Why Councillors are Councillors
4 April 2007The Local Government Association (LGA) and the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA)
have carried out the fourth Census of local authority councillors in England and intend to carry out
a Census of councillors every two years to provide `snapshots’ of local government representation
and analysis of trends over time.
The report:
- covers the personal background of councillors;
- their work as councillors;
- councillors views on a range of issues;
- comparative data for the wider population.
The following are key findings from the 2006 Councillor Census which was conducted in the
autumn of 2006:
- 69.3% of councillors were male, 29.3% were female, an increase in the proportion of female councillors from 27.8% in 1997 although the proportion is still considerably lower than the adult population (52.0%)
- the average age of councillors has increased from 55.4 years in 1997 to 58.3 years in 2006.
- In 2006, 86.5% of councillors were aged 45 and over, compared to 55.1% of the adult population
- 95.9% of councillors were white and 4.1% came from an ethnic minority background.
- Significantly higher proportions of the adult population were from an ethnic minority background (9.5%)
- the proportion of councillors who were retired increased from 34.1% in 1997 to 40.9% in 2006, compared to 22.3% of the adult population
- 49.8% held a qualification equivalent to NVQ level 4 and above, compared to 30.1% of the adult population
- on average councillors had been members of their authority for 8.3 years, the same as in 2004
So, compared with the communities they represent, councillors are disproportionately male, white and middle-aged.
Local Government First magazine comments that the great majority of councillors are dedicated people who devote an enormous amount of their time to serving their communities. They spend an average of 22 hours a week on council duties, with 13.5% contributing more than 35 hours. And a high proportion also serve their communities in other ways; half reported undertaking other voluntary work and 43% being school governors.
Interestingly, 40% of councillors step down at an election: 3/4 voluntarily, 1/4 by losing. Why is this? Perhaps because about a third of elected councillors were disappointed at their lack of power to get things done.
So why do people give up their time to become a councillor?
Almost 90% said it was “to serve the community.”
Read the full report at http://www.lgar.local.gov.uk/lgv/core/page.do?pageId=23372
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