Holding councillors to account

Question

In a different post I noticed that one of the remedies suggested was to hold councillors to account.
What/how is the best way to do this?

Our council keeps all its emails and communication between councillors private. How can we hold them to account when we dont know what is happening? (I appreciate there are the minutes but this doesnt cover some of the backroom stuff that is going on)

Answer 1

The best way to hold councillors to account is to attend the meetings and ask questions in a formal setting.  If there is something specific you want to know about, send them a Freedom of Interest request but it is not realistic to expect ALL emails and communications to be in the public domain - how could this be achieved?

Comments

Thanks everyone for all the answers

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Of course, I have a permanent note on my emails stating that as the email relates to my activities as a Councillor it is available for inspection under the Freedom of Information Act

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Thanks Jules. And if the councillor just chooses to pass it on to a resident is that ok too? (ie no official FOI request involved)

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Assuming it’s nots confidential I personally don’t have a problem doing that and I copy interested parties in when I send them