Commission on Strengthening Local Democracy
Call for Evidence
Response by Renfrewshire Council
1. Local Decision Making; Do you think that decisions about local issues and services are
made locally enough in Scotland at the moment? Please illustrate your answer with any
examples from your experience.
One of the key messages in the report published by the Christie Commission in June 2011
was: “As a whole the system can be “top down” and unresponsive to the needs of
individuals and communities. It lacks accountability and is often characterised by shorttermism that makes it difficult to prioritise preventative approaches. “
The report then identified as one of its priorities ; “Recognising that effective services must
be designed with and for people and communities, and where appropriate by them, not
delivered “top down” for administrative convenience”
This is a clear view, that at that, time the process for making decisions that affect local
communities was not working effectively and one of the aspects of that was the top down
approach to decision making.
Although work has been done in local government in recent years to improve matters, it is
the case that local government acting alone cannot improve democratic accountability for
the full range of decisions that affect local communities.
Many decisions affecting local communities are taken at a level where those communities
have no real influence. For example, plant closures by multi-national companies which
have an impact on the local economy, decisions by government agencies such as closure of
local post offices, allocation of grant funding by the Scottish Government, and decisions on
local health issues such as services available in local health centres by the NHS where
there is no direct democratic accountability. There are a plethora of non Departmental
Public Bodies that make decisions that affect people’s lives where there is little ongoing
democratic accountability. These would include, but not limited to, Scottish Enterprise,
Skills Development Scotland, Transport Scotland, Police Scotland and the Fire and Rescue
Service. The Commission should consider how we improve democratic accountability
within these functions.
Perhaps the most obvious example of where democratic accountability is being diminished
locally is with the integration of health and social care. Had the Scottish Government
introduced democratically elected Health Boards as was promised in the SNP manifesto in
2007 we would not now be in a position where a very important function of local
government subject to the full accountability of all local elected members was being
located in bodies that are not wholly elected.
Renfrewshire Council’s view is that local government is best placed to engage with
communities. Councils have in place a number of ways of gauging the views of
communities such as Local Area Committees and issue specific consultation exercises.
However, it is not argued that local government should be acting in isolation and it is
important that the role of community planning partners in achieving accountability for
decision making is recognised
The Council is concerned about the centralisation of services by the Scottish Government
and the impact this has on local democracy.
For example, the influence over local government decision making by the Scottish
Government through the financial settlement process, where there is a significant financial
penalty if a council refuses to agree certain conditions, not least of which is the centrally
imposed Council Tax freeze which started in 2007 and is set to continue until 2017. This
freeze has had a disproportionate benefit on larger properties and restricts the ability of
councils to follow their own local priorities which, in turn, limits accountability at a local
level.
There has been a move away from councils being seen as principally delivery agencies for
a range of services toward council being seen as providing genuine community leadership.
This approach still needs strengthening through stronger community planning processes
and a focus on the delivery of Christie Commission recommendations and in particular one
of its key objectives that public services are built around people and communities, their
needs, aspirations, capabilities and skills and work to build up their autonomy and
resilience. To achieve this there is a clear role for the co-operative models such as
consumer and workers co-operatives. However, the Council’s view is that the best option
is to redefine how existing local government structures as well as those of other
community planning partners interact and take into account the views of communities.
The Council’s view is that the Commission should argue for recognition that local
government is best place to lead the strengthening of local democracy role
Renfrewshire Council is in favour of redefining local government in an improved
community planning process. This forms part of a cooperative council’s role. This role is
much greater than being the provider of services and already the Council is leading on
tackling larger issues such as community safety through joint approaches with community
planning partners, and the co-operative model could take that good work further.
The Council is aware of the point of view put forward by the Jimmy Reid Foundation that
there should be an additional tier of local democracy below existing local government and
that this ought to be enshrined in legislation. It should be noted that Section 5.2 of the
consultation document on the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Bill which is headed
“Subsidiarity and local decision-making “ makes a number of significant statements. For
example at paragraph 191 it states that:-
“We (the Scottish Government) also recognise that councils are the level of government
closest to the citizen, giving people an opportunity to participate in decision- making
affecting their everyday environment”
At paragraph 192 it states : “ Our actions are also guided by the provisions of the European
Charter of Self Government.......... it commits us to applying basic rules guaranteeing the
political, administrative and financial independence of local authorities...
Finally, at paragraph 194 it states: “Indeed, because we recognise that local councils are
an integral and essential element of the overall good governance of Scotland, we will
argue upon independence for Scotland’s Constitution to guarantee the status and rights of
elected local government.”
While all of these statements are positive and encouraging, the Scottish Government’s
position on the constitutional position of local government in the event of a “No” vote at
the Referendum should be sought. It is also the case that section 5.2 of the consultation
document is one of the general policy positions on which views are being sought.
Therefore, it is important that the local government community participates in this part of
the consultation.
Therefore, to answer the question that has been put, it is the Council’s view that decisions
about local issues are not being made locally enough in Scotland and there is a trend for
more decisions to be centralised or controlled through restrictions on a council’s abilities
to set their own policy agenda .
2. Local accountability: How important do you think it is for locally elected people to be
responsible for decisions about local issues and services? Do you have any examples of
why this is the case?
In any democracy members of the public must be able to feel that their elected
representatives are accountable for the decisions that affect them. Where decision are
taken at a remote level then an obvious disconnect will occur and there is no direct
accountability for the local consequences of a decision. An example is the Milliken Park
station, where local people and councillors had to campaign for the change in the public
access instead of having the right to decide that for themselves as the users of the service.
Local people need to be in a position that they feel that they can exert an influence over a
decision that will affect them on a local issue. If locally elected people are not responsible
for local decisions on local issues and services there is greater likelihood of unforeseen
consequences arising from those decisions.
3. Local priorities: How well do you think that national and local government take account of
communities’ local priorities at the moment? If you think that there is room for
improvement, how should things change?
This is something all tiers of government have got better at in recent years and there is a
much improved culture of consultation on local issues than there was historically.
However, there is room for improvement. It tends to be the same people or groups who
will respond to consultations and it is important that when views are sought the responses
obtained are truly representative.
It is also the case that due to modern technology and developments in social media it is
much easier to seek views on particular issues.
Once local priorities are identified the next issue is to ensure that there are easily
understandable processes for decision to be taken on those priorities and for effective
forms of communication to be used to inform participants of the outcome of
consultations.
4. Strengthening democracy; What do you think should be done to strengthen local
democratic decision making in Scotland? Do you have any ideas or examples about how
this could improve people’s lives?
Council acknowledges the focus on outcomes, community empowerment and locality
based planning and is in support of the principle of building on existing structures rather
than introducing new layers of decision making and bureaucracy. One of the key
requirements is to strengthen the statutory regime around community planning. It is
essential that all organisations involved in providing services to any locality are active in
the community planning process and that their involvement is backed by a duty to be
actively involved in that process. That would prevent situations arising where community
planning is allowed to slip down the order of priorities for some organisations. It is
important that the main elements of the proposals on strengthening Community Planning
as set out in the consultation on the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Bill are taken
forward and it is concerning that these do not, as yet, feature in the draft Bill.
As mentioned in the response to question 1 it is important that the Scottish Government’s
commitment to the principals of the European Charter of Self Government is given greater
prominence and is not conditional on a yes vote in the Independence Referendum.
The Scottish Government should be challenged on its record of centralisation of control of
services which inevitably leads to decision making becoming more remote from the
communities who receive those services. A commitment should be sought from the
Scottish Government that in future greater emphasis will be put on the principals of the
European Charter of Self Government when deciding where decisions on services for
communities are to be taken.
Local authorities should be given greater control of their financial resources and a wider
range of options as there must be a move away from the nationally imposed freeze on the
setting of council tax levels as well as a move away from the ring fencing of resources and
the use of challenge funding.
It is likely given the financial position facing all of the public sector in the medium term
that there will be some structural change in how public services are provided, with the
predominant aim of saving money. This should be used as an opportunity to test the cooperative models of delivery and not a reason to delay them. However, it is essential that
in advance of any proposals for structural change the views of communities are sought as
well as the views of the whole range of community planning partners.
Further consideration requires to be given to the extent to which the proposed transfer of
powers in the “Our Islands- Our Future” could be applied to the wider local government
community particularly in the debate around increased powers being given to city regions
5. Scotland’s Future: Has there been enough discussion about local democracy in the debate
about Scotland’s future? If not, what should be addressed and how might this be
achieved?
The Christie Commission’s report provoked a lot of discussion at the time it was published
in June 2011 and the Commission’s findings have altered the way local government
approaches decision making. However, the upcoming Independence Referendum has
generated debate across an enormous range of constitutional issues which means that the
discussion around local democracy in Scotland has not featured as prominently as it could
have. In view of this, it is important that the future of local democracy in Scotland is given
a place higher up the agenda in the debate around Scotland’s constitutional future and the
Commission’s work to do this is supported by the Council.
In addition, the consultation on the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Bill has provided
an opportunity for councils to comment on a number of issue directly linked to
strengthening local democracy one of which is the wider policy proposal of Subsidiarity
and local decision making as mentioned earlier in this response as well as proposals o
strengthen community planning and a community right to participate in processes to
improve outcomes of service delivery. Much depends on the extent to which Council’s
responses to the consultation are taken forward by the Scottish Government when the
final version of the Bill is introduced into the Scottish Parliament.
6. Obstacles and Challenges: Do you have any concerns about strengthening local democratic
decision making in Scotland?
There are a number of concerns about the current situation:

The devolution settlement was a process of power and control transferring from
the UK Government to the constituent parts of the UK. However the intention was
for this to flow through Parliaments to local government rather than for
Parliaments or Assemblies to take power and control from the UK Government
and from their local authority partners.

The current focus on the Independence Referendum may lead to the importance
of strong local democracy being overlooked at a time when it should be an
integral part of any consideration of Scotland’s constitutional future.

There needs to an attempt to reach a genuine political consensus on how to
address improvements in local democracy that have been identified. There is a risk
that this will not be achieved.

There is concern that the current draft Community Empowerment (Scotland) Bill
which is attached to the consultation document seeks to legislate for only a small
number of mostly technical issues. This means that a number of key issues that are
relevant to the Commission’s work while included in the consultation such as
strengthening community planning, are not as yet in the Bill with no firm
commitment that they will be included in the Bill when it is presented to the
Scottish Parliament.

The genuine empowerment of local communities to be able to influence decisions
that directly involve them requires commitment from all community planning
partners. The solution does not lie wholly with local authorities.

There is still a perceived lack of capacity within some communities to fully
participate in decisions that affect them. It is appreciated that this may vary from
area to area but it is important that the views of one or two vocal individuals are
not accepted as the views of a community.
7. We would like to keep the conversation going with you. Can you tell us about any events,
networks or other ways in which we could help to achieve this? Is there anything that we
can do to support you?
The Commission should consider responding to the section in the consultation on the
Community Empowerment (Scotland) Bill dealing with Subsidiarity and local decision
making.
The Council would be happy to provide any further evidence to the Commission or to
expand on any of the points raised in this response.