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Renewing Local Democracy

Scottish Executive Consultation

The UNISON Scotland Response

July 2002

Executive Summary

  • UNISON Scotland warmly welcomes the proposals to remove the requirement for council employees to resign on nomination as a candidate.

  • We agree that restrictions on the ability to stand for council posts should apply on job content grounds and that guidance for the consistent application of such restrictions should be issued. The guidance should be drawn up on the assumption that as few people as possible should be restricted from serving as a local councillor and should be subject to extensive pre-implementation consultation.

  • We are of the view that elected members should be able to retain their employment with the same local authority they represent, again with appropriate safeguards to prevent conflicts of interest arising.

  • The rule preventing former councillors from seeking employment with the same council within a year of leaving office should be abolished.

  • We are firmly of the opinion that the same political restrictions should apply across all public sector bodies, provided that the rules are accompanied by clear guidance on their interpretation and take a de minimus approach towards restricting individual's rights to participate in democratic political activity.

  • UNISON Scotland supports the Kerley recommendations for PR with multi-member constituencies for local government.

  • UNISON Scotland supports the abolishment of all capital restraints for local authorities.

  • We think that CiPFA's Prudential Code has some merit, with decisions on the best way to finance capital projects being made locally and with ultimate control resting with democratically accountable councillors, overseen by Audit Scotland.

  • We support the establishment of a body to share best practice in local government and suggest that a Quality Commission, with representatives from CoSLA, the Scottish Executive and trade unions would be the appropriate body.

 

Introduction

UNISON is Scotland's largest trade union representing over 98,000 members working in Scottish local government. We welcome the opportunity to respond to the Scottish Executive's consultation document on Renewing Local Democracy, particularly since it covers issues great concern to our members not only in their professional lives but as citizens too.

Responses

Chapter 2: Removing barriers

(a) Requirement to resign on nomination

UNISON Scotland warmly welcomes the proposals to remove the requirement for council employees to resign on nomination as a candidate and to repeal the legislation establishing an arbitrary salary threshold for politically restricted posts within local authorities. As local authorities are often the largest employers in their locality, in our view these restrictions unfairly impacted on an unnecessarily large number of people who have useful local experience that would serve their constituents and communities well in elected office.

(b) Guidance on restrictions

UNISON Scotland agrees that restrictions on the ability to stand for council posts should apply on job content grounds. We welcome Ministers' stated intention to publish guidance on the application and interpretation of the new rules. We trust that there will be an opportunity to comment on draft guidance before it is implemented.

We would urge that such guidance be drawn up on the assumption that as few people as possible should be restricted from serving as a local councillor and that proper consideration be given to other ways to prevent conflicts of interest arising. For example, the increasing use of scrutiny committees by Scottish local authorities provides a good mechanism for policing potential conflicts and the new requirements on declaration of councillors' interests will provide openness and transparency on areas where conflicts could arise.

(c) Employees and elected members

UNISON Scotland believes that there should be more extensive reform of the rules preventing serving councillors being employees of the same council. We are of the view that elected members should be able to retain their employment with the same local authority they represent, again with appropriate safeguards to prevent conflicts of interest arising. This is because, as stated above, local authorities are sometimes the largest employer in their locality, particularly in rural areas. Removing the bar on being employed by the same authority would remove a barrier to elected office that discourages some people and help make councils more representative of the people they serve - both stated objectives of the Executive.

For the same reasons, we are of the opinion that the rule preventing former councillors from seeking employment with the same council within a year of leaving office should be abolished, provided, again, that appropriate mechanisms for avoiding conflicts of interest and possible political bias are put in place e.g. staff codes of conduct. Local authorities would also need to ensure that they have effective and transparent recruitment and selection procedures that respect equal opportunities. However, the current one-year bar neither prevent conflicts of interest arising nor removes political bias and it seems to us to be merely a restriction for the sake of appearances.

(d) Political restrictions for employees of other public bodies

The differing restrictions on political activity that currently apply are unfair and confusing. As a result of re-organisation of services, we have members who have had their previously unrestricted employment transferred to another public body which then interprets the rules in a more rigid way. The employee then finds themselves politically restricted, even though their post is substantially the same as it was before.

We believe that applying political restrictions based on job content to local government employees alone would be particularly unfair, given that local government functions are being transferred to other public, private and voluntary sector bodies and there is now greater cross-body working on the provision of public services. Both these factors mean that employees of the NHS, the private and voluntary sectors are doing jobs that are very similar to those which attract restrictions in the local government. Therefore, we are firmly of the opinion that the same restrictions should apply across all public sector bodies, provided that the rules are accompanied by clear guidance on their interpretation and take a de minimus approach towards restricting individual's rights to participate in democratic political activity.

Chapter 3: Electoral Reform

UNISON Scotland believes that proportional representation for local government in Scotland will assist in addressing equality issues in relation to the make-up of councils, which on a first-past-the-post-basis are likely to remain male dominated with under-representation of ethnic minorities. We firmly support maintaining the councillor-constituency link, as it ensures that individual councillors remain accountable to local communities. We also agree that proportionality and maintaining the councillor-ward link are the most important factors to be taken into account when considering which system to adopt. We therefore support the Kerley recommendations for PR with multi-member constituencies for local government.

Chapter 5: Powers, Resources and Structures

(a) Abolition of all capital restraints

UNISON supports the abolition of all capital restraints for local authorities. Given that a new power of wellbeing is to be granted to local authorities by the Local Government Bill, it is necessary for local government to have much greater financial freedom to serve its communities and meet their needs. Furthermore, capital restraints are currently used to obscure the public sector case for new capital projects and abolition would provide a level playing field and go some way towards ending `the only game in town' argument that is promoted currently in favour of PFI/PPP in local authorities.

We are aware of the work done by CIPFA on a Prudential Code for local authority capital expenditure. We think that their approach has some merit, with decisions on the best way to finance capital projects being made locally and with ultimate control resting with democratically accountable councillors.

UNISON Scotland does not think that a new body should be set up to oversee any new Prudential Code for local authorities, as there are already a plethora of agencies that local authorities have to deal with. We believe monitoring of the prudential limits should be part of the local authority auditor's remit, overseen by Audit Scotland as part of its standard monitoring of Scottish local government. This will enable a broader perspective to be taken, allowing local authority capital expenditure to be judged not only on pure financial grounds but also in terms of what it adds to service delivery and effective public services for local communities.

(b) Sharing best practice

Sharing of best practice across Scottish local authorities is something that UNISON supports. We have previously advocated the establishment of a Quality Commission for Scottish local government, as the body which should oversee Best Value in Scotland. The provision of an improvement service would fit in with the remit of such a Quality Commission, which is to judge services from a qualitative rather than a quantative perspective. We would wish to see representatives from CoSLA, the Scottish Executive and trade unions representing local authority staff on the board of such Commission, to ensure that all relevant perspectives are taken into account. We believe that such a body should be fully funded by the Scottish Executive, rather than by levies on local authorities whose budgets are still hard-pressed.


For further information please contact:

Matt Smith, Scottish Secretary
UNISON Scotland
UNISON House
14, West Campbell Street,
Glasgow G2 6RX

Tel 0845 355 0845 Fax 0141 342 2835

e-mail matt.smith@unison.co.uk

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