In a bid to help modernise the sector, the government has published a consultation seeking views on allowing remote attendance at councillor meetings and proxy voting for councillors in the UK.
The consultation is aimed at individual members of the public - prospective and current local authority members/representatives, all relevant local authorities and bodies that represent the interests of local members/representatives at all levels. This includes parish councils, district councils, county councils, and London Borough councils.
The consultation can be found here and will remain open for eight weeks from 24 October 2024. The questions in the consultation apply to all relevant local authorities in England, but don’t apply to authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The consultation is seeking views on the government’s intention to legislate to give local authorities the flexibility to allow elected members to attend formal council meetings remotely. Whilst remote attendance was permitted during the covid-19 pandemic, permission to host meetings online expired on 6 May 2021, despite remote attendance being a popular option with the majority of councils.
The introduction of remote attendance wouldn’t remove in person meetings - the government has reiterated that these are key to the democratic process as they allow people to debate issues impacting their representatives and allow residents to engage with their councillors directly. However, the government has also acknowledged that in a post covid world there is an important balance between in person and online visibility, prompting a need to accommodate flexibility in order to encourage wider diversity in local government.
The government has extended the consultation to include comments on the introduction of proxy voting. Proxy voting is a form of voting where a member delegates their voting power to another representative who then votes in their absence.
The government is proposing to use this system where individuals cannot attend a debate due to extenuating circumstances such as maternity, paternity or adoption leave. Again, the government has made it clear that provisions for proxy voting could provide additional flexibility to those who really need it on a time-limited basis, therefore removing unnecessary barriers to participation in local government.
The topics of the consultation make it clear that the government is alive to the need to modernise the public sector, and to promote the increased flexibility that is now expected following the covid-19 pandemic. There is no doubt that these changes have the potential to help ensure continued and varied participation in local government, however these need to be carefully balanced to ensure that accountability and public trust are maintained. It will be interesting to see the results of the consultation, and how these impact the government’s approach to increased flexibility in local government going forwards.
If you have any further or specific queries in relation to the consultation, please do get in touch with our public sector team.
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