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Councillors' Questions Answered

How can people access council services?

The aim is to make council services more accessible to everyone in Northumberland through improving contact points. There will be one-stop-shops in larger towns and communities, and these will be supported in other areas by new access points that already provide services, like libraries, tourist information centres or leisure centres.  All other locations will have access to self-serve facilities and these will be determined by the Council in consultations with local communities. There will be single doorway to contact the council, whether by post, phone or email – and easy to use digital services.


How will housing be managed?

The new council will be a land lord for tenants in Alnwick and Blyth Valley.
Later this year we will be consulting with tenants about the new arrangements for Northumberland Council. In the meantime if tenants have any issues that they want to raise they should contact their own housing officer. The housing officer may not have the answers to every question but someone in each district council housing department will be involved in setting up the new arrangements.  They will either provide answers to queries or ensure that any points raised are properly considered. A team from Alnwick and Blyth is looking to combined housing management arrangements building the on the existing Blyth Valley Homes and they will have ongoing dialogue with tenants and members from District Councils; who will remain responsible for housing services until April 2009.


Will it be possible to transfer some assets into community ownership?

We are examining the range of options available to maximise the benefits from the current estate and asset rationalisation. This will include some element of community ownership which is currently considered on an individual proposal basis by the existing councils. A new policy is being developed to assist decision making on community use of assets.

Why an Executive of eight Members?

Given the large policy portfolio of the new Council, an Executive of an appropriate size to ensure clear accountability is needed.  By having eight Members, a sensible split of the portfolio responsibilities can be achieved which allows each Executive Member sufficient responsibility and accountability for the effective management of all of the council’s policies and priorities.  Learning from best practice from excellent unitary councils was also a consideration when deciding on the proposed size of the Executive. Legislation allows an Executive to have a maximum of ten Members and the new Council may choose to increase from eight to this level.

Why only 67 councillors for the new council?

Members discussed the Boundary Committee’s electoral review of Northumberland, which started in July. The Boundary Committee is now carrying out the first phase of a year long consultation which will result next August with final recommendations on the number of councillors and the necessary changes to electoral boundaries. A special meeting of the County Council was held in September to agree a formal response to the Boundary Committee. The council then proposed that the unitary authority should have 79 members:

For more information about the review, visit www.boundarycommittee.org.uk.


How will scrutiny work at corporate and area level?

At County level, three scrutiny committees are proposed to cover unitary council responsibilities on a functional basis.  They will review executive decisions made on county wide and regional matters.  We also anticipate there will be a separate county wide scrutiny committee for health.  At area level, scrutiny will be undertaken by the area committee. Its focus will be to oversee the service delivery at area level and to respond to important local issues.
It will also provide an important interface with the community forum and refer issues to the central scrutiny committee as appropriate. A key task of the area committee in its first year will be to develop effective arrangements for scrutiny at area levels.  

What support will councillors have to support their constituency work?

Currently the Leader and Deputy Leader have a dedicated secretary to provide administrative support, the Chairman and Vice Chairman also have a dedicated secretary, and these two officers also provide the Executive with administrative support. A further team of three officers support the rest of the members with administrative tasks, research and surgeries, and will usually be members’ first point of contact.  The team also support the Mobile Information Unit (for mobile surgeries with members) in towns and villages across the county on a weekly basis. Once the new council is fully operational, the new leadership may decide whether resources for this support will change.


Will councillors receive development and training?

Yes. Councillors have received an initial induction, and are continuing further training to do with the provision of services at county and district level.
There has also been some leadership training provided for the Executive. Further to this, there are plans of resurrecting the cross-party Councillors Training Steering Group that will plan training that will be Member-led. The aim is for all Members to have personal development plans specific to them.

The council also plans to sign the Members Charter Standard, committing the council to provide systematic and accessible training for Members. There is early cross party council support for this standard and we look forward to good systematic training of Members. 


What will be the financial position of the new council?

We are now in the process of detailed financial planning for the new authority. A financial report earlier in the year indicated a gap of £55million between the current spending plans of all seven councils in Northumberland and the amount of income that is anticipated for all seven councils.  This £55million saving requirement is as a direct result of the combined efficiency savings that all seven councils were facing.  This situation is not unique to Northumberland.  Councils across the country are facing tough targets and a difficult financial climate.
The change to a single council does give the whole of Northumberland an opportunity to tackle these financial challenges from a much stronger position.  Combining services will be more cost effective and there will be the ability to generate larger scale efficiency savings.  The proposal for a single council that was supported by Parliament recognised the financial challenges faced by all councils in Northumberland.  One council for the whole of Northumberland will also be able to benefit from more integrated working that avoids duplication and larger scale procurement processes that will be able to improve value for money.


Is there central government funding to pay for the transition process?

No the process is being carried out within existing budgets and resources.


Who decided on the salaries of the new chief executive and senior directors?

The salaries were set by the Implementation Executive following external advice to reflect salary ranges regionally and nationally for councils of this size.


The District Councils will still be in place until 1 April 2009 – are the District Councillors still in place until that time.

Yes