NCTJ PUBLIC AFFAIRS UPDATED EXAMS
COMPREHENSIVE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
SURE A+
✔✔Local government services and Whitehall - ✔✔For each service provided by a local
authority, the authority works closely with the appropriate Whitehall department(s)
Local: Highways
Central: Dept. for Transport
Local: Council Tax
Central: Treasury and Dept. for Housing, Communities and Local Government
✔✔Parish and Town councils - ✔✔9,000/ 10,000 of these in England
Beneath district/ borough or unitary councils
Often have mayors (ceremonial)
Towns with more than 150 residents must have a council
Towns with less than 150 must meet annually
Known as community councils in Wales and Scotland
e.g. Falmouth Town Council
✔✔Role of Parish and Town councils - ✔✔Voice of the community
,Low-level, minor local facilities (e.g. benches, bus-shelters, burial grounds)
Must be consulted on planning applications
✔✔Different systems of local governance - ✔✔Executive arrangements/ executive style
models:
-Directly elected mayor (DEM) and Cabinet model (e.g. Greater London Authority
-Leader and Cabinet model (e.g. Cornwall Council)
Alternative arrangements:
-Old-style committee system (more debating in the chamber)
✔✔Leader and Cabinet model - ✔✔Leader:
-Elected by councillors
Cabinet:
-Leader selects members, allocating portfolios
-Cabinet members have signif powers to implement decisions
-Doesn't always have to meet in public
Committees:
-Overview and Scrutiny committees - groups of councillors reflecting portfolios of
cabinet and can challenge/ advise cabinet members
-Non-executive committees - oversee regulatory decisions (e.g. planning) and can make
lesser decisions independently
Full council:
-Meets regularly to formally confirm decisions
-Less public debate than in past, just a 'rubber stamp'
✔✔Directly elected mayor and cabinet model - ✔✔Mayor:
-Not a councillor
-Elected in separate ballots run alongside council elections
-More presidential
-Introduces policy but must gain approval from an elected assembly (cabinet)
-Individual borough councils continue to provide day-to-day services
Cabinet:
-Elected mayor selects members, allocating portfolios
-Cabinet members have signif powers to implement decisions
-Doesn't always have to meet in public
Committees:
-Overview and Scrutiny committees - groups of councillors reflecting the portfolios of the
cabinet and can challenge or advise cabinet members
-Non-executive committees - oversee regulatory decisions (e.g. planning) and can make
lesser decisions independently
,All devolution deals require a DEM (except Cornwall) - the role gives clearer
accountability over the powers, funding and function that is devolved from national to
local level
Six DEMs were elected to combined authorities in 2017
✔✔Democratic chain - ✔✔Electorate chooses councillors (i.e. 'members')
Councillors make decisions (set policy)
Officers implement policy (run services)
✔✔Local government / central government equivalents - ✔✔Central Government v.
Local Government
Member of Parliament = Councillor
Constituency = District or 'ward'
Civil servant = Officer
Cabinet secretary = Chief executive
House of Commons = Council Chamber
Prime Minister = No perfect equivalent (Leader or DEM similar)
MPs are salaried/ Councillors are not salaried
MPs hold office for 5 years/ Councillors hold position for 4 years
✔✔Cornwall Council pelliptically - ✔✔Election was in 2017
Lib Dems and Independents control
Leader = Julian German, Independent
Deputy Leader = Adam Paynter, Lib Dem
✔✔'Old-style' committee system - ✔✔'Alternative arrangements'
Committees make policy decisions and they are approved by the full council
✔✔Local Government Act 2000 - ✔✔Prior to this Act being passed, all councillors took
part in council decisions - there was more debate in the chamber
Old-style committee arrangement for governance was replaced in most places by
executive arrangements, either by a Leader and cabinet model or a DEM and cabinet
model
✔✔Executive style decision making - ✔✔-Leader and Cabinet model or DEM and
cabinet model
-Policies are devised by 'front-bench' councillors in Cabinet
-Then scrutinised by overview and scrutiny committees and non-exec committees
-Then approved by full council
, ✔✔Councillors' allowances - ✔✔Councillors are not salaried
Available to all
Vary depending on role
Modest payment for meeting attendance
Published to Cornwall Council website
Two types:
-Basic allowance
-Special responsibility allowance
There are other allowances available to councillors with children
✔✔Basic allowance - ✔✔Flat-rate annual payment for all councillors
National average is £7000
✔✔Special responsibility allowance - ✔✔Payments for councillors holding special posts
E.g. Cabinet members
✔✔Councillor expenses - ✔✔Cover reasonable costs incurred by position
E.g travel, accommodation, subsistence (food), phone bill subsidies
✔✔Regulating councillors' allowances - ✔✔Allowances are set by an independent
remuneration panel of at least 3 people (no councillors)
Levels of allowance vary dramatically between authorities
Councillors are not obliged to follow their recommendations
✔✔Regulating standards in local government - ✔✔Standards are regulated separately
Usually regulated by a Standard Committee, with members appointed by councillors
Decision notices are published online
Every council must draw up a new code governing members' conduct
Complaints about the behaviour of the entire council = Local Government Ombudsman
Complaints about the behaviour of an individual councillor = Local Government
Commissioner for Standards
✔✔Localism - ✔✔Localism Act 2011
'The Big Society' concept
Coalition (2010-15) promoted this notion
Idea that communities should take over local services because they know what is best
for their community
Encouraged entrepreneurial thinking by council employees amid budget cuts
Parishes or local groups can take over the running of bus services etc. - volunteerism
Parishes or local groups are given set of rights under this notion
COMPREHENSIVE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
SURE A+
✔✔Local government services and Whitehall - ✔✔For each service provided by a local
authority, the authority works closely with the appropriate Whitehall department(s)
Local: Highways
Central: Dept. for Transport
Local: Council Tax
Central: Treasury and Dept. for Housing, Communities and Local Government
✔✔Parish and Town councils - ✔✔9,000/ 10,000 of these in England
Beneath district/ borough or unitary councils
Often have mayors (ceremonial)
Towns with more than 150 residents must have a council
Towns with less than 150 must meet annually
Known as community councils in Wales and Scotland
e.g. Falmouth Town Council
✔✔Role of Parish and Town councils - ✔✔Voice of the community
,Low-level, minor local facilities (e.g. benches, bus-shelters, burial grounds)
Must be consulted on planning applications
✔✔Different systems of local governance - ✔✔Executive arrangements/ executive style
models:
-Directly elected mayor (DEM) and Cabinet model (e.g. Greater London Authority
-Leader and Cabinet model (e.g. Cornwall Council)
Alternative arrangements:
-Old-style committee system (more debating in the chamber)
✔✔Leader and Cabinet model - ✔✔Leader:
-Elected by councillors
Cabinet:
-Leader selects members, allocating portfolios
-Cabinet members have signif powers to implement decisions
-Doesn't always have to meet in public
Committees:
-Overview and Scrutiny committees - groups of councillors reflecting portfolios of
cabinet and can challenge/ advise cabinet members
-Non-executive committees - oversee regulatory decisions (e.g. planning) and can make
lesser decisions independently
Full council:
-Meets regularly to formally confirm decisions
-Less public debate than in past, just a 'rubber stamp'
✔✔Directly elected mayor and cabinet model - ✔✔Mayor:
-Not a councillor
-Elected in separate ballots run alongside council elections
-More presidential
-Introduces policy but must gain approval from an elected assembly (cabinet)
-Individual borough councils continue to provide day-to-day services
Cabinet:
-Elected mayor selects members, allocating portfolios
-Cabinet members have signif powers to implement decisions
-Doesn't always have to meet in public
Committees:
-Overview and Scrutiny committees - groups of councillors reflecting the portfolios of the
cabinet and can challenge or advise cabinet members
-Non-executive committees - oversee regulatory decisions (e.g. planning) and can make
lesser decisions independently
,All devolution deals require a DEM (except Cornwall) - the role gives clearer
accountability over the powers, funding and function that is devolved from national to
local level
Six DEMs were elected to combined authorities in 2017
✔✔Democratic chain - ✔✔Electorate chooses councillors (i.e. 'members')
Councillors make decisions (set policy)
Officers implement policy (run services)
✔✔Local government / central government equivalents - ✔✔Central Government v.
Local Government
Member of Parliament = Councillor
Constituency = District or 'ward'
Civil servant = Officer
Cabinet secretary = Chief executive
House of Commons = Council Chamber
Prime Minister = No perfect equivalent (Leader or DEM similar)
MPs are salaried/ Councillors are not salaried
MPs hold office for 5 years/ Councillors hold position for 4 years
✔✔Cornwall Council pelliptically - ✔✔Election was in 2017
Lib Dems and Independents control
Leader = Julian German, Independent
Deputy Leader = Adam Paynter, Lib Dem
✔✔'Old-style' committee system - ✔✔'Alternative arrangements'
Committees make policy decisions and they are approved by the full council
✔✔Local Government Act 2000 - ✔✔Prior to this Act being passed, all councillors took
part in council decisions - there was more debate in the chamber
Old-style committee arrangement for governance was replaced in most places by
executive arrangements, either by a Leader and cabinet model or a DEM and cabinet
model
✔✔Executive style decision making - ✔✔-Leader and Cabinet model or DEM and
cabinet model
-Policies are devised by 'front-bench' councillors in Cabinet
-Then scrutinised by overview and scrutiny committees and non-exec committees
-Then approved by full council
, ✔✔Councillors' allowances - ✔✔Councillors are not salaried
Available to all
Vary depending on role
Modest payment for meeting attendance
Published to Cornwall Council website
Two types:
-Basic allowance
-Special responsibility allowance
There are other allowances available to councillors with children
✔✔Basic allowance - ✔✔Flat-rate annual payment for all councillors
National average is £7000
✔✔Special responsibility allowance - ✔✔Payments for councillors holding special posts
E.g. Cabinet members
✔✔Councillor expenses - ✔✔Cover reasonable costs incurred by position
E.g travel, accommodation, subsistence (food), phone bill subsidies
✔✔Regulating councillors' allowances - ✔✔Allowances are set by an independent
remuneration panel of at least 3 people (no councillors)
Levels of allowance vary dramatically between authorities
Councillors are not obliged to follow their recommendations
✔✔Regulating standards in local government - ✔✔Standards are regulated separately
Usually regulated by a Standard Committee, with members appointed by councillors
Decision notices are published online
Every council must draw up a new code governing members' conduct
Complaints about the behaviour of the entire council = Local Government Ombudsman
Complaints about the behaviour of an individual councillor = Local Government
Commissioner for Standards
✔✔Localism - ✔✔Localism Act 2011
'The Big Society' concept
Coalition (2010-15) promoted this notion
Idea that communities should take over local services because they know what is best
for their community
Encouraged entrepreneurial thinking by council employees amid budget cuts
Parishes or local groups can take over the running of bus services etc. - volunteerism
Parishes or local groups are given set of rights under this notion
