Councillor Performance Indicators
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Posts
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After trawling attendance records and data requests one thing has struck me – what would be a good set of measures regarding Councillor performances?
The raw ‘official’ public data is limited to attendance data here. The data is purely numerical , and not linked to give further information on apologies or the like. Similarly there is no data on other types of meetings or events.
I have done a quick tabulation / sort below – something that isnt on the council site.
The issue with this is its very raw with no context – so as per the thread title – what indicators would be useful?
Expected: The number of meetings that the Councillor was expected to attend in their capacity as a member of a committee.Present: The number of meetings that the Councillor attended in their capacity as a member of that committee.
Name Expected Present %age attendance
Andrew Bailey 19 19 100
R J Dutton OBE 10 10 100
D J Griffiths 11 11 100
Hugh Jones 8 8 100
J A Kelly KSG 15 15 100
Geoff Lowe 9 9 100
Carole O’Toole 11 11 100
Paul H Pemberton 13 13 100
John Phillips 9 9 100
Mrs J M B Roberts 16 16 100
Neil Rogers 13 13 100
Steve Wilson 14 14 100
Phil Wynn 13 13 100
John Pritchard 20 19 95
Brian Cameron 17 16 94
O Arfon Jones 17 16 94
Barbara Roxburgh 17 16 94
Lloyd Kenyon 15 14 93
T Alan Edwards 13 12 92
David Kelly 13 12 92
M C King OBE 13 12 92
Bernie McCann 23 21 91
Ronnie Prince 10 9 90
I David Bithell MBE 9 8 89
Paul Rogers 9 8 89
William Baldwin 16 14 88
Michael Williams 8 7 88
M G Morris 15 13 87
Graham Rogers 15 13 87
Kevin Hughes 13 11 85
David Taylor 13 11 85
Dana Louise Davies 19 16 84
Mark Pritchard 12 10 83
J R Skelland 12 10 83
David A Bithell 11 9 82
Colin Powell 11 9 82
R Alun Jenkins 16 13 81
Mike Edwards 21 17 81
Andy Williams 15 12 80
Derek Wright 19 15 79
Mrs J M Lowe 9 7 78
Anne Evans 16 12 75
Mark Owens 12 9 75
I Roberts 12 9 75
Terry Evans 17 12 71
G W Griffiths 9 6 67
Paul Blackwell 8 5 63
P Jeffares 7 4 57
Terry Boland 9 5 56
Malcolm Taylor 10 5 50
Krista Childs 9 4 44
A Keith Gregory 10 4 40
In attendance table: The number of meetings that the Councillor attended in a capacity other than committee member, for example, attending a meeting out of personal interest or because a topic being discussed affects a Members’ ward.
Councillor In Attendance
Andrew Bailey 7
Carole O’Toole 7
R Alun Jenkins 6
Derek Wright 6
R J Dutton OBE 5
D J Griffiths 5
O Arfon Jones 5
Bernie McCann 5
Mark Pritchard 5
Steve Wilson 5
Phil Wynn 5
T Alan Edwards 4
Neil Rogers 4
David Taylor 4
William Baldwin 3
David A Bithell 3
I David Bithell MBE 3
Paul Blackwell 3
Brian Cameron 3
Krista Childs 3
Hugh Jones 3
Mrs J M Lowe 3
Barbara Roxburgh 3
J R Skelland 3
Dana Louise Davies 2
Anne Evans 2
P Jeffares 2
David Kelly 2
Lloyd Kenyon 2
M C King OBE 2
John Phillips 2
John Pritchard 2
Graham Rogers 2
Andy Williams 2
Mike Edwards 1
J A Kelly KSG 1
Geoff Lowe 1
M G Morris 1
Mark Owens 1
Paul H Pemberton 1
Colin Powell 1
I Roberts 1
Mrs J M B Roberts 1
Paul Rogers 1
Michael Williams 1
Terry Boland 0
Terry Evans 0
A Keith Gregory 0
G W Griffiths 0
Kevin Hughes 0
Ronnie Prince 0
Malcolm Taylor 0
(above data covers ‘Period commencing: 05/2013’)
They way they vote on key issues is recorded isn’t it? I’m not 100% how that would fit in with your data though.
So have you contacted the lower councillors for a right of reply?
what if they were ill or had a health problem and unable to attend?
@thewayneinspain 9247 wrote:
So have you contacted the lower councillors for a right of reply?
what if they were ill or had a health problem and unable to attend?
A right to reply to what?
As per initial post
The raw ‘official’ public data is limited to attendance data here. The data is purely numerical , and not linked to give further information on apologies or the like. Similarly there is no data on other types of meetings or events.The issue with this is its very raw with no context
Should the higher Councillors get a ‘right to reply’ on why they have attended meetings, likewise those with middling records?!
The point is the data out there is limited… so what data would be useful?
@Rob 9248 wrote:
A right to reply to what?
As per initial post
The raw ‘official’ public data is limited to attendance data here. The data is purely numerical , and not linked to give further information on apologies or the like. Similarly there is no data on other types of meetings or events.The issue with this is its very raw with no context
Should the higher Councillors get a ‘right to reply’ on why they have attended meetings, likewise those with middling records?!
The point is the data out there is limited… so what data would be useful?
If a councilor is suffering from health problems, yes they should.
we all have a right at work not to enter our workplace because we are ill. The same should be for councillors. Councillors should have a right to reply, so that electorate can decide for themselves what is an acceptable level given their illness.
When the MP expenses scandal happened, the newspapers still went and tried to get a right of reply from the MPs.
However, If you aren’t willing to be a newspaper, then it’s fine to publish something without trying to get to the bottom of the reason why some councillors have a low attendance figure..
Even the evening leader has right of reply.
Right – so that is something that can be improved in terms of the data put in public, if a valid reason has been given :d Likewise publication of valid reasons / who decides – otherwise that could be politicised.
Essentially what you are saying is prior to cut and pasting data from the Council website is I should have emailed all Councillors asking for details on their health prior to hitting ‘post’. I think you have said you have tried contacting cllrs before without much joy, so in theory there would be no discussion.
In the hope to make this a useful thread I have noted down stuff that could give extra context:
– type of meeting
– time of meeting (some may only be able to attend evening meetings)
– day of week meeting
– councillors employment
– ‘paid’ meeting (ie. attendance of a meeting where cllr has extra allowance)
– did they participateIt could be interesting to see time of attendance as well, as some do leave earlier than others.
Likewise as per inital post, is attendance a worthwhile metric?
Do people want cllrs to attend and do nothing… or is there something extra that can be measured?
You seem to be criticising Rob for re-publishing the raw data in a table format? I don’t see the problem. Rob then asks what indicators should be included in the councils raw data. Every other gov dept is audited or efficiency and value for money…Why not our elected officials?
Looking around its interesting to see what other councils put in public:
Attendance record – Councillor Gareth Anderson
Meeting attendance – Meeting of Council on Thursday, 16th May, 2013, 5.00 pmso Chester/Cheshire have linked data for absent/apologies/present
Flintshire do similar – Committee Meetings – Agendas, Reports and Minutes – Flintshire County Council giving attendance percentage, number of apologies and percentages of those as well.
Both also list if a representative was sent instead as well, all more detail than the current WCBC method WCBC: Members Attendance Record – Councillor Andrew Bailey
(note random cllrs used)
Interesting that Councillor Andrew Bailey attends everything but when I tried emailing him recently he didn’t bother to reply to me. Maybe some councillors attend for the free coffee?
@thunderbirdskid 9252 wrote:
You seem to be criticising Rob for re-publishing the raw data in a table format? I don’t see the problem. Rob then asks what indicators should be included in the councils raw data. Every other gov dept is audited or efficiency and value for money…Why not our elected officials?
I’m criticising wrexham.com for not getting a right of reply from the councillors. If a councillor is only attending 60% of meetings, i would like to know why. After all councillors get a generous wage from the residents’ council tax. So rather than just print a simple spreadsheet, he should spend 5minutes in a skypecall to the actuall councillor and get a reply why?
Our elected officials should get much more scrutiny than an attendance record
voting records being the most importance issue etc. For instance I’d like to know:
If my councillor voted for the design of the eyesore meadow,
if they voted for the wrexham village
if they are responsible for the secondary schools
etc.
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