement of expenses are typically paid to elected members monthly, although this will be a decision for each individual council. Details of all elected members’ remuneration and expenses are published annually.

Support from an Employer – Right to Release from Employment

If you are employed, you will probably need some time off work to attend council meetings. Some councils do try and arrange meetings in a way that allows for different elected members’ needs to be met.

Employers are required under the Employment Rights Act 1996 to provide reasonable time off work for public duties. These duties include attendance at committee

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meetings and approved duties. Most employers are happy to do this for formal meetings of the council, which are usually arranged many months in advance and can, therefore be planned. However, you should note that there is no legal requirement for an employer to pay an elected member for the time they take off to carry out their elected member role. The amount of time that an employee may take off must be reasonable and consider:

• How much time is required for the performance of council duties

• How much time an employee has already been allowed off for council work

• The circumstances of the employer’s business and the effect that the employee’s absence may have on it.

Declaration of acceptance of office and Code of Conduct

Elected members are required to sign a form to declare acceptance of office and to agree to abide by the Code of Conduct for Councillors. The Standards and Ethics and Information Handling notebook provides more detailed information on the Code of Conduct. In summary:

• The Councillors’ Code of Conduct plays a vital role in setting out, openly and clearly, the standards elected members must apply when undertaking their council duties.

• It applies to every member of a local authority in Scotland, and it is your responsibility to make sure that you are familiar with, and that your actions comply with, its provisions.

• It is important that you familiarise yourself with this Code as well as guidance from the Standards Commission in the first few weeks of office.

Registration of interest form

A large part of the Code of Conduct is devoted to clarifying when an elected member should register an interest in a matter under consideration. You should register any interests listed in the code within one month of signing your Declaration of Acceptance of Office, so that the public, employees and other elected members know if you have any interests that might give rise to a conflict of interest. You should include interests relating to the year prior to being elected. Should your circumstances change whilst you are in office, you should register any new interests within a month.

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Registration of gifts and hospitality

The Code of Conduct also clarifies when it is appropriate to accept gifts and hospitality in your role as an elected member. Your Members’ or Democratic Services will be able to advise you on the procedures for registering the receipt of gifts.

Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme Check

The purpose of the PVG scheme, established by the Scottish Government, is to help ensure that those who have regular contact with children and protected adults through paid and unpaid work do not have a known history of harmful behaviour. You may be required to undergo a check through the PVG Scheme.

Data Controller Notification and Information Security

As an elected member, you will have access to a range of confidential information, both about the work of the council and also about individual constituents or employees. You should think very carefully and seek advice from the officer in your council who deals with freedom of information/data protection issues before disclosing confidential or personal information,

even when you believe that it may bring about a beneficial result. The Standards and Ethics and Information Handling notebook provides further information.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998, you will need to register to be a Data Controller – this involves notifying the Information Commissioner that you hold information and records on your constituents as part of your casework. Your Members’ or Democratic Services will be able to advise you on the notification process.

Understanding your ward

Your council will hold social, economic and population information for each ward, which will help you to understand your ward area better. Even if you have lived in your ward for many years, you are unlikely to know all of the communities or all their issues and problems. You should think about how you will get to know your ward and the people that live within it. The Roles and Responsibilities of the Councillor at Ward level notebook provides more information.

Engaging with constituents

You will need to decide how you are going to engage with constituents and find out what issues they are

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having and how you can help them. Some members hold surgeries or an alternative (coffee mornings) to enable constituents to come to them with issues while others prefer to be contacted by email/phone and to meet constituents at a place that suits them. The Roles and Responsibilities of the Councillor at Ward Level notebook provides more information to help you decide how you engage with your constituents.

Your council will provide some support in terms of organising and publicising surgery meetings, and in processing the casework that will be generated by engaging constituents. Some councils have implemented caseload management systems to enable elected members to track and monitor enquiries electronically. Your Members’ or Democratic Services will advise you on the procedures for arranging surgeries and monitoring the progress of your constituents’ enquiries.

IT

IT offers you a fast and efficient means of keeping in touch with your local community. It also gives you access to the information you need to influence or make decisions. Your Council will provide you with access to ICT equipment and training and ongoing

support in the use of the equipment. Some councils also have technicians who can visit elected members at home to deal with any IT problems related to Council equipment. Your Members’ or Democratic Services will be able to advise you on the council’s IT policy.

Delivery of mail

Find out your council’s arrangements for delivering council papers and other mail to elected members and programme your time appropriately to read the information that you receive.

Training and development

Your council will provide you with an induction programme in the first few months of office and may also have its own elected member training programme in place. Your Members’ or Democratic Services should be able to provide you with information. As well as providing the seven Induction notebooks, the Improvement Service also offers free access to a range of learning resources, such as guidance notebooks, briefing notes, online resources and face-to-face masterclasses. If your council has signed up to the Continuous Professional Development Framework for Elected Members in Scottish Local Government you

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will also have access to further development opportunities.

Key contacts

Your council will provide you with the contact details of senior officers. In

the event that you are unsure who the appropriate contact is for a particular issue, speak to your Members’ Services who should be able to offer advice.

“When someone is first elected there’s a whole series of training opportunities or development opportunities and those give the new councillor advice, plenty of briefings. But that doesn’t really stop; throughout the councillor’s term there are chances to attend briefings and workshops.”

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5. Working RelationshipsWorking together, elected members and officers lead and manage their councils to provide services that improve the lives of local people.

In a study on the roles and working relationship between elected members and officers, the Accounts Commission found that ‘trust, confidence and good conduct between elected members, and between elected members and officers, are essential for building and maintaining good relationships, and supporting good leadership, management and performance’.

(The Accounts Commission’s role is to help ensure that public money is spent properly, efficiently and effectively. It is responsible for the audit of all local authorities and other similar public bodies. The Commission operates independently of local authorities and of the Scottish Government, and it reports in public).

Working with council employees (including those employed by contractors providing services to the council)

One of the most important and complex relationships you will have to navigate is the one with officers. A strong and effective council requires elected members and officers to

have a sound understanding of their separate, but complementary roles. The Councillor’s Code of Conduct provides a protocol for relations between elected members and employees in Scottish councils. Your council may also have a Member-Officer Protocol in place.

As an elected member, your role is to decide on policy and not become involved in the direct operational management of the council’s services. You are part of the corporate body that employs officers in the name of the council. Officers manage the council on behalf of the elected members and organise the provision of services, to help elected members achieve their policy goals. Officers may also have to advise elected members from time to time that certain courses of action cannot be carried out.

Officers perform a different role from elected members in a number of ways. Council officers:

• Are responsible for the day-to-day running of council services

• Give professional advice to allow elected members to make informed

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decisions – even if it is not what elected members want to hear

• Implement the decisions made collectively by elected members

• Observe a code of strict political neutrality and serve all elected members irrespective of political party

• Are appointed by the council and not elected by the public

• Do not have a vote at council meetings or council committee meetings

The Chief Executive is the main link between the senior managers of individual departments (typically known as directors or Chief Officers) and between senior managers and elected members. The Chief Executive leads a management team that meets frequently to discuss the corporate management of the authority. The Chief Executive will advise elected members on procedure, legislation and policy. Senior managers are responsible for advising elected members on policy, managing service performance and implementing elected members’ decisions.

Getting the member-officer relationship right requires that::

• Both should aim to develop a relationship based on mutual respect

• Elected members should define the core values of the organisation

• Elected members should identify priorities, assisted by the officers

• Officers should provide clear advice and offer alternative courses of action where they exist

• Elected members and officers should communicate clearly and openly, avoiding ambiguity and the risk of misunderstanding

• Elected members and officers should work in partnership to turn the core values and priorities into practical policies for implementation

• There are clear procedures to deal with any problems which arise in the member-officer relationship.

Working with Statutory Officers

Statutory officers are members of council staff who have specific responsibilities set out in legislation. They have a vital role to play in supporting good governance and decision-making. Councils are required by law to designate a senior manager as:

Head of Paid Service

Monitoring Officer

Chief Financial Officer

Chief Social Work Officer

The Local Government and Housing Act 1989 established this role. The Head of Paid Service (typically the Chief Executive) is the principal policy adviser and primary manager of the council. The council is under a statutory duty to consider reports prepared by the Head of Paid Service on the management and deployment of staff. Key roles include:

• Being responsible to elected members for the staffing of the council and ensuring the work in different departments is coordinated.

• Working with elected members to promote good governance by ensuring processes are in place that are fit for purpose and up to date.

• Working with senior colleagues to ensure elected members receive good quality information and support to inform decision making and scrutiny.

• Ensuring other statutory officers have the appropriate access and influence in carrying out their roles.

The Local Government and Housing Act 1989 established this role. The Monitoring Officer may be the Head of Paid Service, but must not be the Chief Finance Officer. The role of the Monitoring Officer is to support the legality of council actions and work with elected members to provide guidance and support to help them fulfil their role.

This role was established by section 95 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. The Chief Financial Officer (section 95 officer) is responsible for the proper administration of the financial affairs of the council. This officer is fundamental to ensuring sound financial management and has an important role in establishing and maintaining internal financial controls and in providing professional advice to elected members on all aspects of the council’s finances. This officer has the power to stop the council from spending money if they think it is unwise or unlawful.

This role was made statutory by the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. Councils are required to appoint a professionally qualified Chief Social Work Officer to provide elected members and senior officers with effective, professional advice about the delivery of social work services. It is the responsibility of this officer to highlight where a council policy may endanger lives or welfare and to ensure that elected members and officers are provided with professional advice in relation to social work and social care services.

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Statutory Officers must have direct and regular access to elected members, and your council’s reporting and accountability arrangements should take account of this. Whilst these are the main statutory officers, there are other statutory officers appointed by your council.

Working with other elected members

Effective working relationships between elected members, both at individual and group level, is crucial for the effective governance of the council. Councils work best where members put the interests of their community first and political considerations second. It is important that you follow the principles of the Code of Conduct and treat your fellow elected members with respect. Your council may also have a formal protocol in place to govern the working relationship between elected members.

Whilst politics is an integral and important part of council decision making and tensions are inevitable, it is important that elected members from different political parties show commitment to agreed priorities and work together to achieve the best outcomes for their communities. The Roles and Responsibilities of

the Elected Member at Ward Level notebook explores in more detail the challenges of working with other elected members in your multi member ward.

It is recognised that elected members will, from time to time, have differing and sometimes strongly differing opinions on matters. It is also recognised that these opinions may be influenced by party politics. This is at the heart of any democratic system of government. However, such differences should never become personalised and threaten the sound conduct of council business. In its study on the roles and working relationships of elected members and officers, the Accounts Commission found that in the best performing councils, elected members from all political groups generally agree on the overall priorities for the area, with debate focusing on how best to deliver them.

Notebook 1: The First Weeks in Office27

Checklist for the first few weeks in officeTo help you cover all the key areas that are expected of you in the first few weeks of office, we have developed a summary checklist of the key points raised in this notebook. This will hopefully be a useful aide memoire for you.

You should:

1 Talk to other elected members, both within and outwith your political group if you were elected on a party political platform – if you are in a political party, there may be an experienced elected member who is ‘willing to take you under their wing’ and act as a mentor during your first few weeks in the Council. If you are an Independent elected member, you may be able to gain support from another more experienced Independent elected member.

2 Talk to officers – speak to senior managers within the Council to gain an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the different departments and the roles of officers. Speak to officers within Members’ Services to find out more about how they can support you.

3 Familiarise yourself with the roles of statutory officers.

4 Ask for an organisational chart of your council, to gain an understanding of how it is structured.

5 Read the Councillor’s Code of Conduct.

6 Sign the formal Declaration of Acceptance of Office and register interests as soon as possible after election, and within the statutory deadlines

7 If relevant, ensure that you undergo a check under the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme.

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Notebook 1: The First Weeks in Office28

8 Ensure that you notify as a Data Controller.

9 Find out how you claim allowances and expenses and the dates for the submission of claims.

10 Decide how you are going to hold surgeries or an alternative to enable your constituents to come to you with issues.

11 Learn to manage the paperwork – learn what you need to read and what you don’t and ensure you have a system in place for managing your casework.

12 Read the Council’s corporate plan and Local Outcomes Improvement Plan to gain an overview of the priorities and outcomes the council and its partners are aiming to achieve for your local area.

13 Learn how the Council takes decisions and how you can influence these on behalf of the people you represent.

14 If you need to make arrangements for public service leave with your employers, speak to them as soon as possible. You are entitled to reasonable time off under the Employment Rights Act 1996 but your employer is not obliged to pay you for it.

15 Get to know and understand your ward.

Improvement ServiceiHubQuarrywood CourtLivingstonEH54 6AX

T. 01506 282012www.improvementservice.org.uk@improvserv

www.localcouncillor.scot@LocalCllr2017

Jan 2017