Calls to ‘name and shame’ absent councillors in Walsall

Walsall Council leader Mike Bird told the authority’s scrutiny overview committee that it was “embarrassing” to see low turnouts at sessions arranged for councillors.

His call for an annual report exposing those who regularly miss sessions was backed by his Labour and Liberal Democrat group counterparts Aftab Nawaz and Ian Shires, as well as other committee members.

The authority pays for training programmes, often through the Local Government Association (LGA), to train members on a variety of issues such as GDPR.

Councillor Bird said: “We need to call out the people who are persistently not there, not those who are unable to make it once or twice but those who just sit on their backside and don’t do it.

“I think you should consider having a scrutiny report on members’ attendance at training sessions.

“Sometimes its outside people that come in which we pay for and it is embarrassing when you get there and there are six of us. That’s not good.”

Scrutiny overview committee chairman John Murray said the issue is often debated at standards committee but members “hit the buffers” when it comes to sanctions.

But Councillor Bird added: “I think its a matter of name and shame. I’m sorry but whether they like it or not, they need to be told this will be a public document showing exactly what they did.

“Although I have to take on board, we’re all busy people and we can’t always do everything. This is a part time occupation, fast becoming a full time one.

“But I think the only way to deal with this is to name and shame and that means a report goes to the council on an annual basis to see how many haven’t complied with the constitution.”

Labour’s Councillor Nawaz said: “Some issues are internal to the party and we need to deal with that if members are not turning up to training or attending meetings.

“One thing I think is quite tragic is we pay the LGA quite a substantial amount of money for the training they offer all members and it is not taken up as much as it should be.

“I’m one of the training champions for our group and I’ll be pushing them to do it.”

Councillor Shires added: “It is part of the selection process. When people say they want to stand, it’s about making sure they understand exactly what is means. It does take over your time.”

Councillor Lee Jeavons works shifts and said he can’t always attend meetings and has to send apologies.

But he backed the calls and added: “People out there expect us to represent them properly.

“They expect a level of professionalism off us and if we are not doing that, we are bringing the office of councillor into disrepute.”