Agenda item

The Head of Governance & Scrutiny introduced a report that detailed the results of the survey of SBC councillors.

It was the second year the survey had been carried out and the first since the whole council elections held in May 2023 with the new intake of elected members.  The headline results on issues such as member development, standards and member/officer relations were summarised. 

The survey questions were aligned to the LGA Councillor Census to enable comparison to national trends where possible.  The Committee was invited to comment on the survey results and provide a steer on how the council should respond to the data.  The Corporate Governance Working Group would review the data for specific actions that could be taken in response to issues raised in the survey and incorporated into the Democratic Governance Action Plan.

(Councillor W Sabah joined the meeting)

Members queried the reasoning behind and wording of some of the specific questions, particularly those in the section titled ‘councillors’ motivations and attitudes to the role’.  In response, it was noted that these questions were identical to those in the LGA census so that comparisons could be made between Slough and national data. The strongest motivations to be an elected member were to serve the community and represent residents views and three-quarters of SBC Members said they would recommend being councillors.  This figure was slightly below both the previous year and national average.  Other notable changes in the SBC results year on year was a significant increase in the number of councillors from the new intake that were in full time employment.  The figure had risen from 20% in the 2022 survey to 58% in 2023.  The average time spent by councillors in their role as an elected representative was largely unchanged on the previous year at 19.4 hours a week.

There had been positive progress in some areas, for example the percentage of Members expressing confidence in SBC senior officers and in relationships between Members and officers had increased on the previous year.  There was also a higher level of satisfaction with IT support to members and on the importance of the scrutiny process.  However, the Monitoring Officer commented that there had been a reduction in the level of confidence that if a complaint was lodged against a councillor it would be dealt with effectively.  Whilst this could be attributed to the large increase in new councillors over the past year further consideration would be given to any practical steps to strengthen the confidence of members in the councillor complaints process.

The Committee asked that the results be shared with other councillors and the Head of Governance & Scrutiny agreed to place an item in the Members’ Weekly Bulletin to highlight the results.  Other suggestions from the committee included some practical training on the use of Teams and Microsoft Office for councillors, which would be considered by the Member Development Working Group, and producing a ‘jargon buster’ for members.  It was noted the Members’ Handbook contained a glossary that may be useful as a reference document.

At the conclusion of the discussion the recommendations were agreed.

Resolved –

(a)  That the results of the previous Member Survey, and plans for the use of these by officers to inform future action, be noted; and

(b)  That the feedback of the committee to officers on potential actions to be taken in response to the survey be noted.