National Recovery Guidance - Generic Issues - The role of Elected Members

Background and Context

Recovery is usually led and co-ordinated by the local authority with support from a number of other partners.

As community representatives and figureheads in their local community, elected members for the affected community have an important role to play in assisting with the recovery process. Although they have a limited role in the operational response phase, the role of the local authority’s elected members is vital to rebuilding, restoring, rehabilitating and reassuring the communities affected and speaking on their behalf.

Roles and Responsibilities

Elected Members

Roles which elected members can play a part in include:

During the planning stages:

Elected members can play a key role both during recovery planning and during the actual recovery phase following an incident. During the planning phase, they can play a role in:

• Promoting and encouraging the preparation of community plans.
• By using their local knowledge to identify local groups and partners who may be able to play a role in recovery.

During the recovery phase of an incident:

Listening to the community
As an elected representative for the area and local figurehead, elected members have a key role as the voice of the community. They are important in:

• Being the eyes and ears ‘on the ground’ by providing a focus for and listening to community concerns.
• Being the voice of the community by gathering the views and concerns of the community and feeding them into the recovery process, through the Recovery Co-ordinating Group’s (RCG) Community Recovery Committee (see diagram below).
• Providing support and reassurance to the local community, by listening or visiting those affected and acting as a community champion and supporter.

Using local knowledge

As a member of their community, elected members have access to the thoughts, opinions and information relating to their local community. As such, they can play a part in:

• Using their local awareness of the thoughts and feelings of the community to identify problems and vulnerabilities the community may have and which may require priority attention and feeding them back to the relevant recovery sub-group.
• Using their local knowledge to provide information on local resources, skills and personalities to the relevant recovery sub-group. Elected members are also often involved in other aspects of community life such as local community groups which can also be an important source of help and specialist advice. Working closely with community groups, elected members will also be valuable in knowing how and who is active within a community.

Providing support to those working on recovery

• Providing encouragement and support to recovery teams working within their community.
• Communicate key messages, from the RCG and its sub-groups, to their communities, disseminating accurate, credible advice and information back to the community and keeping community members involved, including potentially assisting in debrief sessions with the community and managing community expectations in tandem with the local authority.
• Actively engaging with community members involved in the recovery efforts and in community resilience work more widely.
• Promoting self-resilience within the community and managing residents’ expectations.

Political leadership

• Providing a political lead on the way in which decisions are made.
• Providing strategic leadership. Elected members have a role as committee members within their normal local authority duties and in doing this, give strategic direction and decide policy. They scrutinise decisions of officers and other committees and suggest improvements. As Cabinet Members, elected members will be involved in making key policy decisions and may have to consider recommendations from the RCG on strategic choices. Councillors have a constitutional duty to share corporate responsibility for local authority decision making.
• Providing representation to Government for additional resources and financial assistance.
• Promotion of joint working with Parish, City and District authorities.
• Liaising with other elected representatives (MPs/AMs/MSPs/MLAs/MEPs/other LA representatives, etc.)
• Representing their community in the strategic Community Recovery Committee where relevant (see diagram above.)
• Ensuring recovery issues are mainstreamed into normal functions.
• Scrutiny – getting buy-in and closure at political level, including sign off for funding.
• Minimising reputational risk to the authority and defending decisions
• Ensuring lessons are identified and addresses, (for example, by updating recovery plans), and shared with others who may find them useful.

Media and communications

• Maintaining good relationships with the media and public
• Supporting the communication effort and assisting with the media in getting messages to the community, for example by giving interviews to the press.
• Assisting with VIP visits, ensuring that they are sensitive to the needs of the community.
• Supporting and assisting those affected in how they engage with media interest.

Longer-term regeneration
Long after media interest has gone, there will still need to be a long term commitment to ensuring that the recovery of an area continues. In the longer term, elected members may be involved in:

• Approving regeneration issues.
• Consultation on rebuilds or modernisation.
• Supporting business change in the community.
• Ensuring community cohesion in the community affected.
• Considering the need for longer term accommodation.
• Meeting MPs/AMs/MSPs/MLAs/MEPs to lobby for financial aid.
• Getting involved in appeal funds and memorials.
• Repairing and reconstructing the affected community.
• Ensuring that the lessons identified are applied to emergency/recovery plans and procedures and are shared with others who may find them useful.
• By providing input into the humanitarian assistance effort and providing a public interface at Humanitarian Assistance Centres (HACs) (see the Needs of People – non-health topic sheet).
• Anniversaries and commemoration.

Involvement of elected members within the recovery effort need not just be limited to the elected members whose ward an incident has happened in or whose portfolio area it falls under. As community representatives for their wider area and given the complex, multi-agency nature of recovery and its impacts, all elected members could get involved.

As members of their community, both elected members and local authority staff may themselves be affected by an incident.

Local authorities

The local authority should ensure that its elected members have all the information they need to work effectively during the recovery phase, for example through training and briefing. This will enable them to effectively contribute to incidents and facilitate a return to a new ‘normality’.

Elected members should be involved in planning, training and exercising of plans to ensure that they are familiar with the recovery plans and arrangements and clear about what is expected of them in an emergency.

Training

Training and guidance could be given to elected members to help ensure that they are prepared for assisting in emergencies and in the recovery phase. Such training could focus on developing their awareness to ensure that they understand:

• Civil protection legislation, including the Civil Contingencies Act (CCA) and the duties of responders under the CCA.
• Civil protection and emergency preparedness procedures.
• Locally identified risks and potential impact to local area / infrastructure.
• The remit of elected members during the recovery phase and what is expected of them, ensuring that they are aware of what their role and responsibilities will be in an emergency, including their role within the Community Recovery Committee or RCG. This may also include clarifying what they might expect if they are to ‘approve’ the recovery strategy. Note that the normal political processes and structures will still apply in the recovery phase. Some Members may sit on both the Community Recovery Committee and their normal committees.
• The difference between the response phase and recovery phase of an incident.
• The role of other agencies within the recovery phase of an incident.
• Media awareness.
• Understanding of the central government recovery funding arrangements and principles.
• How elected members should engage with other professionals, the media and the public.
• The involvement of elected members in the delivery of key messages to the public, including how to communicate key messages to their communities.
• How to give information, advice and guidance to the Community Recovery Committee and other agencies.
• How elected members can scrutinise the recovery process.

Elected members should be involved in exercises of recovery plans.

By training Elected Members in these areas in the planning stages, they will be prepared and clear of their responsibilities and role should an incident happen.

There may also be a benefit in training other agencies and organisations on the roles and responsibilities of elected members so that they are aware of their function within an emergency.

Elected members have a role as Cabinet members within their normal local authority duties and in doing this, give strategic direction and decide policy. They scrutinise decisions of officers and other committees and suggest improvements. They will ultimately scrutinise actions affecting the functions of Councils at all levels (including County/Unitary/District/City/Parish/Town/Community) so they will need to be kept well informed with accurate and up to date information to enable them to make credible and well informed judgements.

The Emergency Planning College [external website] provides training on crisis management and emergency planning, including an Introduction to Civil Protection and Recovering from Emergencies courses. It runs on-demand courses aimed at elected members which are delivered locally as and when requested by local authorities.

Briefing

There is a need to engage with elected members regularly throughout an emergency, from the planning phase, to the response phase and throughout the recovery phase. Elected members should be briefed thoroughly and regularly on the activities of the agencies involved during the recovery process.

Regular briefing is also important in ensuring that elected members sustain their community involvement and are able to communicate effectively and appropriately with agencies, the media and the public.

Elected members also need to be aware of other issues that may arise, and for which the local authority may be responsible or impacted, including:

• Civil litigation.
• Criminal proceedings.
• Public inquiries.
• Impacts on Council budgets (see the Financial impact on local authorities topic sheet) and loss of income for the Council.
• Impacts on local authority performance targets (see the Impact on local authority performance targets topic sheet).
• Insurance.
• Claims to the Government.
• Long term effects on the community including long-term health and psychosocial effects.
• Impact on the local economy and business regeneration.

Devolved Administrations

In Northern Ireland, different central and local government structures mean that district councils (the only level of council in Northern Ireland) have fewer service delivery functions than their counterparts in Great Britain, and functions such as social care are delivered by central government departments and their agencies and NDPBs. Northern Ireland civil contingencies legislation, the roles and responsibilities of individual organisations in relation to recovery, and the arrangements for co-ordinating the multi-agency recovery process differ from those in Great Britain. Nevertheless, the district councils play an important part in facilitating recovery at local level and the principles set out in this Topic Sheet offer a helpful indicator of the role which elected members of district councils can play as interfaces between council recovery arrangements and the community. Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive Ministers also have a very direct involvement with their communities and can similarly link with other service delivery organisations, within local structures and recovery arrangements.

Links to other topic sheets

• Financial impact on local authorities
• Impact on local authority performance targets
• Recovery structures and processes

Case studies (incidents and exercises)

• Exercise Heron4 (Lancashire) – 4th and 5th November 2009

Other documents

• Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council - Civil Protection and Emergency Preparedness for Elected Members
• Carmarthenshire County Council – Emergency Preparedness for Elected Members

List of contacts

• Communities and Local Government [external website]
• Local Government Association [external website]
• Society of Local Government Chief Executives (Solace) [external website)