"Councils can do more to involve all councillors in decisions" says report

Many frontline councillors who do not sit on their authority's ruling executive, feel they have no real say in their council’s decisions and lament the demise of the old committee system, according to a report commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

But the study, by the Local Government Information Unit (LGiU), also shows that many local authorities are successfully helping their non-executive members to enhance their role as community leaders, fulfilling the aspirations set out in the Local Government Act 2000.

Under the Act, the committee system was replaced in most local authorities by new executive structures - full council, the executive, overview and scrutiny functions and, for some authorities, area committees or forums. The report shows how these new executive structures can broaden the involvement of frontline councillors, ensuring that they bring the views of their neighbourhoods and local people to bear on the council's decision-taking.

Examples of good practice in involving frontline councillors highlighted by the report include:

• Full council: Involving members, both executive and non-executive, in policy development to ensure that full council is not just a rubber-stamping exercise.
• Executive: Many authorities have sought to spread the workload to a wider group of members to prevent executive members’ being overloaded and also to develop talent for succession.
• Overview and scrutiny: A more member-led approach to scrutiny. The review of council policies and practices has been developed in many authorities. This has prevented scrutiny committee agendas being dominated by reports from council officers.
• Area committees or forums: Area arrangements help local councillors engage with their constituents, but do not necessarily empower them. In response, a number of councils have created a link to feed issues and problems directly to the executive or the scrutiny and overview committees.

The study examines the role that political groups play when enabling frontline councillors to have an input into policy decisions. It also considers how council officers can best support councillor involvement in policy decisions.

The report enables authorities to 'health check' their own processes and procedures for the involvement of their frontline councillors using a unique series of benchmarks.

Dennis Reed, Chief Executive of the LGiU, said: "There is still much to be done to ensure that all councils and all councillors understand and use effectively the new powers within the Local Government Act. Clearly there is a real opportunity for frontline councillors to become community leaders and bring politics to their local neighbourhoods. This report shows very effective ways of achieving this."

Lord Best, Director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), added: "This report highlights ways of enhancing the role of frontline councillors by actively involving them in decision-making. As part of the JRF's wider work on governance and neighbourhoods, we are considering how councillors can play an even more important role in community leadership especially in speaking up for the concerns of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods."

Note to Editors

'Frontline councillors and decision making: Broadening their involvement' by Tracy Gardiner is published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and available from York Publishing Services, 64 Hallfield Road, Layerthorpe, York YO31 7ZQ, price £16.95 plus £2 p&p.

For further information, please contact:

Nick Cuff, LGiU Press Office: 020 7554 2858 | nick.cuff@lgiu.org.uk

Issued by Nasreen Memon, JRF Head of Media Relations, 020 7278 9665 | nasreen.memon@jrf.org.uk