Resources and Community Services Scrutiny Panel

Report on the Panel's Scrutiny of the role of District Assemblies in relation to Community Leadership

October 2002

1.

Membership of Panel

Panel members who have participated in the compilation and approval of this report:-

Councillor Grundy (Chair), Councillors Bibby*, Brierley*, Dennis*, Downs, Duffy, Gwynne**, A. Holland, Sweeton**, Welsh** and K. Wright.

* 2001/2002 only, ** 2002/2003 only

2.

Introduction

The initial report emphasised that District Assemblies "provide a new and innovative way of involving the community and would represent one of the Council's most important mechanisms to listen and communicate with local people".

District Assemblies arose from the Council's desire to devolve decision making to local areas and followed consultation with the Citizen 2000 Panel and stakeholders.

The following critical success factors were identified based on an evaluation which took place between 1998 and 2000;-

• Public attendance.
• Advisory Group member participation.
• Student representative participation.
• Number of questions asked.
• Public feedback i.e. complaints/comments/compliments.

3.

Terms of Reference

To evaluate how the community is involved in District Assemblies and to determine whether some District Assemblies involve the public more effectively.

The Panel will want to review the effectiveness of procedures developed by Council around District Assemblies along with their powers and framework of officer support to determine whether this allows for real community engagement.

To consider whether District Assemblies have been given devolved powers to the right extent and to the appropriate number of District Assemblies.

To consider the allocation of resources to District Assemblies, to include people, budgets and machinery.

To ascertain whether District Assemblies are working in a way in which the Council intended and whether this is consistent throughout the Council.

To identify areas of good practice which could be shared across all District Assemblies.

4.

Method of Review

When members of this Scrutiny Panel scoped and planned this scrutiny exercise, it was agreed that a series of comprehensive consultation exercises would be required. These would be undertaken with all of the stakeholders, participants, elected members and even those people who did not attend district assemblies.

To this end a series of comprehensive and innovative consultation exercises were undertaken and the Panel's special thanks go to Ruth Gore and Sarah Challoner of the Policy Unit who assisted the Scrutiny Support Unit in this work. The Panel also wishes to thank those people who helped facilitate, etc, the consultation exercises often at very unsociable hours.

Set out below are details of the consultation and research projects undertaken in support of this exercise which resulted in a fact based scrutiny exercise.

At its meeting held on the 14th March 2002 the Panel met with officers who regularly attended District Assemblies from the Local Authority, Greater Manchester Police and Metrolink who gave their views on the impact of District Assemblies on their work. 26 questionnaires were sent out to officers and 14 were returned.

Questionnaires were sent to all elected Members seeking their views of District Assemblies with 33 being returned, covering all Wards in the Council.

An analysis was undertaken of District Assembly attendance figures and the number and subjects of questions asked during Question Time sessions.

5.

Consultation with officers and district assembly advisory group members

The purpose of the separate consultation events which took place with officers and advisory group members was to ascertain their views on the following issues:-

• the involvement of the general public
• the effectiveness of procedures developed by the Council around District Assemblies,
• the powers District Assemblies are given and the framework of officer support
• whether the right powers have been devolved to the right extent and to the right number of District Assemblies and of the right form
• allocation of resources and correctness of the "funding formula"
• whether District Assemblies are working in the way they were intended and in a consistent manner across the Council
• Areas of good practice and ideas for improvement internal and external to the Council that can be shared across all District Assemblies
• Their own role/involvement within District Assemblies

It was overwhelmingly agreed that District Assemblies had made a significant difference. That they had helped to improve local democracy, local services, the well being of the areas and people they serve. District Assemblies also provided a leadership role to communities that they serve.

Both Officers and Advisory Group Representatives believed their views and advice were carefully considered and acted upon, although Advisory Group Representatives felt that they should have more consultation with officers around allocated areas of responsibility.

A number of sections of the community were identified as not being at District Assembly meetings and these included the local business community, young people, black/ethnic communities, people with wider community interest and representatives from local social housing providers.

79% of officers consulted believed that the setting up of District Assemblies had helped to involve the general public and wider communities and the same number felt that District Assemblies had a wide enough range of powers. Some of the suggestions put forward by officers to improve attendance included informal meetings, those District Assemblies that only meet in one venue to meet in different locations, vary times of meetings and greater publicity through community/voluntary groups.

It was felt by some Advisory Group Members that District Assemblies should be more involved with planning matters as these were seen to dominate most of the publics' interests and also heritage and cultural issues relevant to each town.

67% of Advisory Group Representatives and 36% of officers felt that resources/budget allocated to District Assemblies should be increased.

All officers and the majority of Advisory Group Members consulted felt that they are adequately prepared when attending District Assemblies and received paperwork in plenty of time. They were also given enough time to deal with their part of the District Assembly meeting.

The majority of Advisory Group Representatives felt that they needed to be more directly involved in District Assemblies and felt that they needed to take a greater role in influencing decision making.

Advisory Group Representatives also felt that Student Representatives did not get sufficiently involved and should perhaps have their own agenda item.

6.

Consultation with elected members

All 57 of the Council's elected members were sent questionnaires, in order to ascertain their views on the role of District Assemblies, and in particular, the areas listed below:-

• the involvement of the general public
• the effectiveness of procedures developed by the Council around District Assemblies,
• the powers delegated to District Assemblies and the framework of officer support
• whether the right powers have been devolved to the right extent and to the right number of District Assemblies and of the right form
• allocation of resources and correctness of the "funding formula"
• whether District Assemblies are working in the way they were intended and in a consistent manner across the Council
• Areas of good practice and ideas for improvement internal and external to the Council that can be shared across all District Assemblies
• Their own role/involvement within District Assemblies

The majority of elected members who participated in the consultation indicated that the setting up of District Assemblies had helped to involve the general public in the decision making of the Council and did involve a wide enough range of local communities. A number of suggestions were made as to how to encourage more people to participate in District Assembly meetings including improved advertising, more relevant and interesting issues, increased amount of decision making at District Assembly level, accessibility to venues and a more prompt response to questions raised at Question Time.

Members felt adequately prepared when attending District Assemblies and received paperwork in plenty of time. They did feel, however, that the rules of the Question Time session, in accordance with the Council's Constitution, should be more strictly enforced.

Members felt that their views and advice was considered and acted upon.

7.

District assembly attendance figures

There was an increase of 23% in people attending District Assemblies from 1999/00 to 2000/01 but a reduction in the number of questions asked. It did appear, however, that more questions were being asked per person.

Denton and Audenshaw District Assembly has the largest percentage of people in attendance with Longdendale and Hattersley District Assembly having the lowest. Ashton District Assembly had the highest percentage of questions asked.

The following information was obtained from an "ask the audience" exercise undertaken at each District Assembly and related to crime reduction and collated information with regard to age groups, ethnic origin and gender of attendees.

Denton and Audenshaw, Droylsden, Hyde and Mossley and Stalybridge North East District Assemblies covered the widest age ranges of people. Denton and Audenshaw District Assembly had the highest percentage of people over 75 years of age attending and the highest percentage of people under 16 years of age attending. Mossley and Stalybridge North East had the highest percentage of people attending between 60-74 years of age.

The only District Assembly where 3% of people described their ethnic origin as Pakistani was Ashton.

People describing their ethnic origin as Chinese attended three District Assemblies. Five District Assemblies had 100% of people describing their ethnic origin as white.

8.

Consultation with public attendees and non-attendees

A number of questionnaires were distributed at District Assemblies during March 2002. In total, 128 surveys were returned, around 40% of people who attended the District Assembly meetings during this cycle. The areas of consultation were:-

• The impact of District Assemblies on the local community
• Publicity
• Who attends District Assemblies
• Question Time

The majority of attendees thought that District Assemblies had made a difference to their area and thought that they had created a sense of community spirit.

98% of District Assembly attendees felt that publicity was easy to understand and had prompted people to attend. 76% of attendees felt that they receive enough information whilst 19% felt they did not. Half of the participants felt that District Assemblies had improved the image of the Council.

Although there were mixed views regarding the length of the meetings, attendees did find them easy to follow, interesting and thought that they covered important issues to the area. 75% of attendees felt that the views of the public were actively listened to during the question time session and that the public were given adequate opportunity and time to speak.

It was highlighted, following the non-attendees survey that the majority of residents were not fully informed about District Assemblies. Many residents saw them as a place to sort out problems and complaints and were there to run Council Services. 27% of non-attendees surveyed did not know what District Assemblies did.

9.

Consultation with student representatives

Consultations were undertaken with the student representatives at the weekly training session at the Young Persons Centre in Denton. The session combined 'sticky dots' exercises with discussion groups. Although all student representatives are invited to attend the weekly training sessions, these sessions are often only attended by a 'core group' of representatives. Eight representatives attended the consultation session, however, the results of the consultation session were sent to all registered student representatives to give them an opportunity to contribute.

All those who participated in the consultation said that they enjoyed their role as student representatives and gave the main reason as being the opportunity it provided to see things happen in the local area. Reasons given for wanting to become a student representative included the opportunity to learn new skills, a way of confidence building and for enjoyment.

Relationships between student representatives and elected members seemed to impact heavily on how far student representatives enjoy taking part in their District Assemblies. Participants said that an ideal Councillor to work with would be approachable, understanding, friendly, brainy, have ideas, be a local resident, not disillusioned and not influenced by others too much.

Participants stated that they were not always directly involved in District Assembly decisions and initiatives although the perception of how far the views of student representatives were listened to appears to be different across District Assemblies. There was a common view that whilst District Assemblies are getting things done these are not always the things that meet the needs of young people.

All Student Representatives felt that they received help to be a representative by residential training and workshops on particular issues, such as the young people's charter. It was felt that the training and information sessions organised by the youth service were invaluable, although only a core group of student representatives attended on a regular basis. More contact with Councillors and those who organise District Assemblies would be beneficial.

Most participants said that they were not completely sure that they understood what District Assemblies did. Some areas where they felt they needed more information included individual responsibilities at the District Assembly and more information about Councillors and the Council to enable them to have a clearer understanding of their role. There was no mechanism for the District Assemblies to access the views of young people in their schools through student representatives. Not only did they feel that this was poor in terms of representing the views of young people, it also enforced the perception that the role of student representatives was not taken seriously.

Participants did suggest some improvements around issues relating to clearer explanation of matters dealt with at District Assembly meetings.

10.

Consultation with black/ethnic minority communities

A series of three consultation events took place with local ethnic minority communities. The events were well attended, ranging from 20 people at the Indian Community Centre to over 50 at the Pakistani Association. Everyone who took part felt that the sessions were valuable.

The aim of the consultation exercise was to evaluate the involvement of the individual communities in District Assemblies, assess the effectiveness of officer support and procedures to allow real community engagement, consider the powers and resources of District Assemblies, consistency and good ideas/practice.

61% of participants had not heard of District Assemblies prior to the consultation session. Those that had heard about District Assemblies had been either told by a friend or relative or through seeing posters. 91% of participants had never attended a District Assembly meeting.

The majority of participants were unaware of arrangements for District Assemblies which needed more publicity.

Generally the consultations showed that most people in the black and ethnic minority communities supported District Assemblies as a means for people to raise issues and learn about local initiatives.

The respective surveys indicated very similar views about District Assemblies both from black and ethnic minority communities and the borough wide survey of non attenders.

The consultation sessions were dominated by four main themes. Publicity and communications with more leaflets in community languages, publicity on local Asian radio (Asian Sound), use of bi lingual news and posters in Mosques and shops. Venues and the timing of meetings was raised with the suggestion that venues such as the Indian Community Centre would be ideal for a District Assembly.

There were different views over representation with some supporting the greater involvement of community leaders whereas consultation with the Pakistani community showed felt that this was considered not always the best way of ascertaining the views of all the community.

Language and communication difficulties were identified as the main problems and it was felt that translation of publicity and information material and the use of interpreters at the appropriate District Assemblies would be of great benefit.

11.

Budgets

Members expressed concerns about the budgets for District Assemblies and what they perceived as anomalies in the way funding was allocated to individual District Assemblies. Concerns were also voiced about the allocation of resources to individual District Assemblies from centrally held District Assembly resources.

The General Manager District Assemblies indicated that those services that have been more recently delegated to District Assemblies such as grounds maintenance and street cleansing had been carefully costed and resources allocated to meet the actual cost of the service in individual locations.

It was strongly felt by members that any further formula for budget delegation should be open and transparent and made clear to members of District Assemblies. Members felt that budget statements should be clear and consistent for all District Assemblies to ensure that all members understood them.

12.

Borough treasurer's observations

The Borough Treasurer confirms that in accordance with a request made by the Cabinet Deputy (Co-ordination Services), the format of the budget monitoring statement reports is to be amended to make it clearer and more meaningful to elected members.

With regard to the request that budget statements should be clear and consistent for all District Assemblies, the Borough Treasurer points out however, that there are still inconsistencies between the budget statement reports for individual District Assemblies. For example, the budget statements for Ashton-under-Lyne, Denton and Audenshaw, Droylsden, Dukinfield and Mossley and Stalybridge North East, show information on all the devolved budgets. Hyde and Longdendale and Hattersley exclude the costs associated with the Town Manager and support and Stalybridge does not show operational budgets, e.g. Town Manager, grounds maintenance, street cleansing, etc.

13.

Borough Solicitor's observations

Recommendation 15.17 is that "consideration be given to important major planning applications in District Assembly areas being considered by District Assemblies and their recommendations reported to and seriously considered by the Speakers Panel when determining such applications".

There is nothing unlawful in this recommendation or the practice recommended. However, having discussed the matter with the Head of Planning, we consider that there are shortcomings in the proposal:-

Experience in the past and in Shire Districts and Counties, is that it is more difficult for the smaller and more local body to make controversial decisions. If the ultimate decision is to be made by the Speakers Panel in accordance with its statutory duty, in accordance with the Development Plan and other material considerations, then the recommendation of a District Assembly would be only one matter amongst others to be considered. The result of this may well be that the recommendations of District Assemblies are frequently overruled by the Speakers Panel in coming to its decision on controversial planning applications. This is unlikely to engender public approval of the system and might well lead to frustration at the impotence of the District Assembly in planning matters.

Speed of dealing with planning applications is a Best Value Performance Indicator. In order to properly consider an application, the Assembly would need a written report containing the officer's recommendation following consultation responses and site visits well in advance of the meeting. As the Assemblies meet infrequently, this would result in considerable delays in the determination of planning applications considered by them. There can be financial implications to the Council of this, were we to lose out on the Planning Incentive Grants.

Reporting planning applications to District Assemblies would be a duplication of effort and wasteful of officer and member time. Since the Nolan Report, the recommendation has been that members determining planning applications should be trained in this role. This training has been delivered to members of the Speakers Panel, but not to all members of District Assemblies. In the absence of such training, it may be that their decisions would not be tenable, given that the trained members who sit on the Speakers Panel would need to detach themselves from the decision-making at the District Assembly. If, on the contrary, training is given to all District Assembly members, then this is likely to be costly and arguably wasteful.

Speakers Panel comes to decisions on planning applications, following oral presentations in many occasions from applicants and objectors. These presentations can materially affect the decision of the Panel. If Assemblies were to have such presentations, then again this would be duplication and arguably wasteful. However, in the absence of them, the quality of the decision making may not be as good as it could be.

14.

Conclusions

There is no doubt, and this is borne out by the results of the extensive consultation that has taken place, that since their introduction in 1997, Tameside's District Assemblies have been a success

They are appreciated and approved of, not only by those people who attend them and are actively involved, but also those people who do not attend but know that they exist if they need them.

Although there is undoubtedly great support and approval for District Assemblies, in accordance with the Council's deep-rooted commitment to continual improvement, there are ways that District Assemblies can be made more effective.

District Assemblies have many strengths, not least there being a clear commitment and support from the Council and a willingness to delegate more responsibility to local decision making. They provide improved access to service information and undoubtedly improve local relations. District Assemblies have helped to develop the representative role of elected members and increased accountability with members more visibly accountable for financial and resources decisions. They have also improved communication between councillors and the public and enabled better direct problem solving to take place.

Their original format has proved sufficiently robust to enable them to adopt greater delegated powers and responsibilities and make some changes to the way meetings are run. The introduction of new services such as the Quality Audit Inspectors and Street Force has enabled a swift and effective response to peoples' concerns, often raised at District Assemblies. These can be issues that in the grand scheme of things seem insignificant, but for individual people, can be of vital importance. The success in resolving these matters can also greatly enhance peoples' quality of life, as well improve their opinions of the Council.

Considerable work has been done by Town Managers to organise the effective delegation to District Assemblies of grounds maintenance and highway cleansing services. The details of this, however, may not be fully known to members of District Assemblies and the importance of communication on these issues should be borne in mind.

Opportunities also exist for further delegation of budgets and services and these should be taken whenever possible.

A number of District Assemblies have made efforts to genuinely take devolved democracy to the people of Tameside by meeting in various venues in the District Assembly area. Others have developed dedicated District Assembly venues in central municipal buildings. This should not however, mean that meetings should never be held anywhere else in the District Assembly area.

There are examples of devolved democracy in other Greater Manchester Authorities, some of which have been established long before Tameside's District Assemblies and some of these were visited by Panel members during this scrutiny exercise.

Tameside's District Assemblies compare very well with neighbouring authorities being some what less bureaucratic than longer established area committees and with more meaningful powers and resources than the most recently established examples.

There were however, meetings where the members of the public attending were individually greeted as they entered the venue for the meeting and if they had not attended before some explanation of the proceedings was given. Attendance lists were circulated which could give better monitoring information. Representatives of voluntary /community organisations (Advisory Group Members) were co-opted members of area committees as were the police, which gave them a greater sense of belonging and a clearer role in meetings.

The layout of meetings also varied with one area committee using a more informal setting with elected members and officers sitting with members of the public and only the Chair and a few key officers at a top table. This particular example might not suit Tameside but alternatives can and should be tried. Officer surgeries representing all departments were held in one authority before the area committee meeting, which enabled the public to raise problems or make enquiries directly with officers concerned and this seemed to be much appreciated

In several authorities information was given on the progress of issues raised in the question time sessions at previous meetings, which gave an assurance that matters had not been forgotten. They also gave some consideration to planning matters and this seemed to cause no undue problems to the process as a whole. The comments of the Borough Solicitor (13.1-6) confirm that District Assemblies can have a role in the planning process. Recommendation 15.16 relates to major important planning applications and, therefore, will be relatively infrequent. It should be quite possible to schedule such applications to be reported to a District Assembly without causing any delay.

In other authorities where there had been less delegation of powers the area co-ordinators were able to take a more strategic approach to the area. Although greater delegation of powers and budgets to District Assemblies is greatly welcomed and supported there is the danger that Town Managers have become too involved with day-to-day management with less time to have a strategic overview of the District Assembly area.

Some of the problems facing area committees in other authorities include insufficient meaningful delegation of budgets and responsibility, to enable them to make a genuine difference. In some cases they become a "question time session" with little or no other function except to approve community grants.

In spite of the success of District Assemblies, there are some sections of the community with whom they have virtually no engagement. Both Hyde and Ashton-under-Lyne have significant black and ethnic minority populations who have little contact with District Assembly meetings, even though they have similar concerns and needs as the white population. The consultation showed that difficulties with language and information were cited as the main reasons for this and again ways should be considered of addressing these issues.

There is inconsistency in the way student representatives are chosen by schools with some being elected by their peers and some chosen by the head of year, etc. There also seemed to be limited support from schools with no opportunity to report back on District Assembly activities, although support from council officers was much appreciated. It appears that the initial, excellent proposal that each secondary school should have a District Assembly notice board has yet to materialise.

District Assemblies have a unique "front-line services" role. In an era when executive decisions are not generally taken in public and are often taken by single members, District Assemblies provide an open, local interface with the people of Tameside. There is an opportunity for further meaningful delegation of local services and the promotion of cross cutting services working at a patch level.

District Assemblies also provide a forum for a sensible two-way communication and an opportunity not only to highlight the many good things happening in Tameside but also to undertake local debate on how to address the problems. District Assemblies working openly in parallel and in co-ordination with the executive can further improve the well being of the people of Tameside providing that chairs and members take a strong grasp of the issues and means of dealing with them.

15.

Recommendation

That greater publicity be given to the role and purpose of District Assemblies including the publication in the local press of an annual report, celebrating their successes.

That follow up reports be produced at each meeting charting the progress of each question raised at the previous District Assembly Question Time.

That District Assembly meetings be held at different venues in their area, such as schools and community centres in order that devolved democracy can be taken direct to the population of Tameside.

That members of Advisory Groups, students, police and fire service representatives be invited to become nonvoting co-opted members of District Assemblies, with specific responsibilities, in order to enhance their role and give them more direct involvement in the working of District Assemblies.

That consultations should be undertaken with Advisory Group members on an annual basis to ascertain their specific training and development requirements, and design and provide appropriate courses to meet them.

That the role of young people on District Assemblies be promoted in a positive way with a continuous and defined role for student representatives relating to all issues.

That schools be encouraged to provide more support for student representatives, such as announcing the arrangements for District Assemblies at school meetings.

That the Cabinet Deputy's original proposal to provide a notice board exclusively for District Assembly business, in every high school in the Borough be implemented.

That schools be encouraged to adopt a uniform method of selection for student representatives, including an element of democracy.

That clear guidelines be provided and publicised as to the purpose of the Question Time session and that they be adhered to.

That consideration be given to ways in which District Assembly meetings can be made more friendly and welcoming to people not used to attending formal meetings. People attending should be welcomed to the meeting. Asking people to sign an attendance sheet would enable specific monitoring information to be gathered and people to be directly contacted with publicity and information. The "top table" should be introduced to the public and some indication given as their role in the meeting.

That the Minutes of District Assembly meetings, be open to debate and question at meetings of the Council and that they be afforded sufficient credibility.

That in future, fairer funding and any further delegation of resources to District Assemblies, for use in their own areas, be achieved in a way that is fully transparent to all members so that they can understand the equity of resourcing and successfully monitor progress. For example on a per head of population basis without ring fencing to particular services, to enable elected members to manage budgets appropriately.

That consultations be undertaken with this Scrutiny Panel on the further allocation of centrally held funds to District Assemblies.

That ways of devolving more responsibilities be appraised, to allow District Assemblies to progress a further step forward to reaching their full potential, for example:

• Youth Service Budgets (on a per head of population basis, calculated using the latest census information
• Highway and footway maintenance to be fully delegated to District Assemblies
• Street Lighting
• Countryside matters

That consideration be given to important, major planning applications in District Assembly areas being considered by District Assemblies and their recommendations reported to and seriously considered by, the Speakers Panel when determining such planning applications.

That a sum be made available in each District Assembly budget to enable local crime and disorder initiatives to be promoted.