Town hall bullying exposed by LGC
- Published: 25 June 2008 11:25
- Author: Dan Drillsma-Milgrom
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- Last Updated: 25 June 2008 15:18
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Bullying, elitism and a lack of training in key responsibilities remain rife in council chambers, an exclusive LGC survey has revealed.
Of more than 400 English and Welsh councillors surveyed for LGC by pollsters ComRes , one third had experienced bullying since being elected, with almost one in 10 female councillors reporting sexual discrimination or abuse.
Barely half had received training in financial management (49%) or community engagement (51%). Significantly more had gained media training (61%).
Labour 'less welcoming'
Labour councillors were shown to be much less welcoming to new party members standing in local elections than both Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, prompting communities secretary Hazel Blears to call for a change to the party's selection rules.
With the empowerment white paper due next month, the findings raise serious questions about local politicians' ability to act as community leaders.
Community understanding 'flawed'
Mark Parker, head of policy at Bassac, which represents community associations, claimed many councillors' understanding of local communities was "fatally flawed".
"Many councillors regard their own democratic mandate as absolute," he said. "But our experience is that councillors often imagine community organisations are all volunteers or 'do-gooders', so training would be helpful."
Ms Blears backed the call for more training on community engagement.
"Many of the attributes councillors need are hard to formally train for and/or recognise," she said. "But we do need to encourage councillors to engage in more management and financial skills training."
With Labour relegated to third place in May's local elections, Ms Blears admitted the party might need to relax the rule requiring candidates to have been members for a year.
"An unnecessary block, such as the [one year] rule could be removed if we want to see more people come forward to be Labour candidates," she said.
Figures 'worrying', says Milton
Local Government Association chairman Sir Simon Milton (Con) said it was "laughable" to suggest councillors were unable to perform a community leadership role. "Formal training is a relatively new innovation and the fact that 50% of councillors are undertaking it is something we should be celebrating," he said.
"The government is struggling to find things to put in its white paper so I wouldn't be surprised if they got down to things like micromanagement of things like training."
However, he conceded the bullying figures were "worrying".
For full survey results click on the Resources link right
