Question from VisitScunthorpe.Com
31 March 2011 by Paul Rhoades
A few weeks ago, Visit Scunthorpe did a series of articles looking at council expenses.
Unlike other local commentators, we did not pick on a single issue (such as sandwiches) and instead took a more holistic view of council expenses examining the correlation between service and reward.
We highlighted a few anomilies by comparing publically available data, these sources were namely the published year to date expenses, minutes from council and committee meetings and the published list of rolls and responsibilities on the North Lincolnshire Council web site.
We surmised that there were some councillors who had particularly high mileage claims in comparison to others, and yet had very little (ie no) special rolls or responsibilities.
We also noted the level of attendance at committee meetings and questioned whether this should be reflected in the allowances paid to councillors.
Following on from this we decided that it would be interesting to investigate this further in a public arena. Members of the public are entitled to submit a question to council for reply from the council leader. Any one can do this, if you would like to then you need to contact Mel Holmes in democratic services who was very helpful and answered all our questions regarding due process and protocol.
We decided to submit the following question:
"A recent report on VisitScunthorpe.Com analysed the minutes of the "Shaping the Council" committee, and identified that these meetings were attended for less than 70% of the time by council members.
In light of the nineteen million pounds worth of spending cuts being slashed from the North Lincolnshire Council budget over the next year, would the council agree that allowances should be paid only on a pro rata basis, determined by the level of attendance councillors actually have at meetings?"
This was answered in council last night via a pre prepared written statement delivered by the leader of the council Cllr Kirk. Cllr Kirk today very kindly emailed me his written response for inclusion on this site, as he'd clearly seen me trying to scribble notes on his response last night.
"Thank you for your question.
Before 2003 elected members were paid an allowance based on their attendance at qualifying meetings. This was called an �Attendance Allowance� members were also entitled to claim travelling and subsistence allowances.
In 2003 the attendance allowance was abolished and regulations introduced which provided that all local authorities must establish an independent remuneration panel which should, each year, produce a report making recommendations on various allowances.
Based on the recommendations of the Independent remuneration panel, each year the council has to make a member allowance scheme. That scheme must include a basic allowance to be paid to all members of the council and any other allowances permitted by the regulations.
The basic allowance is intended to remunerate elected members for all the duties they undertake, including attending meetings of the council and the various committees, panels and working groups they are appointed to and all the work they carry out as representatives of their communities.
It reflects a 24 hour commitment to their work as elected members. Attendance at meetings represents only a relatively small percentage of the work carried out by members.
I do note your reference to Shaping The Council, a committee I feel plays a very vital role in the future of this council
There is no specific payment for attending this meeting
However, I do believe that as elected members we should do our best to serve those who elected us
Do I think the Conservatives � who skipped Shaping The Council meetings and boycotted Cabinet meetings for an entire year � have served their electorate to the best of their abilities when it comes to attending meetings?
In my opinion the answer is no."
If you have a question for council we urge you to take advantage of the processes in place and to make your voice heard, alternatively should you wish you can submit ideas for questions to Editors@VisitScunthorpe.Com and while there's no promise that we will ask the question on your behalf, we might put it forward or do some research our selves. If you would like add your own news article to Visit Scunthorpe, Login or sign up, its free and easy and you can start publishing your own content here, straight away.
Comments
Unfortunately the question didn't get to the whole truth - how many councillors turn up and say nothing or contribute little when they do turn up? Both parties are just as bad. Let real community leaders arise and speak up is what I say and leave party politics to flounder completely
Good points Jinx.
I worded the question the way I did based on facts I gathered from reading the minutes of past meetings. While I agree in principal with your sentiment, I'd personally feel uncomfortable asking a question without some sort of data to back it up; however if you would be up for asking a question at the next meeting let us know and we will be sure to make sure the question and answer are published in full.
P.
How many hop between meetings collecting their fees along the corridor,so to speak, for a few minutes as one ex councillor openly bragged to me
If you would like to leave a comment about this article, Login or sign up now
Please Note
Views expressed on this site are those of individual posters, who by making these posts indemnify Visit Scunthorpe and its operators of any legal responsibility or obligation.
Please respect the privacy of others, if someone gives you infomation that you use in your post, please don't identify them.
Visit Scunthorpe is North Lincolnshire's only truly independent, non commercial, community news web site.
Established in January 2010 we have lots of members with a wide range of views who all contribute
independently with articles of their own.
You won't find dozens of adverts covering our site, or some poor attempt to promote local business services under the guise of offering a community service.
Here on VisitScunthorpe we are interested in just one thing, building an online community which is representative of the people of Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire and the surrounding area.
Paul. Founder Visit Scunthorpe.
How it Works
If you would like to have the ability to add articles and comments to Visit Scunthorpe then all you need to do is sign up with a valid email address for an account. This is free, your email address is confidential and we don't send out spam emails.
Once you've completed the sign up then you are free to post and comment on well... pretty much anything, we just have some basic civilised rules to prevent people from inciting violence, hatred or making individual attacks.
If you have a web site or directory which covers either independent news and blogging, or is related to North Lincolnshire or Scunthorpe then get in touch to set up a reciprocal link.
Reply Report