This is my final newsletter to you all so forgive me for taking the opportunity to dwell on the past two years. Since taking the reins in November 2018 during the annual conference at Nottingham I have enjoyed a further enjoyable and informative conference at Bristol. Sadly, as we all know, this year we have not been able to hold a conference but by the time you read this some of you will have attended our on line AGM and more importantly the awards event.
We are pleased to say that both events went off really well with thankfully no major technical problems. Our congratulations to all the winners. If you were not fortunate to see the Awards live, you can watch the event on the website from Tuesday 1 December, it’s definitely worth watching. There are some great acceptance speeches from the winners and thanks to all who supported the evening. We hope you enjoyed it.
Democratic Services 2018-2020
The two years have been challenging for democratic services for so many reasons. There have been continuous budgetary pressures for most of my 45 years in local government and these certainly didn’t abate in 2019 (the current spending review appears challenging too). 2020 has, though, been something else. The impact on democratic and governance officers has been huge as you have all had to adjust to on line meetings and other forms of working that seemed like something out of Tomorrow’s World (1970s TV reference!). All at the same time as having personal fears for your own health and that of friends and family as Covid 19 infiltrated our communities. Congratulations to you all and let’s hope that 2021 will see some of the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.
Other massive democratic issues have impacted on you all incredibly – and here I’m thinking initially about how Brexit would change things. That, of course, was huge when I was appointed Company Secretary, but appeared to have become insignificant in the face of Covid. However, with 31 December 2020 approaching very fast it suddenly seems daunting or exciting, depending on your point of view, again.
Members’ standards of behaviour
One area of work on which I have worked with our Chair, John Austin, was standards of elected members’ behaviour. I sat alongside him on the Joint Taskforce and have pondered at length about the standards that local government politicians should abide by and whether, or by how much, those standards should be tightened. I have always believed that the standards expected of local government politicians were tighter than those in Westminster whether that be in matters of conflict of interest, bullying or gifts and hospitality (to name but a few).
It therefore surprised me recently that central government allows the final arbiter in such matters to be a politician rather than a more independent civil servant. The parallel in our circles would be for the Leader or elected Mayor of a council deciding on whether our code of conduct had been breached, rather than a monitoring officer. I’m very much a realist, and know that leaders and mayors are perfectly capable of wielding influence over monitoring officers, but I know from personal experience that if push came to shove in most local authorities it wouldn’t be the monitoring officer resigning in the event of a serious breach of a code of conduct.
Black Lives Matter
Local government has been at the forefront the development of equality and diversity for the whole of my career, but there is clearly much to be done. The Board welcomes any ideas as to how ADSO can help in the fight against discrimination, prejudice and intolerance. ADSO is not, and never will be, a political organisation but passionate challenging and action is certainly within our realm.
There is so much in the democratic world to debate at this time, but I’ll stop there.
New West Midlands Regional Reps
But very good news for the West Midlands region is that at the time of me writing this monologue two people have come forward to undertake the regional representative role. So welcome to the fold Matt Berry of Cannock Chase and Mel Harris of Wychavon. They will jointly support the West Midlands region. I’m sure they will enjoy the role and benefit from the experience even though it will be an added workload in these challenging times. On that point I’d like to thank all of the regional representatives that I have worked alongside over the past two years. They help us understand what practitioners are facing on a daily basis in the world of local democracy and governance.
New ADSO Company Secretaries
I have enjoyed this relatively brief spell on the Board of ADSO but I am pleased to say that I will be replaced by two more very able and capable active practitioners. The new Joint Company Secretaries are Priya Patel and Michelle Beaumont. Both Priya and Michelle currently work for the joint service supporting the London Boroughs of Richmond and Wandsworth, although congratulations are in order for Michelle who will be moving to Spelthorne Borough Council in the new year. They are both experienced and enthusiastic officers and have already made great strides in their induction into the role. I am very confident indeed that the role of Company Secretary is very safe in their hands and I expect them to work well with other Board members and on behalf of the whole membership.
Civility in Public Life
The LGA is coordinating a ‘Civility in public life’ programme in response to growing concerns about the impact an increasing level of public intimidation and toxicity of debate is having on our country’s democratic processes. The programme includes a wide range of activities to support councils and councillors, and to prevent and de-normalise harassment and intimidation. This includes a webinar on Friday 4th December at 10am. Our chair John Austin will be one of the panelists. See below.
There are a series of events within this project for both officers and members, and you can register via the following links:
The first webinar on 4th December is aimed specifically at improving digital citizenship, to help people think about how they conduct themselves online and to make online spaces safer. The webinar will present information about what is considered to be online harassment, understand how it affects people participating in local politics and the system of democracy, and explore how we can, both personally and as the Local Government Sector, improve digital citizenship
Finally, I always make a point of having a look at the forums when I write these pieces to see what is topical. All members should use the forums to get advice or opinions. We are definitely stronger together and this is one area where that is most definitely true.
Yours in democracy,
Peter Savage, ADSO Company Secretary