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Chapter 8 - Reviewing and uprating arrangements and issues for future consideration
8.1 We acknowledge that new arrangements for councillors' remuneration are expected to come into effect at the elections due in May 2007. Thereafter there will be a need to monitor and review arrangements periodically to ensure that they are still fit for purpose and that they have been implemented as the Committee, Ministers, and the Parliament intend they should be.
8.2 In Chapter 3, we propose that salary levels should be linked to the median Scottish salary. The latest figures available at the time of drafting this report relate to median salaries in 2004. We therefore recommend that salary levels for councillors elected in 2007 should be linked to the most recent published median Scottish salary figures available at that time. This may mean that the salary figures outlined in this report will need to be adjusted slightly when they are introduced, although we do not anticipate that any change will be significant.
8.3 Although we are recommending a link to the median Scottish salary, and we consider that principle should be retained in the future, it is important to allow flexibility in reviewing and uprating arrangements. The role of a councillor may change and develop to such an extent that a link to the median Scottish salary is no longer appropriate. This is particularly relevant at a time when councillors will need to assume new ways of working shaped by the introduction of multi-member wards, or if more fundamental changes to local governance are introduced. It is therefore unwise to create a link that cannot readily be reviewed and, if necessary, broken.
8.4 The Committee is therefore proposing a periodic review of the levels at which salaries and other aspects of the remuneration package are set and provide further advice to Ministers as appropriate. The Committee should have the scope to carry out such reviews at its own instigation, or at the request of Ministers. Such reviews would include consideration of the ongoing robustness of the link to the median Scottish salary, the percentage at which that link is set, the timing of any increases, the number of councillors that may receive an enhanced salary, and the operation of the new expenses arrangements.
8.5 The Committee should also be able to review how individual local authorities have implemented the new arrangements to ensure consistency of application. We envisage that, after a reasonable settling-in period, the Committee will review arrangements that have been put in place by individual councils on a systematic basis. The Committee should be able to offer advice and further guidance to councils in respect of the application of the new arrangements, and councils should be required to have regard to that guidance.
8.6 We envisage that the Committee's draft workplan for the period leading up to the next elections, and the year after the elections would be:
- February 2007 - Provide advice and support to local authority Chief Executives on the implementation of the new arrangements
- April/May 2007 - Committee members available to discuss with councils implementation of the new arrangements
- August 2007 to March 2008 - Rolling programme of reviews of arrangements put in place by individual councils, to include consideration of salaries introduced for senior councillors, and introduction of role descriptions and training plans
- April 2008 - Review median Scottish salary figure and percentage at which link is made, taking into account any changes in the role of councillors.
Publication of details of councillors' salaries and expenses
8.7 We note that statute requires that details of councillors' allowances are published. That legislation should continue to apply in respect of the salary and other arrangements we are proposing. Furthermore it is likely that councils will want to be more proactive in publishing information on councillors' remuneration in anticipation of individual requests for information under Freedom of Information legislation. We consider that it would be helpful if councils also published information in a common format about how they determined which roles should receive an enhanced salary, the role descriptions put in place for councillors, and the amounts paid to individual councillors. Information published should include details and costs of any items that the council considered essential and reasonable to allow civic heads to carry out their role, whether purchased by a) the council, or b) a councillor who was then reimbursed.
Issues for future consideration
8.8 There are a small number of supplementary matters which the Committee considers should also be reviewed once the new arrangements have been put in place.
8.9 First, we wish to consider the position where an individual who is an employee of one local authority can also carry out a role as a councillor in another local authority. While this may not be a difficulty for a council employee who is also a basic councillor, we feel that consideration should be given to the compatibility of carrying out the role of a senior councillor or council leader, in addition to another role in a local authority. Our proposals suggest that these roles require, on the whole, a full-time commitment, for which we are proposing a full-time salary. We therefore consider that it might not be feasible for a senior councillor or council leader to continue in another local authority role, for which they are being paid another salary by a local authority.
8.10 Secondly, we are concerned that some councils and other public bodies offer paid time off for staff to carry out their role as a councillor. Again, we consider this may be an inappropriate use of public funds once councillors are in receipt of an adequate basic salary for carrying out their role. This is a matter we intend to revisit.
8.11 Thirdly, we would like to consider in more detail the arrangements that apply to councillors who are appointed to public bodies. Although these appointments tend to be made by Ministers, individuals can be appointed primarily because of the role they carry out as a councillor. For example, a councillor appointed to the local NHS Board may receive, in addition to their councillor's salary, an additional salary paid by the Board. In the future we would wish to examine the position where in the case of senior councillors, membership of other bodies might be seen as part and parcel of their role as a senior councillor, and thus covered by their senior councillor's salary. As part of our reviewing arrangements we would plan to look at this issue in more detail, and provide further advice to Ministers if necessary.
Recommendation 25: The Committee should review periodically the levels at which salaries and other aspects of the remuneration package are set and provide further advice to Ministers as appropriate.
Recommendation 26: The Committee should review how individual local authorities have implemented the new arrangements to ensure consistency of application.
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