Meeting documents

The Executive
Tuesday, 19 March 2002

EX190302-06

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ITEM EX6


EXECUTIVE – 19 MARCH 2002

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE SCRUTINY COMMITTEE – 7 MARCH 2002

REVIEW OF LOCAL AREA STRUCTURES

Report of the Review Panel

Summary

  1. The submission to the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions on the new political management arrangements for Oxfordshire outlined the early work of the Executive. This included a review of local area structures which was commissioned from the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee.

  2. This panel was therefore directed by The Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee to identify ‘whether area structures (consultative and/ or decision-making) should form part of the Council’s arrangements, and if so, how would they operate and relate to the Oxfordshire District Council area structures where those exist’. In developing its recommendations, the Scrutiny Committee asked the panel to:

    1. consider the outcomes of the consultation with political groups and departments and the outcomes of the Stakeholder Consultation on New Political Management Arrangements;

    2. consider the best practice emerging from the audit of local area structures;

    3. make arrangements for a review panel meeting to call in and consider evidence

  3. The report presents our recommendations on the type of area structure that we believe the County Council should adopt and the steps that we suggest should be taken to implement them.

    4. RECOMMENDATIONS

  4. We recommend the Committee to RECOMMEND Council:

          1. to develop area fora of an advisory and consultative nature, linking in with district council area structures as appropriate;

          2. that arrangements for running a pilot should be developed in one Oxfordshire district council area in partnership with the district council, and in accordance with the proposed timetable;

          3. to agree in principle the proposal for the monitoring and evaluation of the pilot;

          4. that, when the arrangements have been drawn up for conducting the pilot, the Executive be asked to identify and allocate appropriate resources;

          5. that the Review Panel and the Departmental Consultative Group should continue beyond the timescale set out for this review, and that they should work together to support the development, implementation and monitoring of the pilot;

          6. that, based on the conclusions of the pilot evaluation, the Committee should consider proposals for the development of area fora across the county, investigate whether delegated powers should be given and report back to the Council; and

          7. to agree in principle the guidelines for the involvement of councillors and officers in district council area structures operated outside the pilot area and according to the timescale proposed.

    Background

  5. In the DETR Guidance on New Council Constitutions, the Secretary of State stated that area structures can have an important role to play in bringing local authorities and local people closer together. Under its new political management arrangements, the Council can choose to introduce local area structures. Indeed, in Oxfordshire, 3 of the 5 district councils have already explored, or established, area fora and committees.

  6. The Council therefore agreed on September 4 2001 that a review of area structures would form the early work of the Executive. On 20 November 2001, Council commissioned the Scrutiny Committee to undertake the review of local area structures.

  7. The Scrutiny Committee appointed Councillors Andrew Brown, Michael Buck, Bob Johnston and David Wilmshurst to the Review Panel to lead the review. The Panel was appointed for a fixed term from 13 December 2001 until 2 April 2002.

  8. The Committee also appointed review panels to look at the ways in which County Councillors could strengthen links with the communities and constituents they represent, and to explore the Council’s consultative arrangements. We were conscious that these issues relate to, and impact upon, the review of local area structures and, where possible, we have tried to avoid duplication.

    9. Review Process

  9. The timetable in which to conduct the review was extremely tight and we have met 7 times over a period of 7 weeks. The review has been supported by Derek Bishop Head of Democratic Services and Gwenllian Davies, Democratic Services Officer (Participation).

  10. In taking forward the review we:

    1. Established guiding principles for conducting the review;

    2. Considered the outcomes of the consultations with political groups and departments via the Departmental Consultative Group set up for the purpose;

    3. Considered the information and good practice emerging from the audit of those local area structures implemented across the country;

    4. Held joint meetings with the Departmental Consultative Group to discuss and consider issues and options;

    5. Met with the County Council Management Team;

    6. Held a joint meeting with district council Leaders and Chief Executives to discuss and consider issues and options; and

    7. Began a dialogue with district councils on area structures.

  11. In conducting the review, we needed to be clear about the terms used to describe the area structures under investigation. The definitions used by the DETR Guidance on New Council Constitutions clearly set out the differences between area fora and area committees. These definitions have been used throughout the review:

    • Area Fora: bodies of an advisory and consultative nature without decision-making powers

    • Area Committees: bodies discharging a function or functions with decision-making powers.

  1. In formulating our recommendations, we have endeavoured to recognise and to consider fully the views expressed by political groups, departments, stakeholders and district councils. The consultation with political groups and departments made it clear that there were different views on the type of structures preferred. There were also concerns regarding the pressures the organisation might face in implementing and supporting them.

  2. However, emerging from the consultation were some basic points of agreement. Together with the Departmental Group, we adopted these as our ‘guiding principles’ against which we would discuss and explore the options available to us. Area structures should:

    1. Add value to the County Council

    2. Raise awareness of council services, policies and decisions

    3. Engage with local people

    4. Facilitate two way communication between the Council and local people

    5. Rationalise existing structures and contacts

  3. In addition, we also concluded that it was important to obtain consensus between the Panel and the Departmental Group on any recommendations we might make. Therefore, to ensure that officers had the opportunity to share the views of the organisation with us, we invited the Departmental Consultative Group to attend all our meetings. The Departmental Consultative Group comprised senior officers nominated by the County Council Management Team in November 2001:

    • Anne Bulleid – Environmental Services

    • Jean Carr – Social Services

    • Graham Badman/Roy Smith - Education

    • Nancy Hood – Cultural Services

    • Martin Stott – Strategy Directorate

  1. It was also important that we investigated, in the context of existing district council area structures, the wider implications of the options we were exploring. Consequently, we have established a useful dialogue with the Leaders and Chief Executives of the district councils.

    2. Documents

  2. During the course of the review, the following papers were prepared and considered.

Copies of all these documents are available for inspection in the Members’ Resource Centre:

    • Initial briefing paper for political groups – October 2001

    • Political Group and Departmental Consultation on Local Area Structures November 26 – December 13 2001 - background document and questionnaires

    • Summary of the Political Group Responses to the Consultation January 2002

    • Review Panel meeting January 4 2002– agenda and notes

    • Review Panel and Departmental Consultative Group Workshop – January 10 2002

    • Workshop –agenda and notes

    • Review Panel meeting – January 16 2002– agenda and notes

    • Joint meeting with the district councils February 4 2002 - briefing papers, notes

    • Review Panel ‘debriefing’ February 4 2002– notes

    • Review Panel meeting February 11 2002– notes

    • Consultation on new political management arrangements 2001 – Stakeholder consultation report, MORI workshop report, ORC report

    • Informal Member/Officer Working Group on Organisation and Democracy on 13 June 2000 - notes

    • Local Government Act 2000

    • New Council Constitutions, Guidance Pack volume 1 chapter 6

    • Starting to modernise – a Practical Guide to Neighbourhood fora and Area Committees

    • County Council Network - Democracy and Governance Network Survey 2000

    • County Council Websites – constitutions, terms of reference – www.tagish.co.uk/links/localgov.htm

Findings The Structure

  1. Our consultation with political groups and departments identified clear differences in opinion about whether decision-making should be delegated at all, and if so, what those decisions might be. Through discussions with the Departmental Consultative Group we recognised that the differences in opinion, and the concerns raised about decision–making could be resolved by taking an incremental and cautious approach, followed by a clearly defined review mechanism.

  2. This view was re-enforced by evidence from other County Councils indicating that where area committees exist, the delegation of decision-making has not taken place immediately. Area fora were established in the first instance, and were then subject to a clearly defined review process that investigated and recommended, if appropriate, the scale of decision-making to be delegated.

  3. We also considered the various proposals put forward by political groups and departments for operating different structures in different parts of the County. Our conclusion was that the Council should adopt a consistent approach to avoid confusion within the organisation and amongst stakeholders and the public.

  4. In addition, we were also aware that any structure proposed needed to be considered in the context of the significant changes that the organisation has undergone since November 2001:

    1. Implementation of the New Political Management Arrangements,

    2. Re-organisation of the Central Directorates to form Strategy and Business Support

    3. Current review of Social Services, Cultural Services and Education

  5. We felt that although the organisation had responded positively to these changes, the Council should be cautious at this stage of introducing another complex cultural change.

  6. We also bore in mind that if area structures are about bringing local authorities closer to the public and to stakeholder organisations, then the views of the public and stakeholders should be considered. The Council’s consultation on new political management arrangements clearly demonstrated that stakeholder organisations much preferred participating in area fora in an advisory and consultative role. Similarly, the participants of the MORI workshop also felt that although there was value to local structures, they were not generally looking for them to have a decision-making role. People wanted evidence that local issues were understood and local people listened to.

  7. It is clear to us that in ensuring local people feel ‘listened to’ at a local level, local members will have an important role to play in the operation of effective local area structures. The experiences of other councils have shown that area structures require additional levels of support over and above those traditionally provided by a member support programme. The review of support for members has only recently been concluded and the council has not yet had the opportunity to address the issues raised by it. Our feeling is that further work needs to be done by the Panel, in conjunction with the Member Support Programme, to develop guidance and support for councillors when working with area structures.

  8. In taking all the evidence together, our view was that the Council, the public and stakeholders would benefit from an approach that developed the capacity and the skills for engaging on local issues. This would better prepare those involved for taking on a decision–making role, if appropriate. We also felt that this approach would give the Council the opportunity to review and rationalise, where needed, existing participatory mechanisms and networks.

    9.   Geographical Areas

  9. Having established our views and the thinking behind the type of structure that would be most appropriate for the Council to introduce, we were more able to consider the geographical framework of such a structure.

  10. Again, the consultation demonstrated differences of opinion on the area to be covered by a forum. We decided that this issue could not be progressed until the district council structures, and how the County structures might interact with them, were more clearly understood. A joint meeting held with the Leaders and the Chief Executives of the district councils proved very positive and highlighted a number of practical issues that have shaped our recommendations.

  11. We also considered the district councils’ views in the context of the County Council consultation on new political management arrangements. This had clearly identified a public concern that, unless handled carefully, area structures would introduce another layer of bureaucracy. The consultation also identified that the public was interested in receiving a service and was not necessarily interested in whether it was provided by a district or county council.

  12. We also considered other strategic and boundary issues such as the Local Strategic Partnership and the Primary Care Trusts which both have specific government directives to fulfil. Although there are clear links between strategic and local issues we felt that it was important that the focus of area structures remained clearly local. It would be more appropriate for the strategic structures to link in as and when appropriate.

  13. We formed the view that the Council should be cautious about introducing an additional tier of local government that could be perceived as a duplication of existing structures. It was also important that the Council facilitated public participation, rather than adding to the confusion about its role as a democratic body and service provider.

  14. Our conclusion therefore was that the Council structures should link in with the existing district council area structures. Concerns that this might not meet the needs of the County Council were allayed by the positive approach by the district councils to developing pilot arrangements in partnership.

    15. Pilot Arrangements

  15. We discussed options for establishing a pilot and formed the opinion that all the district councils, including those not currently operating area committees or fora, should be given the opportunity to be a part of the developmental process.

  16. We therefore propose that:

    1. Spring and early Summer of 2002 - the Council liaises with the district councils and develops pilot arrangements with one whole district

    2. Summer 2002 - the Executive identifies and allocates the financial and staffing resources required to operate the pilot

    3. Autumn 2002 - Autumn 2003 - the pilot is in operation and subject to a 12 month rolling ‘monitoring and review’ programme

    4. Winter 2003 – the pilot is evaluated, and recommendations made for rollout elsewhere in the County. Decision-making is investigated further as a separate review

  17. Also, we feel that the Review Panel and the Departmental Consultative Group have developed a good understanding of the issues facing the Council in introducing area structures. It would therefore be of value to the Council for the two groups to continue and to support the development and implementation of the pilot arrangements. In doing so, our aim would be to ensure that the arrangements fulfilled the guiding principles agreed at the beginning of the review. We would also suggest that any arrangements should:

    1. Enable the Council to inform and consult the public.

    2. Enable area fora to identify their priorities and make recommendations to the Executive

    3. Develop mechanisms for feeding the outcomes of the area fora into County Council processes

    4. Establish a route for the Council to engage more effectively and consistently with parish and town councils and stakeholder organisations

    5. Balance local and strategic issues

  18. We also considered that the consultation on new political management arrangements, and the recently published ‘Raising our Performance’, has given the Council an opportunity to strengthen its mechanisms for engaging with the public. County Council Departments have clearly demonstrated that they have a great deal of experience in engaging with local communities. Therefore, having considered this in the context of the good practice emerging from other county councils and Oxfordshire district councils, we believe that we should build on this and involve the Departmental Group in developing the arrangements. The recommendations emerging from the review of consultative arrangements should also be considered.

  19. We also suggest that in preparing the pilot arrangements we should give thought to how meetings are managed and how stakeholder and public participation is developed:

    1. Under pilot arrangements with a whole district, an individual area forum should address County Council issues at a mimimum of 4 meetings a year. This will ensure that the arrangements are of benefit to the County Council by ensuring continuity and stimulating local interest in County Council matters.

    2. The chairing of meetings should be firm and impartial with good facilitation skills

    3. Meeting rooms should be laid out to maximise stakeholder and public involvement in the proceedings ( i.e. in the round)

    4. Area Fora meetings should be themed to capture the public imagination and make them feel involved in the issues

    5. Area Fora meetings should be themed to ensure the best use of the County Council’s staffing and resources

    6. A communication and publicity mechanism for area fora is central to their success. For example, in addition to preparing agendas and publicising them in advance, we should consider how, when and where they are publicised

    Monitoring and Evaluating Pilot Arrangements

  20. The essential factor which emerged from other County Council case studies, and the experiences of Oxfordshire district councils was that area structures, whether committees or fora, are constantly evolving. As soon as people or organisations begin to engage in a process, the dynamics change to reflect the circumstances or the nature of the participants. We therefore concluded that flexibility should be built into the arrangements for a pilot.

  21. We believe that the pilot should develop a 12-month rolling ‘monitoring and review programme’ with mechanisms in place for adjustment, or the trialing of new ideas. At the end of the pilot period, a final evaluation should be carried out to establish the procedure for developing area structures in other parts of the County. The separate review should also investigate the appropriateness of delegated decision-making and budgets. We also consider that in establishing the success criteria for the evaluation we should also include:

    1. Targets for setting up the pilot

    2. Targets for establishing an officer support network

    3. Mechanisms and targets for engaging with the public and stakeholders

    4. Mechanisms and targets for County Councillor engagement

    5. Communications/publicity strategy- targets, monitoring

    6. Evidence of joined up working

    7. Commitment to gathering quantitative and qualitative data

    Role of Councillors in the Pilot

  22. Still to be determined, but to be drawn up by this panel and linked to the Member Support Programme.

    23. Interim Arrangements

  23. In proposing a pilot, we were also conscious of the current pressure on councillors and departments to attend area fora and committees. County Councillors representing City divisions, for example, have recently been invited to sit at the ‘top table’ and to participate in the decision-making of Oxford City committees. We felt that it is important for the Council to agree and promote some guidelines for those members and officers invited to participate in area committees or fora outside the pilot area, but during the pilot period. In reaching our view on interim arrangements, we decided that we should not pre-empt the findings of the pilot evaluation in 2003. The Informal Member/Officer Working Group on Organisation and Democracy on 13 June 2000 discussed the case of the East Oxford Parliament and reached a set of conclusions with which we broadly agree. We therefore suggest that the Council should adopt for members the following interim arrangements for both committees and fora:

    1. Interim arrangements will be in place from April 2002 until the pilot and its evaluation has been completed, and until such time as the Council has reached a conclusion regarding the future role of area fora and the role of members within them

    2. Oxfordshire County Council will not formally appoint representatives to district council area committees or fora

    3. The County Council recognises that district councils are free to invite local members to meetings of area fora or committees, and that those members are at liberty to attend, but not in the capacity of representatives of the County Council

  24. We also discussed the arrangements for those departments whose staff are invited to attend area committees and fora outside the pilot area, and who might wish to use them as consultation mechanisms during the pilot period. Again, we felt that it was important not to pre-empt the findings of the pilot evaluation.

    1. Interim arrangements will be in place from April 2002 until the pilot and its evaluation has been completed, and until such time as the Council has reached a conclusion regarding the future role of area fora and the role of officers within them

    2. The central County Council contact for district councils and County Council departments on issues relating to area committees and fora will be Derek Bishop Head of Democratic Services

  25. Also, we consider that, as service providers, Directors and Heads of Service should be free to use their discretion in deciding the level of service they provide to an area committee or forum outside the pilot area. The following checklist is for guidance and we suggest that further work is carried out:

    1. Is the issue relevant to the services provided by the department?

    2. Is there sufficient evidence from the district council that this issue has a significant impact on all, or a significant proportion of, the local area e.g. does the issue significantly affect more than one division in that local area?

    3. Is/are the councillor/councillors for that area aware of the issue?

    4. Has the issue been raised and/or addressed in other arenas?

    5. Is an area meeting the most appropriate way of addressing the issue?

    6. Is it an issue raised by an individual, if so should the contact be directly with the department, through a Councillor in their local role, or through the Corporate Complaints Service?

    7. Has the period of notice given the department reasonable time to investigate the issue, brief other staff or members, and/or identify staff for the meeting?

     

    Using Area Committees and Fora for Corporate Consultation

  26. The pilot arrangements will also need to include mechanisms for consultation. We would therefore wish to seek the advice of the Corporate Consultation Officer Carole Dixon before drawing up a plan of consultation.

  27. During the review we found that there were misconceptions about area fora and committees being the future focus of all corporate consultation. We would like to stress that area committees and fora should not be regarded as a ‘one size fits all’ approach to consultation. They are only appropriate for certain issues and we do not believe that they can provide statistically representative data in the same way that either the Citizens Panel, or a tailor-made consultation can. However, they are useful for seeking the views and opinions in a local area in order to inform a decision, and to inform the public.

  28. The Annual Departmental Consultation Plans should help departments plan in advance what their consultations throughout the year are likely to be. In drawing up their plans, we suggest that departments continue to seek the advice of the Corporate Consultation Officer in identifying the most appropriate consultative mechanisms, one of which might be area fora and committees. If an area fora or committee has been identified as the most appropriate mechanism, we suggest in the run up to, and during the pilot period, departments liaise with Derek Bishop, Head of Democratic Services, who is the Council’s central contact for such issues.

    29. Financial and Staff Implications

  29. All local authorities have found that the introduction of local area structures has required additional resources and skills despite any potential savings made from resource reallocation in other areas. Pilot arrangements will also incur some costs and resources will need to be identified. In developing pilot arrangements with a district council, the Executive will have the opportunity to evaluate the resource implications within a contained environment. However, in the longer term, if the Council wishes to roll out area fora elsewhere in the county, this will lead to a new way of working for the whole organisation. There will be a greater emphasis on direct engagement with local areas and a need to co-ordinate information and support on an area by area basis from all departments. As with the new political management arrangements, there will be organisational and staffing changes which may have financial implications.

Review Panel on Local Area Structures

Cllr Andrew Brown
Cllr Michael Buck
Cllr Bob Johnston
Cllr David Wilmshurst

February 2002

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