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Poor allowances, antagonism from officers, employers' indifference and work-life balance were among issues aired by an invited audience of young councillors in the presence of communities and local government secretary, Hazel Blears, last week in Westminster, within sight of Big Ben.

Organised by The MJ with the support of SOLACE Enterprises and chaired by The MJ's deputy editor, Heather Jameson, the breakfast debate was an opportunity for councillors to express their frustrations about their experiences and to comment on the Councillors' Commission report which came out last November.

With Ms Blears listening, and scribbling notes, their views will help influence her official response later in the spring to the report which could include legislation.

Ms Blears introduced the discussion by pointing out that councillors did ‘an incredible job, in difficult circumstances', and said the report's aim was to make local government more flexible for its members. She also stressed that party politics was a ‘core business' to democracy. She admitted there were elements in the report to which she was opposed, in particular, the idea of having ‘reserve' councillors to step in when an elected member resigned, thereby avoiding the costs of a by-election. 

But she flagged up a possible new duty for councils. ‘I'm interested in the idea of creating a duty on local government to promote democracy.'

At the end of the 60-minute discussion, she picked up on some of the key feedback. She agreed there was a problem about lack of knowledge by the public on politics generally, and local government in particular, and said she would be asking education secretary, Ed Balls, to look at getting more politics into the curriculum.

‘At present, citizenship is on the national curriculum at secondary level, but 75% of it is not terribly good.'

She also recognised complaints about lack of sympathy from employers, suggesting that perhaps councillors' work could form part of accreditation. When panellist Paul Wheeler of the Political Skills Forum suggested that, while BT actively encouraged employees to become councillors, the great test would be for the same to happen at Tesco.

She replied: ‘I shall bring that up with [Tesco chief executive] Sir Terry Leahy. I worked there for three days when we were doing a back-to-the-floor initiative when I chaired the Labour Party.' She also insisted that the new unitaries ‘must be in the vanguard of engagement', which was why their bids were selected. And she hinted that an external review body to set councillors' allowances might be on the cards. ‘Having an external view helps get us out of that "snouts in the trough" view that the public have. I don't think people will accept that we should set our own pay.'

The key issues brought up by the audience of councillors could be summed up as follows:

Remuneration

One council leader said: ‘In our council, it's the single most divisive issue. We always chicken out of paying councillors properly. There needs to be a senior salaries review body for councillor pay. My own allowance is fixed, so I earn £130,000 less than my chief executive.'

‘There are too many immature arguments about salaries brought in by oppositions.'

‘The last thing we want is to make councillors like officers.' A London borough councillor commented: ‘I'm opposed to external pay review bodies. It's a cop-out. My neighbouring borough pays higher allowances than mine. But It's our decision.'

Employment problems

A county councillor who also ran his own company and employed other councillors said: ‘It was a nightmare employing councillors. They were always in and out, and on their blackberries. Then I became a councillor and now I'm doing the same. I spend three days a week at the council.' A district councillor said: ‘I work for an MP – I couldn't be a councillor otherwise. My leader gets £21,000, cabinet members get £16,000.' And a unitary representative said: ‘I was told I wouldn't get a job if I didn't stand down as a councillor.'

Said a borough leader: ‘We recruited five new councillors under 31 at the last election. But only one will ever make the cabinet as they've all got jobs.

Council red tape

A unitary councillor said: ‘There's an awful lot of wasted time as a councillor. If the agendas shrank by 25% it would be a start. It could be much more efficient.'

A London borough councillor added: ‘A lot of the concerns are in our hands. One changes the system to suit the councillor.' A district councillor said: ‘It's a battle to get my council to have meetings at different times. When I suggested the overview and scrutiny meeting be held at 6pm, rather than 4pm, so the public could attend, I was refused.'

‘We've got to stop acting like victims.'

‘So much of what we've discussed is in the gift of councillors, so why haven't we done something about it before?'
Limited terms

‘We struggle to recruit candidates and if we limit terms then we'll lose experience.' ‘Limited terms mean we lose organisational knowledge.'

Public understanding

‘When I say I'm a councillor, people say, "How interesting." They think I'm a marriage guidance counsellor!'

And a London borough councillor said: ‘I visit lots of schools and I'm amazed at teachers' lack of understanding about what we do. Citizenship should be embedded in schools at primary level.'

Party politics

Said a London borough representative: ‘I'd say 90% of officers regard politics as dirty, as contaminating them. The exposure of senior officers to politics is low.'

‘If it wasn't for councillors, there wouldn't be officers.'

‘We're giving political parties an easy ride since 90% of councillors come from them, and yet aren't taken seriously.' ‘There needs to be more quality control when selecting councillors.'