Title

A generation of council officers has grown up under a cabinet system, with little experience of dealing with elected members, unlike their predecessors working with the former committee system. Derek Allen says, as a result, officers are missing out on vital political experience The executive cabinet model means many of today's officers have very little exposure or dialogue with their elected members. This is so much different from my own experience as a youngish council officer who regularly presented reports to a range of service committees, including environmental services, town planning and policy and resources. This was crucial to my own personal and organisational development, ensuring I had political steer, support and, in some cases, political cover. I also worked out, not always as quickly as I would have liked, that being politically in touch, engaged, attuned and most importantly, relevant, is crucial, if your services are to get the support they need, particularly at budget time where, if they don't thrive, at least they survive. Professional officers, in particular, and colleagues who come from the private sector, often find themselves and their services out of touch and out of the political loop, as they have little or no experience of working with local politicians. Even those who come from a civil service background, who may have extensive experience working with ministers in a very hierarchical bureaucracy, can struggle with the idiosyncrasies of council politicians. Interestingly, senior council officers seem to find it easier to adjust to life in the civil service. One of my earliest experiences was a bit of a baptism of fire, when I was asked to attend a town planning committee to observe and make notes for my boss, who would be providing the environmental impact advice – that I had fully briefed him on – to the committee for a controversial proposal for a large-scale, major waste-fired boiler installation. The council chamber was packed to the rafters with committee members, the leader, ward councillors, the press and the public. I was shown my place to sit in the far corner of the chamber, in row z, with other officer underlings. The application was first up and introduced by the chairman and the chief planning officer. The leader of the council stood up and made a strong and vehement case for why it should be refused. Members then called my boss to speak – and who would outline why the proposal was acceptable in environmental terms. Clearly, now realising the leader strongly opposed the application, and realising this was probably not a great career move, he spluttered out ‘Mr. Allen is better placed to answer that, chairman!' The chamber was hushed – all eyes turned to me. As I rose to my feet for my ‘maiden' speech, the jug of water went over. The leader raised her eyebrows, and I could not think of a less auspicious start. But I had at least the copy of my boss's brief, and made a fairly decent and short presentation covering the key issues. After much debate and further questioning, the application was deferred for more information, but was later approved and supported by the leader. Key lessons from this experience have stayed with me ever since, including the classic ‘fail to plan, plan to fail', and particularly apposite, ‘always expect the unexpected'. Sometimes, as officers, we get caught in the middle of things, and we end up feeling a bit like a political football. Debates get heated, controversial and sometimes stressful, but that is often how it is in politically-led organisations. But as Will Brook, head of the Conservative political office at the LGA and a senior councillor at Ealing LBC said to me recently: ‘It's not personal, Derek. It's politics!' Derek Allen is executive director of LACORS

Title

WHITEHALL

Missing out on the members

SUBSCRIBE TO CONTINUE READING