COUNCILLORS EXPENSES

Derby city councillors have voted to freeze their expense account allowances for the next year. A remuneration panel had recommended a 7% decrease in allowances, but councillors voted to maintain the current level. Ian Samways has been on the independent remuneration panel for five years. He said he was annoyed that councillors from all three parties agreed to reject the panel's suggestion, which he said would have saved Derby City Council £54,000. The recommendations included reducing the number of members who receive additional payments for taking on special responsibilities, such as chairing committees or commissions.

Mr Samways said, "The national guideline is that no more than 50% of councillors should receive a special responsibility allowance but in Derby 39 of the 51 councillors receive one." Conservative Councillor Philip Hickson called the panel's report flawed and said that, while he welcomed a continued freeze in the basic allowance, he thought the report lacked detail. He said, "I was baffled by this curiously flawed report which doesn't give any reasons for the proposals recommended. The reasons should be scientific and evidential. A more rational, balanced and measured look needs to be taken."

He said that the reason the number of councillors receiving the special allowances had risen was because that had been suggested by the remuneration panel in the past. The council agreed to ask party leaders to examine the issue over the next year in case a change needs to be made next year. Mr Samways said, "Here we are in times of cuts, when staff are leaving the council this very day, and we had the chance to save £54,000."

Mr Hickson said he had not ruled out the proposals. He said, "We are not closing the door, but it is not true we always accept their reports. It's always awkward when you have to decide your own pay but over the last three years we have not been applying any increases and allowances have not gone up in line with inflation." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Apr/11)

Comment:
Welcome to the real world of Britain 2011, Derby city councillors. They have decided against immediate implementation of a proposal that the number of them who receive additional payments for so-called special responsibilities should be cut back. The recommendation came from the authority's independent remuneration panel, which also advocated freezing the £9,976 basic allowance paid to all councillors. The council's governance committee is now to spend 12 months looking into the issue.

Leading Conservative Councillor Philip Hickson agreed the basic allowance should be frozen, but described the panel's report as flawed and lacking detail. "It's always awkward when you have to decide your own pay but over the last three years we have not been applying any increases and allowances have not gone up in line with inflation," he said. There will be a lot of dry eyes over that.

Lots of the council's own staff would be delighted to have put up with having their pay frozen, rather than facing the prospect of being out of work under cost-cutting measures. And there are not too many other people in the city whose income has kept pace with inflation in the last three years. The panel had pointed out that the national guideline was that no more than 50% of councillors should receive a special responsibility allowance, but in Derby 39 of the 51 councillors received one. That takes some justifying and the people of Derby will want to know why it is the case. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Apr/11)

Councillors cost taxpayers in Derby nearly £790,000 in allowances and mileage claims in the past year. Figures for 2008-09 have been released showing how much each city councillor claimed in travel expenses and how much they were paid for their work. And, after all eyes were on MPs like Margaret Beckett, who claimed more than £1,300 a year for a gardener, councillors said their expense claims withstood scrutiny. Councillors are allowed to claim for miles they travel in their own cars to attend council meetings and other council-related work, such as holding ward surgeries. The mileage rate depends on the size of the car's engine and ranges from 46.9 per mile to 58.7p.

Bus, rail and taxi fares can also be claimed. One of the higher mileage claims came from Sara Bolton. The Labour councillor for Chaddesden ward claimed £2,906.08 in mileage. In previous years, when she was cabinet member for children's services, she said the high mileage was because she was a hard-working councillor and had to attend various schools meetings which often were in Matlock. But following the May 2008 election when Labour lost control of Derby City Council, her post was taken up by Lib Dem Les Allen. Yet during 2008-09 her mileage claim was higher than when she was a cabinet member in 2007-08 and claimed £2,196.20. She said the round trip between her Littleover home and her ward was 15 miles.

Each of the councillors received a basic allowance of £9,848.16, up from the previous year's of £9,612.60. Councillors have agreed they should not get a rise in that allowance until the country's economic situation improves. Those councillors with special responsibilities, such as being leader or in charge of an area such as adult services, get extra. And in addition, the mayor and deputy mayor get an allowance, known as the "mayor's purse", to cover costs incurred during their work, such as purchasing raffle tickets at events and other donations made as mayor. During the period covered Councillor Barbara Jackson was mayor and Sean Marshall her deputy.

There are 51 councillors representing the city but the expenses covered the period from March 2008 to April 2009, during which time there was an election in which some new councillors joined the council, meaning the claims are for 59 councillors. Councillor Evonne Williams claimed £1,619.25 to cover child care for her two-year-old daughter, Hannah, when she was attending council meetings in the day and was unable to get family members to babysit for her. Mrs Williams, who is also a non-executive director at Derby City Primary Care Trust, said she hoped more young mothers would be encouraged to move into politics knowing such help was available. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Jun/09)