determining the size of gloucestershire county council

8/8/2019 Determining the Size of Gloucestershire County Council

1/18

Determining the size ofGloucestershire County Council

Submission to the Boundary Commission on behalf of

Gloucestershire County Council Conservative Group

1. Introduction This submission is made on behalf of Gloucestershire County Council

Conservative Group. The group constitutes the majority party on the council,

representing 41 of the 63 County Councillors.

We have examined in detail the current roles and responsibilities of existingcounty councillors, the potential changes to those roles and placed them against

the criteria of the Boundary Commission in carrying out this electoral review.

We recommend that the Boundary Commission should determine that

Gloucestershire County Council should be composed, following the 2013

election, of 53 County Councillors.

Should you have queries about this submission, or require further information,

please contact at first instance, Richard Coates, the groups political researcher.

He can be contacted on 01452 425807 or at

[email protected]

2. Roles and Responsibilities of councillorsThere has been limited change to the roles and responsibilities of councillors

since the last boundary review in 2004. The council has made the transition

from the Local Government Act 2000 Leader and Cabinet model to a strong

leader model under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act

2007, with limited impact on the operation of the council in practice. The council

has also reintroduced a number of scrutiny committees and reduced the role of

councillors in staff appeals.

Full CouncilThe full council meets seven times per annum and is composed of all 63 County

Councillors. Its major decision-making task is the approval of the budget at its

February meeting and appointing the Leader at the meeting following an

election, or following the resignation of the previous Leader or a successful vote

of no-confidence. It also hears motions proposed by councillors and gives

councillors the opportunity to question Cabinet Member or chairs of committees.

The Local Government Act 2000 prohibits this meeting from taking executive

decisions.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


2/18

The Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the council fulfil various ceremonial

representative roles on behalf the council and preside over full council meetings.

The Leader and CabinetThe Leader is appointed every four years by council and selects the remainder of

his Cabinet. Cabinet is responsible for most policy and top level decision-makingfor the council. It is scheduled to meet 8 times annually, although extraordinary

meetings are not unusual. Individual Cabinet Members are empowered to

formally take individual decisions outside of these meetings.

Currently the Leader has appointed 9 other Cabinet members, the maximum

permitted by statute. Cabinet members have very wide ranging time pressures

beyond their formal meetings, with most meeting at least weekly with senior

officers and many much more frequently.

ScrutinySince 2009, the council has six scrutiny committees, overseen by the Scrutiny

Management Committee.

The size of scrutiny committees is determined by the Full Council, with the

number primarily being determined by the requirements for Widdicombe

proportionality, rather than considerations around the workload of each

committee. Prior to the 2009 elections each committee contained 11 councillors.

Overview Scrutiny Management Committee (OSMC)

OSMC works to co-ordinate the work of scrutiny in the council, determines how to

respond to call-ins and commissions task and finish groups. It is currentlycomposed of 13 members, 5 of whom are chairs of the other scrutiny

committees appointed ex-officio. It meets six times annually, although

extraordinary meetings are sometimes called usually to respond to call-ins.

Other scrutiny committees

Budget and Performance scrutiny, Environment scrutiny, Children and Young

People scrutiny all currently consist of 9 members and meet 6 times annually.

Community Safety scrutiny consists of 9 County Councillors and 6 districts

councillors and meets 7 times annually. Health, Community and Care Scrutiny

Committee is composed of 9 County Councillors and 6 district councillors. It

meets 6 times annually.

Scrutiny task groups

In addition to the work of individual committees, OSMC can commission task

groups to examine particular issues.

Regulatory and other committeesPlanning Committee

Whilst the majority of the planning functions in Gloucestershire are carried out

by district councils, the County Council retains responsibility for minerals and

waste planning, as well as the power to determine planning applications with

regards its own developments for example schools and fire stations. This


3/18

committee is responsible for determining planning applications, which often

involves site visits prior to the committee meeting. The committee is composed

of 19 members and meets 6 times per annum.


4/18

Traffic Regulation Committee

This committee examines consultation responses to proposed traffic orders and

provides advice to the cabinet member in reaching a decision. It has nine

members and meets five times annually.

Commons, Rights of Way Committee (CROW)

The CROW Committees role is to consider and decide on applications for the

registration of land as a Town or Village Green and applications made to amend

the Definitive Map of Public Rights of Way.

There are 9 members serving on the Committee and it is scheduled to meet

twice a year.

Appeals Committee

The Appeals Committee acts as an umbrella committee for Appeals Panels that

hear and determine appeals in respect of refusal to supply home to school

transport, together with other areas where the right to appeal exists. The

individual appeals are heard by 3 members drawn from the committee.

There are 18 members serving on the Committee and it is scheduled to meet 13

times a year (with provision to meet more regularly if required).

Appointments Committee

The purpose of the Appointments Committee is to enable members to play a full

role in deciding which persons should be employed as the Councils most senior

officers and to determine terms of employment. Meetings are held as and when

required.

Corporate Parenting Committee

The role of the Corporate Parenting Committee is to ensure the county council

and its partner agencies have a joint commitment to achieving improved

outcomes; agreeing and overseeing implementation of the Corporate Parenting

Strategy and narrowing the achievement gap experienced by looked-after

children.

There are currently 9 members serving on the Committee and it is scheduled to

meet 6 times a year.

Pensions Committee

The role of the Pensions Committee is to give advice on the proper management

of the Gloucestershire Pension Fund and carry out the function of the Council as

the Administering Authority.

There are currently 6 County Councillors and 1 District Councillor serving on the

Committee and it is scheduled to meet 5 times a year.

Standards Committee


5/18

The role of the Standards Committee is to maintain high standards of probity

amongst members through the provision of advice, training and by carrying out

investigations in respect of allegations of misconduct by a member or a co-opted

member. The rules of political proportionality are not applied to the Standards

Committee.

There are 6 members and 3 independent members and it is scheduled to meet 5

times a year.


6/18

Constitutional Committee

The role of the Constitution Committee is primarily to keep the Constitution

under review to ensure the structures and procedures that it contains continue

to promote the effective and efficient administration of the authority and open,

accountable decision-making.

There are currently 9 members serving on the Committee and it is scheduled to

meet twice a year but in practice usually meets more regularly.

Councillor Appointments to Outside BodiesIn addition to attending formal meetings of the Council, Gloucestershire is

represented by County Councillors on a range of national, regional and local

bodies. There currently 95 places on outside bodies which equates to 1.5 places

per councillor. A full list of outside bodies appointed by the full Council and by

the Cabinet is attached at Appendix C.

Analysis

Overall there are 154 council roles and 39 outside body roles to fulfil in the

council. Currently this means that each councillor has to perform an average of

2.44 council roles and 0.6 outside body positions. However, there is also clearly

substantial variation between the workloads of individual councillors. Whilst the

average backbench councillor performs 2.4 council roles, one does six and

several four, whereas several only fulfil one and one none at all.

This variation shows that there is scope to reduce the total number of

councillors. Reducing the number of councillors to 54 would increase the

average number of council responsibilities from 2.44 per councillor to 2.85 and

outside bodies from 0.6 per councillor to 0.7. This is a very minor increase which

would not affect the workload of most councillors. Demonstrably councillors can

cope with this workload, as, under the current system, some councillors have a

workload of more than double even the increased average. This is before taking

into account anticipated changes to responsibilities which will further reduce the

burdens placed on councillors.

It is also worth noting that, as the size of most committees is dictated more bythe requirements of political proportionality than numerical need, a reduction in

the overall number of councillors could well be accommodated with no increase

in the number of committee roles to be fulfilled.

3. Anticipated changes to responsibilitiesGloucestershire County Council is currently planning to reduce the authoritys

budget by 30% in four years time, with many of the necessary changes and

reductions taking place immediately. The transition period will, no doubt,

produce additional workload for councillors. However, it is inherently the casethat, once the change is completed, a smaller council, which in some respects


7/18

does less, will also reduce the area over which councillors have to exercise

executive control, or scrutinise, or represent their constituents in the processes

of. This will not be a like for like reduction a 30% budget cut does not suggest

a need for a 30% reduction in councillors but it will lead to less councillors

being necessary for the running of the council than is currently the case.

Additionally, as part of this process, the administration will be seeking to review

the outside bodies on which councillors sit, so that only those which are a good

fit with the authorities official functions will continue to be seen as official

appointments, rather than appointments in a personal capacity. This will also

reduce workload.

Various changes implemented, or planned to be implemented by the coalition

government will also lead to less councillors being required. The reduction in

mandatory targets and the removal of the Comprehensive Area Assessment

process has reduced workload for both the executive and scrutiny functions.

Whilst the situation is yet to be clear, there have been strong suggestions that

the councils NHS scrutiny functions will be abolished as part of coalition changes

to the NHS. Whilst some changes, such as the introduction of LEPs, will lead to a

small increase in responsibilities, these have typically been in a very limited

number and in many cases actually only represent the transition from an

unofficial lobbying function (for example lobbying the Regional Development

Agency) to a formal decision-making role. It is also expected that an increasing

number of schools in Gloucestershire will opt out of local authority control by

becoming academies. This will further decrease the workload of councillors.

In addition the council is reviewing the member-lead appeal functions this hasalready lead to the removal of staff appeals to councillors for most staff with a

consequent reduction in the workload of the appeals committee. It is likely that

the increasing number of academy schools and potential reductions in

discretionary home-to-school transport will also serve to reduce the numbers of

appeals dealt with for both the transport and admissions aspects of that

committee.

As with predictions as to housing numbers in 2016, predictions as to councillor

workload require a certain amount of supposition. What is clear is that the

direction of travel caused by the coalition, the anticipated substantial reductionin funding, as well as internal reforms of the council strongly indicates fewer

councillors will be required in future than are under the current system.

4. Representational roleOne consideration that must be examined before consideration of any alteration

to the number of councillors is whether doing so would interfere with the

representational role of councillors. In many respects this is by far the most

important aspect of the work that councillors do particularly so in the case of

backbench councillors.


8/18

We recognise that the Boundary Commission does not seek to set council size by

reference to other councils or to any national average of voters per councillor.

However, this can prove instructive in examining the issue of the councillors

representational role. Currently Gloucestershire has a below average ratio of

councillors to electors 7,400 electors per councillor compared to an average of

9,074 nationally. As such, we know that most county councillors are able to deal

effectively with more electors each in their representational role than those in

Gloucestershire currently do. In the case of Essex each county councillor

represents almost twice as many constituents as their counterparts in

Gloucestershire.

As such it is difficult to argue that a reduction in the number of councillors would

jeopardise their representational role most county councillors already deal with

substantially more electors each.

5. Manifesto commitmentThe Conservative manifesto at the 2009 election included the commitment to

reduce the number of councillors. We will ask the Boundary Commission for

England to reduce the number of councillors by at least 10%. We recognise it is

no business of the Commission to implement the political commitments of

councillors. However, this was part of a manifesto which received overwhelming

public support at the ballot box. As such, we believe that it shows not only a

democratic legitimacy for reducing the number of councillors, but also

demonstrates a measure of the local consensus to which the commissions

technical guidance refers.

6. ConclusionsPoints to note

- The council copes well with the current number of councillors.

- The size of most council committees is determined by

proportionality, not by business need.

- The size of the councils business will reduce by 30% in four years.

- The direction of travel from the coalition suggests further reduction

in the obligations placed on councillors

- Other councils already cope well with a reduced number of

councillors

- Manifesto commitment to reduce councillors

We believe that there is a strong case that reducing the overall number of

Gloucestershire County Councillors will help to secure effective and convenient

local government into the future. Efficiency is an important part of effectiveness particularly when the council and the country are faced by such a demanding


9/18

financial crises. Reducing the number of councillors will provide not only a

limited cash saving, it will provide an important moral contribution showing

that the council only has the necessary number of councillors, as we move to

only having a necessary number of staff and provision of only necessary

services. We believe that exempting councillors from the necessary process of

assessment, challenge and saving would undermine their role in the community,

something which would impede effective local government.

The current operating model for councillors is an important consideration

although it must be noted that in many respects it is predicated upon the

current number of councillors. The size of most committees has been fixed

mostly to meet the requirements of proportionality, rather than in response to a

functional need. There is no suggestion that a scrutiny committee of seven or

eight members would be any less effective than the current nine. As such, a

reduction in the number of councillors need not necessarily lead to an increase

in the committee workload placed upon individual councillors.

There remains the question of what level of reduction would be appropriate. We

would argue for a reduction of at least 10%. That would anticipate the ensuing

reduction in council services and the responsibilities of councillors, whilst erring

on the side of caution. It would also bring the average number of electors per

councillor close to the national average which demonstrates that the change

would not lead to a reduction in the capacity of councillors to represent their

constituents.

7. Numerical assessmentBringing the council in line with the national average level of constituents would

suggest a council of 54 County Councillors (this would represent 9,085

constituents per division, as compared to a national average of 9,074). It would

also fulfil the Conservative manifesto commitment to push for a reduction in

councillors of at least 10%. If this number is applied to the projected 2016

electorate for each district, it would suggest the following division by district:

District Cllrs

Rounded

CllrsCheltenham 10.28 10

Cotswold 7.86 8

Forest 7.56 8

Gloucester 10.49 10

Stroud 10.32 10

Tewkesbury 7.49 7Totals/ Avper Cllr

9085.37

The difficulty with this allocation would be that, rounded to the nearestcouncillor, this would only provide 53 councillors. One extra would need to be


10/18

added to reach 54. Both Tewkesbury and Gloucester could lay claim to the

additional councillor but have an equally strong claim. Favouring one over the

other would substantially increase electoral inequality from the beginning of the

process. Hence 54 is likely to cause inherent problems with electoral equality

calculations later in the boundary review process.

This can be addressed by using one less councillor and having a council of 53,

which would also have the additional benefit of being an odd number reducing

the chance of deadlock or the requirement to use the chairmans casting vote.

53 County Councillors would breakdown as follows:

District Cllrs

RoundedCllrs

Cheltenham 10.09 10

Cotswold 7.72 8

Forest 7.42 7

Gloucester 10.30 10

Stroud 10.13 10

Tewkesbury 7.35 7Totals/ Avper Cllr

9256.79

This still requires the addition of one extra councillor but Forest of Dean is now

clearly the only deserving recipient.

As such we would recommend that the Boundary Commission shoulddetermine that Gloucestershire County Council should be composed of

53 County Councillors.


11/18

Appendix A

Committee places allocated to Cabinet Members and Members in receipt of a

Special Responsibility Allowance

(excludes committees which meet less than 3 times a year)

Cabinet

PlanningC

ommittee

Audit

ScrutinyManagement

BudgetandPerformance

ChidrenandYoungPeople

Health,Commun

ity+Care

Environment

Commun

itySafety

Adoption

Pensions

Standards

Co

nstitution

TrafficRegulati

onOrders

Appointments

Corporate

Parenting

Appeals

TotalCommitteeSeats

TotalCommitteePlaces

Chair of Council X X 2

Dep Chair of

Council

X X 2

Leader X X 2

Deputy Leader X X X 3


12/18

Cabinet Member X X 2



Cabinet Member X 1

Cabinet Member X X X 3

Cabinet Member X X X 3

Cabinet Member X X X X 4


Planning Cttee

Chair

X X 2

Audit Cttee Chair X X X 3

Scrutiny Chair X X 2

Scrutiny Chair X X 2

Scrutiny Chair X X X X X 5

Scrutiny Chair X X X 3

Scrutiny Chair X X X X X 5

Scrutiny Chair X X X 3

Adoption Panel X X 2

Group Leader X X 2

Group Leader X X X 3


13/18

Appendix B

Committee Seats allocated to Councillors not in

receipt of an SRA

PlanningCommittee

Audit

ScrutinyManagement

BudgetandPerformance

Chidren

+YoungPeople

Health,Community+Care

Environment

CommunitySafety

Pensions

Standards

Constitution

TrafficRegulationOrders

CorporateParenting

Appeals

TotalCommitteeSeats

1. Councillor X X X 3



4. Councillor X X 2

5. Councillor X 1

6. Councillor X X 2


8. Councillor X X 2

9. Councillor X X X X 4

10. Councillor 0


12. Councillor X X 2




16. Councillor X 1

17. Councillor X X X X X X 6





14/18


22. Councillor X 1




26. Councillor X 1





31. Councillor X 1

32. Councillor X 1







39. Councillor X 1



15/18

Appendix C

Gloucestershire County Council Councillor Appointments to Outside bodies

Name of Body No of GCC

Representatives

Berkeley and Oldbury Nuclear Power Station Local

Community Liaison Committee

1

Cotswold Canals Project Board 1

Cotswold and Malverns Transport Partnership1

Cotswold Water park Joint Committee3

County Council Network [CCN] 4

Cross Boundary Issues Member Group 2

Gloucestershire Airport Consultative Committee 2

Gloucestershire Everyman Theatre Company 1

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Council of

Governors

1

Gloucestershire Local Access Forum 2


16/18

Gloucestershire Police Authority 9

GlosREC 1

Gloucestershire Rural Community Council 1

Gloucester United Schools

3

Hesters Way Partnership 1

Local Government Association (General Assembly) 4

Road Safety Liaison Group 2 members per

district area

Severn Estuary Partnership 1

South West Councils 2

Standing Advisory Committee on Religious Education

(SACRE)

4


17/18

Gloucestershire County Council Cabinet Appointments to Outside Bodies

Coalfield Regeneration Board 1

Cotswold Conservation Board 1

Cotswold & Forest of Dean Destination Management

Organisation Board

1

Crime and Disorder District Partnerships 6

Furniture Recycling Project (Gloucester) 1

Gloucestershire Environment Partnership 1

Gloucestershire First 2

Gloucestershire Playing Fields Association

1

LGA Fire Service Forum 1

LGA (Rural Commission) 2

LGA (Urban Commission) 2

Local Government Flood Forum 2


18/18

Traffic Penalty Tribunal 2

Regional Flood Defence Committee (Midland) (one seat

shared between 3 authorities)

1

South West Provincial Council 2

South West UK Brussels Office management Board 1

South West Regional Executive Board Asylum

Seekers/Refugees

1

South West Regional Coordination of Trading Standards 1

South West Tourism 1

Wessex Reserve Forces & Cadets Association 1

Wye Valley AONB Joint Committee 2

Wye Valley Navigation Advisory Committee 1

University of Gloucestershire 2

Victoria County History Board 2

2gether NHS Foundation Trust 1

determining the size of gloucestershire county council

Documents