Special Report: Council defends attendances record

Rotherham's councillors failed to get to nearly a third of the meetings they were due to attend, compared with East Riding and Bradford where attendance levels were more than 90 per cent.

The authority's members are also among the best paid with an average annual allowance of more than 18,000 – the fourth highest in the region, above Sheffield, Wakefield, Doncaster and Barnsley. All 22 authorities in the region have different ways of policing their staff – who by law must attend two meetings a year. However, only a handful publish the information on their websites and seven councils refused to provide attendance records.

Kirklees Council, which was unable to provide its own records, said they are currently refining their system. Bradford Council refused to say how they monitor the work of their councillors, who are the second best paid with an average allowance of nearly 20,000.

A spokeswoman for Rotherham Council said the figures used – which were provided by the authority – were not a true representation of the number of meetings which councillors attend.

She said: "Only 10 meetings from Rotherham have been used in this survey – and our 63 members attend many more than these. In addition, we believe the same calculation cannot be applied to all 22 authorities in the Yorkshire and Humber area because they all operate on different systems.

"We believe that these figures detract from the grassroots work that we know is carried out on a daily basis by Rotherham councillors, who are extremely active within their local communities."

Councillors at Hambleton and Doncaster had the second and third lowest average percentage attendance, while Ryedale and North Yorkshire had the fewest average number of meetings attended per councillor.

The highest paid councillors were at Leeds, where the average annual allowance was more than 21,000, followed by Bradford and East Riding.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire County Council said: "Geographically, North Yorkshire is by far the largest local authority area in the region, and virtually all meetings – with the exception of area committees – are held in Northallerton.

"For a good many members that presents a real logistical challenge, particularly for those who also have work commitments in their localities.

"The county council actively encourages the use of new technology to exploit opportunities such as video-conferencing."

A Doncaster Council spokesman said: "The council does have internal arrangements for monitoring member attendance at meetings but ultimately it is the responsibility of the councillor to make sure that they attend meetings."

Harrogate Council had the third lowest average for the number of meetings attended.

Peter Jordan, head of legal and democratic services at the authority, said: "Is being low on the number of meetings per councillor a good or a bad thing?

"It has long been the Government's ambition to have councillors spend more time in their communities and less in council meetings, and the executive system set up by the previous government in 2001 was aimed at achieving that. Certainly attending meetings at the council offices isn't all that they are expected to do."

The highest average attendance records were at East Riding and Bradford, with elected members going to nearly 91 per cent of meetings.

Kirklees Council was just behind on 90 per cent, followed by North Lincolnshire Council, 89 per cent, and York, 88 per cent.

Hull, Barnsley, Bradford, Doncaster, Sheffield, Kirklees and Selby councils were unable to provide collated figures for attendances.

A spokesman for Hull Council said they were not planning to change their system of record keeping.He added: "Members of the public can see who was in attendance at a meeting via the meetings on our website."

n All figures relate to the 2009/2010 year.

How councils compare

AVERAGE MEETINGS ATTENDED

Hull 47.53

York 44.52

Sheffield 38.45

Calderdale 35.14

Leeds 31.26

North East Lincs 30.86

Wakefield 30.63

Barnsley 27.56

Scarborough 27.43

Richmondshire 27.25

Kirklees 26.80

Doncaster 25.47

Rotherham 25.32

East Riding 25.12

Bradford 24.99

Craven 24.00

North Lincs 23.23

Hambleton 21.43

Selby 20.85

Harrogate 20.02

North Yorkshire 19.90

Ryedale 16.69

AVERAGE PERCENTAGE ATTENDANCE

East Riding 90.87%

Bradford 90.65%

Kirklees 89.58%

North Lincs 88.54%

Richmondshire 88.46%

York 88.23%

Sheffield 87.51%

Barnsley 87.44%

Wakefield 85.98%

Craven 85.62%

Scarborough 84.75%

North Yorkshire 83.04%

Leeds 82.69%

North East Lincs 82.62%

Selby 81.25%

Ryedale 80.46%

Calderdale 79.68%

Hull 79.03%

Harrogate 78.76%

Doncaster 76.02%

Hambleton 73.93%

Rotherham 70.54%

AVERAGE ALLOWANCES PER COUNCILLOR

Leeds 21,154.98

Bradford 19,731.19

East Riding 18,074.01

Rotherham 18,013.31

Kirklees 16,860.53

Wakefield 16,695.87

North Lincs 16,420.59

Hull 16,102.01

Sheffield 15,886.70

Doncaster 15,615.36

Barnsley 15,306.00

Calderdale 14,321.52

North East Lincs 13,702.63

North Yorkshire 13,574.55

York 11,969.95

Hambleton 6,345.71

Harrogate 5,808.25

Scarborough 5,575.97

Selby 5,406.15

Craven 5,315.90

Ryedale 4,413.04

Richmondshire 4,203.26