Officers’ choices posing a risk to our democracy

Most of those present were council officers. A few were representatives of community organisations. I was there because I had previously reported on the issue being discussed.

I noticed with some concern that there were no elected councillors present.

At the end of the session, when another meeting was proposed, I suggested a particular councillor be invited, someone I knew had a particular interest in the matter.

To my surprise, council officers said it would be inappropriate to invite a councillor, whatever his or her level of interest or expertise.

I found this difficult to understand because, years ago when I was a councillor, there would have been no barrier to an elected member attending a meeting of this kind.

There was no information under discussion, such as references to individuals or named institutions, which could properly have been viewed as confidential.

At the next meeting, a council officer presented a detailed written report illustrating the incidence of the problem under discussion.

Those present were asked to return the papers at the end of the meeting.

I asked if I could keep the report to discuss with the councillor referred to above.

The officers expressed great reluctance, but eventually they agreed.

However, they stressed that I was not to allow the councillor to make or keep a copy.

They were also very concerned – as they had been at the previous meeting – that nothing should get into the media.

I found this very worrying. The clear implication was that elected councillors could not be trusted with information of political or media interest, but that relatively junior council officers could.

Moreover, they could decide with whom to share this information.

I have chosen not to identify the group or the officers because I have no reason to believe that they are anything other than conscientious professionals doing their jobs the best way they know.

The problem is that the best way our council officers know, is sometimes far from satisfactory – a product of a town hall culture which from the top down has become undemocratic and lacking in transparency.

These days I have limited contact with the council.

But what happened at those meetings crystallised a concern I have had for some years, namely that paid officials are no longer accountable to elected councillors.

Their increasing power to withhold information, not just from the public and the media, but also from some or all councillors, poses a risk to democracy.

I first became starkly aware of this during budget-making, when it became clear that, on the spurious grounds of protecting confidentiality and employment rights, individual councillors were being denied full information about exactly how many people were employed, where and in what way.

Over recent decades inter-agency and "community" structures have proliferated – with representatives from the council, police, health services and community organisations working together.

These may provide the appearance of democracy, but in fact set up new closed structures, in which some individuals are "in the know" and others are not.

The result is that "partner" agencies collude with each other, the news media are managed (or pressurised) and no one is properly accountable – least of all to the electorate.

This matters because, if local councils get it wrong, members of the public risk harm.

It matters because when voters elect councillors, they expect them to make informed judgements about a range of challenging policy matters, including, for example, child abuse, bullying, FGM, radicalisation and extremism, trafficking, grooming and forced marriage.

The public expects councillors to make decisions on the basis of full facts – and to ensure that the operational work of council officials is properly monitored and scrutinised.

As things stand, it is difficult to know how any councillor can effectively do this, still less keep the public informed.

I am in shock at the death of Victoria Wood. And yet, while I mourn her passing, probably with most off the nation, I can’t help laughing. I keep remembering her jokes and songs.

Just as the four candles/fork handles sketch came to define the humour of Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, so the wonderful “two soups” sketch epitomised the creative partnership of Wood and her friend Julie Walters.

My particular favourite is her song “Let’s Do It”, which includes the immortal line: “Beat me on the bottom with a Women’s Weekly”. I was part of the generation whose grandmothers bought the Women’s Weekly for the knitting patterns and the recipes. It was part of Woods’ gentle genius to tap into that sedate and virtuous female world and make us cry with laughter. Even now, I can’t walk past a magazine display without looking for the Women’s Weekly and smiling about Wood's song.

She was the trailblazer who made it just a bit easier for other female comics, a warm-hearted, multi-talented individual - so generous that she often gave the best parts and lines to others, most of them women. She was a genuine, solid gold national treasure.