Democratic services overview

Service Context

Democratic Services comprises the following services:

  • Democratic & Member Services
  • Civic
  • Community Engagement
  • Electoral Services
  • Scrutiny

DEMOCRATIC & MEMBER SERVICES

What has been achieved?

  1. Following a period of consultation with members, Council has now significantly revised the business considered at its full Council meetings so as to remove unnecessary items of business, thereby creating capacity for members to discuss essential items of decision making presented to it in the form of detailed reports with accompanying proposals and recommendations. This ‘step’ change in the way Council meetings are conducted has also enabled more time to be given at the meeting to the consideration of motions urging the Council to take action in response to issues it has influence over; and has also opened up the opportunity for members to review topics covered at Members Policy Update sessions.
  1. These changes sought to reinvigorate both elected member and the public’s experience of Council meetings and include revisions to the notice period for both member and public questions and motions on notice so as to provide all of the essential agenda information to be discussed within the agenda summons issued 5 clear working days before the meeting and available via the Council’s website. Revised procedures and guidance have also been produced and are available on the internet/intranet to reflect the above notice period changes.
  1. Amongst a range of matters now considered by full Council has been a revised Concordat for Communication & Consultation with Members, which has been developed by Democratic Services in consultation with the Members Advisory Panel and also reflective of members previous comments expressed as part of 2 separate Scrutiny reviews considering both communication and consultation with members. This new Concordat, which includes helpful guidance for officers including practical ‘do’s and don’ts’, has now been approved and forms part of the Supporting Documents contained within the Council’s Constitution. A similar review has also been undertaken of member attendance at Conferences/Seminars with changes introduced to the attendance protocol to make it more reflective of the current economic climate and other opportunities to receive information.
  1. A review has also been carried out of the first year of the Council’s Petition Scheme, which has seen 13 petitions received by the Authority within this time period notably more than the other Tees Valley authorities; and has included the consideration of 2 petitions at full Council, again contrary to the other authorities’ experiences. Further work will now be done to raise the public’s awareness of this mechanism available to them for requesting the Council to take a particular course of action.
  1. Democratic Services have also taken on managing the meeting support and development for the new Health & Wellbeing Partnership and Board introduced as part of the Government’s reform of the Public Health Service, placing a statutory requirement for the responsibility for public health to transfer to local authorities from 2013 and for an appropriate Health & Wellbeing Board to be established. In addition and as part of a lead in to arrangements going live in 2013, we will manage the development and utilisation of the Council’s E-Genda system, member induction and promotion of the role of the Council’s new responsibilities for Public Health via our Community Engagement Strategy. Several meetings of the Shadow Board and Partnership have now been held along with the two events arranged as part of an on-going extensive Induction Programme for members. Democratic Services are also currently providing advice with regard to the Governance Structure for both the Board and the Partnership; and are seeking to develop an appropriate Forward Plan module for the structure with the Council’s current E-Genda suppliers.
  1. Council, at its meeting held in March, also invited representatives from each of the armed forces, as well as the voluntary & community sector, to join forces and sign a Community Covenant recognising the contribution of serving personnel, their families and veterans, and identifying practical ways the Council can help them access support to help them adjust to life after leaving the services. The Covenant was developed within the region with this Council having a key role, including being Chair of the Joint Scrutiny Committee responsible for its development.
  1. The Annual Council Meeting held earlier this month returned once again to its traditional venue, theBillingham Forum. The agenda for the meeting, and guest list, was refreshed following consultation with both the Members Advisory Panel and the Mayor, so as to be more inclusive to the wider community with representatives of the Mayor’s charities and recipients of Civic Awards also invited to attend.The meeting presented an opportunity for everyone present to see the winners of the inaugural Civic Awards collect their award from the Mayor and hear a little about their outstanding achievements and contribution to the Borough.
  1. The main round of Education Admission appeals for both primary and secondary schools saw a total of174 appeals considered during 2011/12, which was considerably less than the 292 in the year previous, but was in line with the average number experienced in recent years.
  1. Following approval of the Member Learning & Development Strategy in 2011, delivery of the Member Learning & Development Programme has now taken place. Stage 1 was largely centred around the immediate learning needs of the Council’s 18 new elected members, with the information provided being essentially practical in nature to allow members to function in their first few days/weeks in office and included ‘top tips for Getting New Members Started’ and comprehensive information provided via the Council’s GIS system giving a demographic profile of the key issues of each ward with accompanying maps and statistics. Members were also invited to consider ‘walking their ward’ with key officers in order to identify any issues within the ward.
  1. Subsequent stages of the programme have focused on both committee specific training, including annual mandatory training in respect of quasi- judicial committees such as Planning, Licensing and Employee Appeals and Scrutiny training including developing skills in challenging and questioning and the role of health scrutiny and the implications on this of the current Health reforms. Other topical training provided included a summary of Highway Maintenance issues likely to feature regularly in members’ feedback from constituents and the Role of the Modern Councillor and the changes presented by the Localism agenda. This was then supplemented with more personal skills development with all members offered the opportunity to assess their own individual learning needs by completing their own Personal Support Plan assessment on-line in their own time should it be more convenient.
  1. The Council is proud of how members have embraced the use of ICT to assist them in their role as Councillors and further training in this regard has been provided. A review has also been undertaken of members ICT equipment in order to standardise supply and achieve efficiency savings wherever possible.
  1. It is worth noting also that as testament to the Section’s efforts to reduce the amount of hard copy printing required by both members and officers in exchange for an increased availability of electronic information and ICT support for members, such as that provided via E-Genda, e-mail or available from the Council’s Intranet/Internet, a saving of £15k has been made during 2011/12 on the Council’s Member Support Printing budget. This saving is in part due to the changes introduced as part of the review of full Council meetings. Further work is now due to be piloted with members regarding the use of members own IT devices, such as I Pads and Kindle devices, for the purpose of accessing Council information, agendas and minutes available via
  1. Plans are in progress now to both review the forthcoming Member Learning & Development Programme for 2012/13 and to prepare submission of the Council’s Member Learning & Development Strategy for external assessment against the NEREO Charter Plus criteria in May 2012, which is the current benchmark for excellence with regard to Member Support with evidence being compiled in consultation with elected members. The support provided to members has also included Member Policy Update briefings provided on a range of topics such as the NHS in Stockton; Health Profile; Child Placements; Localising Support for Council Tax in England; Local Government Resource Review; Focus on Education; Welfare Reform Bill; Durham Tees Valley Airport; Caring for our Future: Shared Ambition for Care and Support; Cleveland Police in Stockton; Police and Crime Commissioners; Tristar/Vela Update; Catalyst; Supporting Voluntary and Community Sector; Stockton Events inspired by London 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games; Cleveland Fire Service; Public Health Transition; Developing Clinical Commissioning; North East Ambulance Service; Care Homes Update; and Regeneration Updates.
  1. A refresh has also been undertaken of the office based Members Library within Municipal Buildings, with services encouraged to deposit or signpost members to key policy documents. The content of the electronic library has also been updated, along with all other Democratic Services information, in line with the corporate refresh of the Council’s Intranet Content Management System. Work has also been undertaken to implement the recommendations arising from the recent Task & Finish Scrutiny Review of the Council’s Governance arrangements with Outside/Joint Bodies, which has led to greater information being obtained on each organisation in order to build up the profile of each to assist members understanding of their purpose and consider their own involvement. Information on a number of organisations is now available on the Members Section of the Intranet.
  1. A review of the success of public engagement via traditional venue based ward surgeries has also been carried out and a range of other engagement options have been identified for members with a view to increasing the numbers of public helped to engage with their local ward councillor. This has included the use of social media which has the potential to engage far more people in a manner more convenient and immediate than traditional ward surgeries. Advice/guidance on the use of social media is now being prepared to assist members in considering the future use of social media, along with a ‘Top Tips Guide’ of the available options for members to engage with communities based on best practice and member feedback.

CIVIC

  1. There have been significant changes made to both the structure and content of the Civic function during the year. Several meetings were held during the year with the Mayor and Deputy Mayor to review civic functions and events to generate ideas and improvement for the year ahead. There was an extensive piece of work undertaken reviewing the 7 major functions that we organise and the 5 major events that we also influence, with the aim of fully utilising the Civic Mayoral role within these events as the recognised Ambassador for the Borough and maximising the opportunity for connecting with the community, engaging people and organisations, which is a key principle underpinning the main priorities of the Council.
  1. An example of this was demonstrated at Remembrance Sunday. The Royal British Legion is responsible for this event and officers from Civic held meetings with the lead officers and the Reverend from the parish church to discuss improvements and introduce elements of ‘human interest’ within the service with actual readings from the war diary of a serviceman. We also developed the Order of Service with the introduction of a recognisable civic brand for Stockton on Tees and provided a PowerPoint presentation to run during the service. We have received a lot of positive feedback for the event, especially commenting on the order of service and how the Power point presentation in church was very effective and added to the occasion.
  1. The Mayor’s Christmas Carol service was also refreshed and this year’s service was extremely successful. School children from across the borough were invited to take part in the service that was especially designed for children. The children participated by presenting figures for the nativity scene, singing with enthusiasm and giving the readings and prayers. Many residents from our care homes took up the invitation to attend and the church was full to capacity. The order of service was updated in the same style as Remembrance Sunday and a power point presentation supplied a stable backdrop for the nativity scene and displayed the words for the Christmas carols. We have received letters of congratulations from Civic and University guests together with many expressions of thanks and requests to be invited to future civic functions. We will build upon this success and work continues to review every function before and after the event to ensure continuous improvement.
  1. Armed Forces Day Celebrations took place on 20 June until 25 June 2011 and this year for the first time, a charity duck race was held on the River Tees at Preston Hall Museum and Park and raised £2,900 towards the Mayor of Stockton’s charities. Three charities – the Royal British Legion (Stockton), the Rifles Care for Casualties Charity and the Yorkshire Regiment Benevolent Fund, will benefit from the funds raised at the event. The event was enjoyed by all and it will now become an annual event. The Women’s Royal Army Corps also ran a stall to encourage the public to fill empty shoe boxes with all the goodies the troops are missing e.g. sweets, toiletries, DVDs, games, newspapers etc. Enough goods were donated to fill over 100 shoeboxes! The special Armed Forces Day flag flew at Stockton Town Hall throughout the week and the Museum Service prepared a display of an exhibition detailing the history of Stockton's armed forces past and present in the Town Hall. A Church Service was held in Stockton Parish Church Thursday 23 June and the Mayor hosted a buffet luncheon in the Town Hall for VIPs and for those manning the exhibitions in the Town Centre. Displays hosted by veterans and members of the Army, Navy and Air Force were exhibited in the Town Centre giving advice and information about life in the armed services. All stalls collected letters for the troops to help lift spirits and make life a little more bearable for our service men and women, and all of the events undertaken during the week compliment the Council’s commitment to recognising the contribution of serving personnel as contained within theCommunity Covenant approved by the Council.
  1. UK Youth Parliament work has begun with Integrated Youth Service to establish support for the Stockton member of the UK Youth Parliament and to refresh our existing Youth Assembly structure so as to make it more representative and democratically elected and create a structure that would work with young people directly in youth led action projects, would actively encourage youth involvement and community change and would involve young people in innovative and accessible ways to take part in consultations to guide the work of the Council. This work will build upon our existing relationships with schools to encourage more young people to become involved in democracy.
  1. It was also pleasing that despite the current economic climate, a very successful and well attended Mayor’s Ball was also held in February 2012 with over £8,200 raised for the Mayor’s Charities, including match funding provided in partnership with Santander. Following the completion of the civic service review, a new more inclusive and wider engaging approach was adopted towards the Mayor’s Coffee Morning event, with a ‘safari’ of events held throughout the Borough at various cafes during March 2012. Over 500 people participated in the events, many of whom will never have previously engaged with the Mayor, thereby increasing public awareness of the role and their opportunity to be engaged with local democracy. Over £600 was raised at these events, with the proceeds going to the Mayor’s chosen charities and given the numbers of people attending, this has proved to be a very successful example of an outreach approach providing the Mayor with the opportunity to engage with a large number of people of the Borough and to communicate some of the ‘key messages’ of the Authority.
  1. The year has also seen the launch of the very first Mayoral Civic Awards scheme with over 30 nominations received for the 4 categories of award. The Panel which met to consider the nominations received, and consisted of members, the Chief Executive, the Youth MP, a representative of local business, the media and further education, and was Chaired by the Mayor, was overwhelmed with the calibre of people nominated and found it an extremely difficult to identify 4 overall winners as all were worthy of recognition. In the end, 4 winners were selected, and were invited to receive their award at the Annual Council Meeting, with all nominees receiving a certificate from the Mayor on behalf of the Panel.
  1. A reflective article looking back at the Mayor’s year in office has been produced and included within Stockton News highlighting the work undertaken by the Mayor, which has included attendance atthe opening of the new £8.5 million Nifco factory in Eaglescliffe, the opening of the George Hardwick Foundation Carers’ Centre, attendance at the Remembrance Sunday Parade and support for many charity and community organisations which has resultedin a cumulative total of funds of £18k raised for the Mayor’s Charities, principally the British Legion and the Butterwick Hospice. Both of these charities were invited to attend the Annual Council Meeting in April to receive their cheques. At the same time, and following consultation with the incoming Mayor for the new Municipal Year, three proposed charities have been confirmed for the coming year and each also attended the AGM to showcase their organisation and raise their profile with the invited guests. Available opportunities will be sought to work closely with service groups during the year to continue to promote each of the charities and raise public awareness.
  1. The Mayor has also paid recognition to the service given by Honorary Aldermen by introducing an Alderman badge to be worn on civic occasions by those conferred with Alderman status. The 4 Aldermen conferred during the current year of office were presented with their badge at the Annual Council meeting, and the remaining Alderman will receive theirs on a separate occasion.
  1. As the current year has seen a comprehensive review of each of the civic functions with the aim of modernising and refreshing the approach of each so as to be more engaging and tailored to the Mayoral aims, work has also been undertaken producing the Council’s first ever Civic Guide, developed in partnership with both the Mayor & Deputy Mayor. The guide reflects both the civic protocols of the Mayoral role, as well as helpful practical advice and an insight into the history of the role. This guide will be passed to each incoming Mayor and modified as the role changes in the future.
  1. Council, at its meeting held on 1st December 2011, conferred the Freedom of the Borough on both the Royal Air Force and the Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers and initial discussions have been held with representatives of each to discuss options with officers for an appropriate commemoration of this honour at some appropriate time. This does not at the present time include any proposed Freedom Parade during 2012.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT