Issue - meetings

This report invites the Committee to consider the Local Government Association’s publication on how councils can better support councillors to prevent and handle abuse.

The report of the Monitoring Officer invited Members to consider the Local Government Association’s publication on how councils could better support councillors to prevent and handle abuse.

In August 2024 the Local Government Association (LGA) published the results of an online survey sent to all councillors in England and Wales to investigate the extent to which they had experienced abuse or intimidation due to their councillor role.  A copy of the survey outcome was attached at Annex 1 to the report and the key findings were set out in paragraph 4.6 of the report.  Also attached to the report was a copy of the LGA publication ‘Debate Note Hate: Ending abuse in public life for Councillors’ (Annex 2), a copy of the LGA toolkit ‘Ending abuse in public life self-assessment’ (Annex 3) with a summary of the improvement steps (Annex 4) and a copy of the survey questions used by the LGA, modified to allow for use by Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council (Annex 5).

Of the 10% who responded to the survey, several councillors reported abuse and intimidation.  It was crucial to distinguish between acceptable political debate and harassment or intimidation and knowing where to draw the line was essential.  It was proposed that the Council conduct its own survey to see if its councillors experienced similar to those reported in the survey.

Issues arising from the LGA survey included the reporting of only 2% of physical violence incidents to the police, highlighting the need for more scrutiny, especially in the digital age. Whilst there were statistical concerns, Members did not consider the low response rate to invalidate the concerns and felt that it was essential that councillors receive appropriate support. 

Members felt that the digital age had exacerbated the problem and empowered individuals to broadcast their views more widely; and recognised that the majority of councillors were committed to upholding ethical standards.

In order to be proactive rather than reactive to abuse, Members felt that it was important to identify where and how intimidation and abuse was happening and determine how best Members could be supported in the future.  Members supported a survey of Borough Council Members to establish a baseline so improvement could be monitored and activities tracked to alleviate problems.  Furthermore, it was felt that a working group, comprising individuals with experience in these issues, be established to review the survey responses.

RESOLVED: That

(1)        the contents of the report and accompanying annexes, be noted;

(2)        the progress made in completion of the self-assessment toolkit at Annex 3, be noted;

(3)        the improvement steps to address the gaps in the self-assessment toolkit set out in the summary at Annex 4, be agreed;

(4)        a panel of Members to oversee the delivery of the improvement steps at Annex 5, be agreed;

(5)        a survey as set out at Annex 4, be undertaken, to gain a better understanding of the extent to which all Tonbridge and Malling Borough Councillors have suffered abuse and intimidation; and

(6)        the Borough  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10