Serving in public office is both a privilege and a responsibility. However, there is a growing issue of abuse and intimidation in public and political discourse that can have a negative impact on councillors, their families and local democracy. This is why the Local Government Association (LGA) commissioned Riber Consultants to work with councils and relevant partners to consider the best approaches to supporting councillors to prevent and manage abuse linked to their elected role. Through the project, researchers identified key challenges to supporting councillors with these issues, principles for councils to consider, and top tips and good practice case studies to help councils better support councillors prevent and handle abuse and intimidation.
Our speaker is Jess Norman who is a Senior Policy Adviser at the LGA responsible for Democracy and Voluntary and Community Sector issues. In particular, she leads on Elections and the Civility in Public Life programme which looks at councillor standards and conduct, issues of abuse and intimidation of councillors and councillor safety. She has previous experience working in Fire and Rescue, FGM and death policy and in frontline housing and benefits services.
The webinar is for anyone working in Democratic Services and will aim to provide attendees with an opportunity to consider new approaches to supporting councillors in their own authorities and to discuss the challenges and opportunities set out in the report.
Attendees will hear about principles of good practice identified in the report and particular examples from other councils. There will the opportunity to ask questions of the presenter and comment at the end of the presentation.
Our webinar is sponsored Link Support Services, led by David McGrath. As a former front-line councillor in Birmingham (8 years) and community campaigner for over 30 years, David provides lively, bespoke, interactive and practical personal safety training for members (over 1500 councillors between 2021-23).
Link Support Services courses look at how members can prevent and manage potential risks in a range of typical scenarios (e.g. on the doorstep, in surgeries, in challenging meetings, online and more). This thought-provoking training can be delivered at any point in the municipal year (induction, pre-election, refresher), and can also assist officers to review and bolster their member support strategies.
Visit www.linksupportservices.co.uk or email Linkukltd@aol.com or call David on 01676 522775 for further details
To register for the webinar, click on the following link:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1919200178237666648
Please note that you will need to be able to login in to GoTo webinar in order to access the webinar on the day. If you are logging in from your workplace, you will need to ensure that GoTo has not been blocked by your organisation. Otherwise, you can log on from your mobile.