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19 July 2023
I have now resolved the problems I have had in providing information to residents about the Council’s activities – at least to my satisfaction. I hope from this point to come out of HPC's black hole and let you know what is happening.
I think the issue is serious enough for me to set it out at some length.
This is what I said to a meeting of the Widmer End Residents’ Association on 5 July.
“I find myself in a very embarrassing position. I have been coming to WERA as a councillor for over two years. For the first time, I find I can tell you virtually nothing about what is happening at the council if I do what I have been told to do by the council. I have tried to talk this through privately and informally for weeks but with no success. The issues remain unresolved with no sign of change in sight.
As I was elected on a promise of openness, transparency and accountability, I am going to try to explain in the most neutral and factual way I can.
The Local Government Association says:-
‘A councillor’s primary role is to represent their ward or division and the people who live in it. Councillors provide a bridge between the community and the council. As well as being an advocate for local residents and signposting them to the right people at the council, you will need to keep them informed about the issues that affect them.
In order to understand and represent local views and priorities, you need to build strong relationships and encourage local people to make their views known and engage with you and the council. Good communication and engagement are central to being an effective councillor.
As a local councillor, your residents will expect you to:
· respond to their queries and investigate their concerns (casework)
· communicate council decisions that affect them
· know your patch and be aware of any problems
· know and work with representatives of local organisations, interest groups and businesses
· represent their views at council meetings
· lead local campaigns on their behalf.’ (My emphasis)
This is why I come to WERA – to act as a bridge, informing and listening to concerns.
However, this is now what is happening.
1. I am told by those in the Council that "Councillors, have, by way of keeping the community happy, taken it upon themselves as individuals to communicate topics of interest to the public without the advice of the Clerk as Proper Officer.”
I don’t think councillors “have taken it upon themselves”. I think communicating topics of interest to the public is both a councillor's responsibility and right, with or without the advice of the Proper Officer.
If what I quote is correct, then councillors would have to seek the advice of the Clerk before they attended meetings such as WERA or e-mailed to anyone.
2. I am told that virtually all the communications within the Council are confidential and protected by the Freedom of Information Act.
I believe the only information protected by the FoI Act is information which falls under a statutory exemption.
3. I am told that Individual councillors generally do not have the authority to act individually; and “ideas or views purporting to affect or shape council practices should receive prior authority”.
This is not correct. Individual councillors can express whatever views they like about council practices without seeking anyone’s authority.
4. All e-mails from the Clerk (including I believe to residents) end with the following footnote:-
“The content of this email is confidential and intended for the recipient specified in message only. It is strictly forbidden to share any part of this message with any third party, without a written consent of the sender. If you received this message by mistake, please reply to this message and follow with its deletion, so that we can ensure such a mistake does not occur in the future.”
5. HPC’s Communications and Social Media Policy adopted in May (I abstained) “requires councillors to engage in positive conversations, actively participate in positive discussions and share good news and success from our area.” (My emphasis) .
I will merely say that councillor are not there to be spin doctors; they are there to inform local residents, irrespective of whether it is good or bad news.
6. Supporting papers for Council and Committee meetings are not put on HPC’s website.
The upshot of all this is that I can tell you virtually nothing about the Council’s activities, decisions, and background information unless I decide not to comply with what I am told."
After the WERA meeting, I again tried to resolve the issue. Finally, I sent the following e-mail to the Clerk.
“I remain seriously concerned that all your e-mails, including those covering papers and correspondence, have a footnote strictly forbidding the recipient, including councillors, not to share any of the message with third parties.
One councillor has said they use their own common sense in interpreting this instruction.
However, if all councillors use their own common sense to interpret the instruction in your footnote, it will lead to inconsistency of practice in what is shared and what is not. It will also lead to uncertainty for councillors as to what can and cannot be shared.
Your suggestion that councillors can always ask you for permission to share the information is impractical. If I am talking to residents in my ward and they ask me for information about the Council, it is impractical in the middle of a conversation to have to e-mail you to ask permission to share that information. If I am in a meeting and a topic comes up, it is impractical in the middle of that meeting to e-mail you to ask permission.
Perhaps more importantly, I think it is wrong in principle for a Clerk to instruct a councillor, including instructing a councillor not to share information. I think the role of the Clerk is to advise the Council, not to instruct councillors.
The Governance Toolkit, produced by a partnership of national bodies, describes the Clerk “as an independent and objective servant of the Council who takes instructions from the body corporate and must recognise that the Council is responsible for all decisions.” It describes the Clerk as the Council’s principal executive and advisor (see Part 2: Governance Toolkit – …ask your council)
As you know I was a civil servant for a long time and saw no disrespect in being referred to as an independent and objective servant. I understood my role was to advise Ministers not to instruct them.
I am also unaware that a Clerk has the power or authority to instruct a councillor.
But perhaps I am wrong. I understand you took advice before you decided to use your footnote. I assume whoever provided that advice explained what power or authority they thought a Clerk could use to instruct a councillor.
I would be grateful if you could provide this explanation, and provide the reference to the power/authority you are now using to instruct councillors.”
I have not had an answer as to whether a Clerk had the power or authority to instruct a councillor. So, I have informed Council that I am going to take it that a Clerk does not have any power or authority to do so.
I will add that I have been blogging now about the parish council for over 2 years. In the time, I have had lots of thanks from the public. I have had no thanks from anyone in the Council – quite the reverse.
I feel uncomfortable when my commitment to openness, transparency and accountability is so clearly at odds with the prevailing culture of the Council. But there it is.
I’ll blog about money next and then the Full Council meeting on 18 July – and then there will probably be a long, long gap because there will be no public HPC meetings until 23 September.