How do other councillors access advice from their county association?

Question

If you have a question of your county local advisory body, as an individual councillor, how is that put to them? Is there a standard mechanism for getting advice and support?

Answer 1

This is an old thorny question that seems to crop up with frightening regularity.

Fact: if your council is participant in the NALC service ( but only via the local county association with annual payment made to the local branch who charge an add on fee which goes to NALC for them to hand down information etc.) then what should happen is that you as a councillor have access to the information and services as defined in the subscription agreement. A copy of which your clerk will hold on record ( it will have had to agreed by full council on annual renewal).

Unfortunately over a few years now there has been an intimidating move to stop councillors from seeking and receiving information to which they are entitled in my opinion. Attitudes of " we only answer questions from Clerks" has maneuvered its way into accepted thinking. Sometimes supported wholeheartedly by clerks seeking more power to entrench their position in some cases as the leader of the council rather than the employee.

There is no earthly reason why the LA should not answer questions from councillors and that they should also have full web access to the councils codes to log into the private section of the site. Something else some clerks tend to hoard as their property alone.

Comments

Where I am from, the county association has its own website with contact details.  The Chief Executive (fancy title!) is easily accessible and sometimes less easily accessible to clerks.  Got to be honest, response times are rubbish and there seems to be no complaints system for no response at all but perhaps she just doesn't like me!  I'm sure that's not the case nationally

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Thank you, the local ALC has apparently asked that the full council pass a resolution before councillors’ questions are put to them. Maybe I should complain to NALC?

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The local ALC answer pretty swiftly, the hold up appears to be elsewhere!

Answer 2

This is an issue NALC and their Local County associations have been prevaricating over for a number of years, and they seem to forget that councils pay them considerable membership subs. The council as an entity have councillors as the collective decision makers. It is absurd that NALC put barriers up to force them to seek advice via a clerk who is there to serve the council. ipIf cllrs have concerns about the clerk's competence in legislative matters and they are responsible for the council decisions, they should be able to seek independent advice in such circumstances. But NALC are removing this potential check and balance through their inertia and obstinate refusal to resolve this long standing issue.

Answer 3

Most definite +1 to Graeme & Mentorman’s previous answers!

County AND national association login and password should be available to ALL councillors and any Cllr should be encouraged to ask their own questions how so ever they see fit.
ALCs are there to support COUNCILLORS  not channel info via clerks. It is COUNCILLORS that vote to pay the subs, if the service is sub-standard them don’t renew

Comments

If only it were so simple but the clerk holds all the ace`s, nothing is going to detract from the whip hand they hold.

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I very well remember the words of the 20 odd year time served clerk when I first arrived in my PC.
He said “...I’m going to enjoy working with you...”. Which was of course a passive aggressive declaration of presumed superiority.
I thought “...I rather doubt that...”

And within the first month, most notably when I asked why the PC WASN’T a member of the county ALC and he answered “...I’ll tell you everything you need to know...” well, that’s when I knew he wasn’t going to “enjoy” working with me quite as much as he initially thought....

Within 6 months he resigned threatening Ind Tribunal because he felt “undermined” by “awkward” questions. Strangely enough, the threat of Ind Tribunal evaporated when countered with a threat of fraud investigation.
If  clerk is seeking to obstruct or prevent Cllrs accessing (supposedly) independent advice and guidance then the there is probably something the clerk doesn’t want people to form an independent view of.
If a PC subscribes to a county ALC, there are no circumstances where cllrs should be prevented from accessing independent advice.
If the barrier is the clerk - there needs to be a motion of the council to direct that the login and password are made available.
If the barrier is the ALC they should be reminded who pays the subs.
Of course the flip side is that cllrs should then access and make use of the info which is available.

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Let me tell you my experience with NALC and our local affiliated association.  When I was first appointed as a Councillor on day one I asked for access to the various LTNs .  Our clerk refused stating she had never done it in 20 years and wasn't going to start now.  Our local associations web site clearly states we have access as Councillors.  Our Chairman refused to intervene.  After 3 days and other refusals I resigned.  I got  re-elected after applying for my own vacancy and attended my first training course.  The tutor must have repeated the word vexatious 20 times when referring the challenging of any clerk decision . But still no LTNS . So I write CEO NALC and SLCC and NALC HQ . None reply.  I then then wrote to three separate members of my local affiliated association committee  None replied .   I think the way Councillors are treated is terrible.  But we again get back to the same old problem ie it is the standard of Cllr which is to blame Most don't feel they need any help because they don't do any thing . Many Cllrs join to sit there and say nothing and vote yes .  I am of course nothing but a trouble maker .