SC 62/26 – Members Allowances – Annex 1

Contents

NEW FOREST NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY

INDEPENDENT REMUNERATION PANEL

A REVIEW OF ALLOWANCES FOR MEMBERS OF THE AUTHORITY

REPORT OF THE PANEL - NOVEMBER 2006

Summary of recommendations:

Basic Allowance

£1674 per annum

Special Responsibility Allowances:

Unchanged

• Chairman of the Authority: 2 x basic allowance
• Deputy Chairman of the Authority: 1 x basic allowance
• Chairman of the Planning Development Control Committee: 1 x basic allowance
• Deputy Chairman of the Planning Development Control Committee: 0.5 x basic allowance
• Chairman of the Standards Committee: 0.25 x basic allowance
• Chairman of the Tree Preservation Order Objection Order Panel/ Human Resources Case Review Panel/ other: No special responsibility allowance

New

• Chairman of the Resources and Performance Committee: 1 x basic allowance
• Deputy Chairman of the Resources and Performance Committee: 0.5 x basic allowance

Co-optee’s Allowance

No change to existing allowance, currently £130 pa

Dependent Carer’s Allowance

No change

Travel and subsistence allowances

No change

Retail Price Index as at the end of February in each year

Applicable for four years, commencing April 2008

New Basic and Special Responsibility Allowances

Effective date - 1 April 2007

Special Responsibility Allowance for Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Resources and Performance Committee

Effective date – 1 November 2006

1. Introduction and background

1.1 The adoption of a scheme of members’ allowances by the New Forest National Park Authority (the Authority) is governed by the Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003 (the Regulations). Pursuant to the Regulations, the Authority is required to review its scheme of allowances annually before the beginning of each year.

1.2 The above Regulations came into force on 1 May 2003 and were intended to standardise and modernise the payment of allowances to members.

1.3 The Regulations require certain authorities (including national park authorities) to establish schemes for the payment of allowances to members. They also provided for the payment of Basic, Special Responsibility, travelling and subsistence and co-optees allowances.

1.4 The Regulations require local authorities to establish a scheme for the payment of a basic flat rate to all members. They also enable the Authority to pay Special Responsibility Allowances to certain members to reflect areas of significant responsibility and to pay travelling and subsistence allowances.

1.5 All the above payments must be determined locally. The current allowance scheme was adopted by the Authority at its first meeting in April 2005. Subsequently (in March 2006) the Authority amended its scheme to provide for the payment of Special Responsibility Allowances to the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the newly formed Planning Development Control Committee.

1.6 At its meeting on 20 July 2006, the New Forest National Park Authority resolved to establish an independent remuneration panel (the Panel) to review the Authority’s scheme of members’ allowances.

1.7 The Panel’s terms of reference are attached as Appendix 1 to this report.

1.8 The Panel is composed of the following members:

• (i) Mrs Madeleine Sumsion, the former Regional Director, South East Employers Organisation. She has extensive knowledge of local government in the South East and experience of serving on and chairing Members’ Allowances Review Panels throughout South East England. Madeleine is also experienced in job and role evaluations. She retired on 31 March 2006, but continues to work for South East Employers as an Associate Consultant;
• (ii) Christine Ames, of the New Forest Tourism Association;
• (iii) Albert Lampey, retired Secretary of the South West Regional Assembly; and
• (iv) Ian Stirling, who provides a “citizen’s perspective” to the Panel.

All the members of the Panel have prior experience of the review process.

2. Initial meeting – 9 November 2006

2.1 The first meeting of the Panel took place on 9 November 2006. The meeting was chaired by Madeleine Sumsion and attended by the four Panel members; Susie Bonfield of South East Employers attended as observer. The Authority’s Chief Executive, Lindsay Cornish, Head of Member Services, David Stone, and Administrative Officer, Rosalind Alderman, were also present.

2.2 Background information had been supplied to the Panel members ahead of the first meeting. This comprised information on the following:

• the establishment of the Authority, its committee structures and working practices;
• the existing scheme of members’ allowances;
• a comparison of allowances paid by other national park authorities in England and Wales;
• a summary schedule of the responses received from a survey of the Authority’s members to a questionnaire on allowances; and
• a bound volume containing the panel recommendations made to each of the local authorities that appoint a member to the Authority.

2.3 The above information is filed with Member Services and is available for inspection on request.

2.4 In addition, a copy of the Authority’s Corporate Plan was tabled at the meeting for members’ information together with a schedule of meeting dates of the Authority and its committees for 2007. Panel reports in respect of the Peak District National Park Authority and the Broads Authority were also tabled.

2.5 The Authority’s Chief Executive, Lindsay Cornish, briefed the Panel on the structure and purposes of the Authority, the current scheme of allowances and the limitations imposed on current and future budgets by the level of Defra’s grant funding.

2.6 The Panel then discussed and evaluated the schedule of members’ responses to the survey on allowances which had been undertaken by Members Services. Fifteen of the Authority’s 22 members had replied to the questionnaire (attached as Appendix 2 to this report).

2.7 Panel members had stated that they would find it helpful to interview members of the Authority on a sample basis to gain a better understanding of members’ views on the scheme of allowances and any future allowances that may be paid. A series of members’ interviews had accordingly been arranged for the first meeting of the Panel.

2.8 The Panel drafted a number of questions which were subsequently put to a cross section of members who were interviewed by the Panel over the course of the afternoon. Six members were interviewed, including the Chairman of the Authority, Committee Chairmen, members of the Planning Development Control and Resources and Performance Committees and the independent Chairman of the Standards Committee.

2.9 The members interviewed provided feedback to the Panel on:

• what they felt was the necessary time required in order to fulfil the basic role of National Park member, including committee membership and membership of outside bodies.
• their views on the rate for the job;
• the merits of applying the Public Service Discount to allowances;
• identification of any problem areas with the present scheme;
• their views on the hierarchy of committees in terms of workload and responsibility and consequently the level of Special Responsibility Allowance in each case; and
• the duties of the specific roles; and
• the travel and subsistence scheme.

3. Second meeting – 17 November 2006

3.1 The second meeting of the Panel took place on 17 November 2006 and was attended by all Panel members. Susie Bonfield of South East Employers attended as observer and the Authority’s Head of Member Services, David Stone, and Administrative Officer, Rosalind Alderman, were in attendance.

3.2 Following an initial discussion on the information obtained by the Panel and one further interview with an Authority member, the Panel members considered its recommendations in the light of the terms of reference agreed by the Authority. The recommendations are set out in Section 5 below and it was agreed that this report would be submitted for consideration by the Standards Committee at its meeting on 27 November 2006. This Committee would in turn forward the report and recommendations on to the Authority meeting on 18 January 2007. It was noted that a Panel member might be requested to present the Panel’s proposals to the meeting of the Standards Committee and possibly the Authority meeting.

3.3 The Panel was mindful of the budget constraints faced by the Authority and whilst the recommendations represent a reasonable assessment of the rate for the job, based on the evidence presented, they acknowledge that the Authority may wish to exercise its right not to accept some or all of the Panel’s recommendations, or to phase in the recommendations over 2 or 3 years.

4. Principles

4.1 Before the Panel arrived at its recommendations, it decided that its deliberations should be underpinned by the following principles which take into account the statutory provisions:

4.1.1 That the recommended allowances should be of a sufficient level that would allow most people to consider becoming a Member of the New Forest National Park Authority without suffering undue financial hardship while not being at such a level that allowances would become the primary reason for standing as a Member of the Authority.

4.1.2 That the allowances should be seen as a contribution and recognition of the time and skills of members, but not seen as equivalent to a formal job evaluation exercise and salaries.

4.1.3 The recommendations should be based on a logical and transparent construction and arrived at in a way that is simple to understand.

4.1.4 As far as possible, members should not be ‘out of pocket’ due to the fact that they are serving as members of the Authority.

5. Recommendations

a) Basic Allowance

5.1 The Panel considered schedules tabled by the Chairman illustrating hourly pay schedules for all employee jobs in the United Kingdom and formula for the calculation of Basic Allowances (Appendix 3 and 4 respectively) and noted from the Annual Survey of Earnings and Hours (2006)¹ that the median for the New Forest area was £8.59 per hour determined in respect of local employment rates. The majority of those interviewed felt that using a local rate would be a fair basis for determining the basic allowance. Based on the evidence provided from the responses to members’ questionnaires and members’ interviews, the Panel agreed that Authority members needed to work a minimum of 7.5 hours per week in order to carry out their role as member of the Authority, inclusive of all involvement in committee work and other roles. The Panel recognised the very high level of public service demonstrated by the interviewees and are recommending a public service discount of 50% to this figure (3.75 hours per week) and multiplied the above hourly rate by the number of hours worked per year to arrive at a recommend basic allowance of £1674 per annum. (3.75 x 52 x £8.59 = £1675, rounded down to £1674 for 12 equal payments).

5.2 The Panel felt that there should be some form of accountability of members’ activity. A number of those interviewed agreed with this, although not all. An electronic system, allied with mileage claims, could be helpful in this. The Panel is not suggesting a detailed method, rather a simple note of what has been achieved, meetings, attended, etc.

5.3 The Panel listened carefully to the presentations about the work of the Authority and the financial pressures. However, the Panel is an independent panel and it has endeavoured to establish a rate based on the evidence of what is required and using a local rate to establish the worth of the Basic Allowance, and by extension, the Special Responsibility Allowances.

¹ Published by the Office for National Statistics

5.4 It is for the New Forest National Park Authority to accept the recommendations, or not, as the case may be.

b) Special Responsibility Allowances

5.5 The Panel discussed members’ special responsibilities and felt that they had not heard any evidence which suggested a need to change the current formula for calculating these allowances. Whilst another approach could have been to calculate the Chairman’s allowance based on the required time input to carry out the role, the panel noted that a number of authorities are using a ratio between the basic allowance and the Chairman. Whilst in some local authorities this ratio is 3:1, the panel felt that the current 2:1 was reasonable, given the specific role and remit of the National Park Authority.

5.6 In addition, the Panel received information about the role and function of the recently constituted Resources and Performance Committee and noted that there was no Special Responsibility Allowance for the Chairman and Vice Chairman of this committee. Based on the evidence received, the panel is now recommending that Special Responsibility Allowances be paid to the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the newly formed Resources and Performance Committee in line with that currently paid to the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Development Control Committee.

5.7 The Panel noted that the Authority was still developing and were mindful of the fact that expanding advocacy, influencing and leadership functions may have an impact on the role of the Chairman of the Authority in the future and that it may be necessary to address this allowance in due course.

5.8 With regard to allowances for the Chairman of the Tree Protection Order Objection Panel and the Human Resources Case Review Panel, the Panel agreed that no case had been made for a Special Responsibility Allowance to be paid.

5.9 The Panel re-affirmed the existing criteria in the scheme that no member should receive more than one Special Responsibility Allowance as this practice is commonly followed in other local authorities. However, the Authority may wish to re-examine this in future depending on levels of responsibility and time expectations.

5.10 In line with the above, the Panel recommended that the following special responsibility allowances be paid in addition to the basic allowance:

5.11 During the review, the Panel’s attention was drawn to the Sustainable Development Fund and the work of the Authority’s representative as Chairman of that Panel. This was not something which had been identified by members in their response to the questionnaire and accordingly did not form part of the Panel’s recommendations. The Authority may wish to reflect on the role and place of this panel and should it feel that at some time a Special Responsibility Allowance is required, the Panel would suggest that the Authority consider allocating a Special Responsibility Allowance of 0.5 of the basic allowance to this position. This conclusion was reached following information about the role and place of this panel and the input expected from the Chairman. It should be noted that if such an allowance were allocated to the current Chairman of the Sustainable Development Panel, he would be unable to collect it as he is already in receipt of another Special Responsibility Allowance as Deputy Chairman of the Authority and under the rules set out above no member may collect more than one Special Responsibility Allowance.

c) Co-optee’s Allowance

5.12 The Panel was of the view that the existing allowance was suitable and there was no need to change the hourly amount currently paid.

d) Dependant Carer’s Allowance

5.13 The Panel recommended that the dependent carer’s allowance should remain unchanged.

e) Travel and subsistence

5.14 The majority of members in responding to the questionnaire felt that the Inland Revenue rate for mileage and the current subsistence rates were reasonable. Consequently, the Panel recommended no change to this allowance.

f) Link in increases to annual index

5.15 The Panel recommended that all Basic and Special Responsibility allowances be linked to increases in the Retail Price Index as at the end of February in each year, and that the application of this index be reviewed in four years from April 2007.

g) Effective date for implementation of revised allowance scheme

5.16 The Panel recommends that the effective date for the implementation of the revised allowance scheme incorporating the above allowances be 1 April 2007 but that the Special Responsibility Allowances applicable to the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Resources and Performance Committee be effective from 1 November 2006.

6. Acknowledgements

The Panel would like to thank the Authority’s Chief Executive, Lindsay Cornish, and David Stone and Rosalind Alderman of the Member Services section and others in the Authority’s staff for their help. In addition, the Panel would like to thank the Authority’s members for their time in completing the survey and attending interviews; their assistance was most helpful.

Appendix 1

Terms of reference of independent remuneration panel

Having regard to any recommendations made by any independent remuneration panels established by district and county councils with appointees to the Authority, to produce a report making recommendations through the Standards Committee to the Authority:

(a) as to the responsibilities or duties in respect of which the following should be available:

• (i) special responsibility allowance;
• (ii) travelling and subsistence allowance; and
• (iii) co-optees’ allowance;

(b) as to the amount of such allowances and as to the amount of basic allowance;

(c) as to whether dependants’ carers’ allowance should be payable to members of the Authority, and as to the amount of such an allowance;

(d) as to whether, in the event that the scheme is amended at any time so as to affect an allowance payable for the year in which the amendment is made, payment of allowances may be backdated in accordance with regulation 10(6) of the Regulations; and

(e) as to whether adjustments to the level of allowances may be determined according to an index and if so which index and how long that index should apply, subject to a maximum of four years, before its application is reviewed.

Appendix 2

REVIEW OF MEMBERS' ALLOWANCES: YOUR COMMENTS

(Please return to Member Services by 22 September 2006)

Name:

1. Do you think the basic allowance payable to Authority members (currently £1,400 a year) is appropriate?

   Yes: □
   No: □

   If you do not think so, please state why not:

2. Do you think the special responsibility allowances payable to the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Authority (currently £2,800 and £1,400 respectively per year), in addition to the basic allowance, are appropriate?

   Chairman of Authority: Yes □ / No □

   Deputy Chairman of Authority: Yes □ / No □

   If you do not think so for either of the above, please state why not:

3. Do you think the special responsibility allowances payable to the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Development Control Committee of the Authority (currently £1,400 and £700 respectively per year), in addition to the basic allowance, are appropriate?

   Chairman of PDCC: Yes □ / No □

   Deputy Chairman of PDCC: Yes □ / No □

   If you do not think so for either of the above, please state why not:

4. Do you think the special responsibility allowance payable to the Chairman of the Standards Committee of the Authority (currently £350 per year), in addition to the basic allowance, is appropriate?

   Yes: □
   No: □

   If you do not think so, please state why not:

5. What special responsibility allowances do you think the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the new Resources and Performance Committee should be paid? Please give your reasons:

   Chairman

   Deputy Chairman

6. Should the Chairman of the Tree Preservation Order Objection Panel (a panel of the Planning Development Control Committee) and the Human Resources Case Review Panel (a panel of the Resources and Performance Committee) receive a special responsibility allowance?

   TPO Objection Order Panel: Yes □ / No □

   Human Resources Case Review Panel: Yes □ / No □

   If so, please state how much:

   Chairman TPO Objection Panel

   Chairman Human Resources Case Review Panel

7. Do you think the co-optees’ allowance (currently £130 per year) is appropriate?

   Yes: □
   No: □

   If you do not think so, please state why not:

8. Do you think the dependant carer’s allowance (currently actual expenditure subject to a maximum equivalent to the National Minimum wage plus 20% and a maximum of eight hours per week) is appropriate?

   Yes: □
   No: □

   If you do not think so, please state why not:

9. Do you think any other role warrants a special responsibility allowance?

   Yes: □
   No: □

   If so, please state which role(s):

10. From July 2006, Authority meetings will take place on alternate months. How do you think this will affect your time commitment to the Authority?

11. Do you feel that some form of accountability for members would be appropriate? (For example, members to complete a quarterly report on work undertaken)

    Yes: □
    No: □

    If so, please give suggestions; if not, please explain why not:

12. Please give details below in each category of the average number of hours per month that you spend on Authority work or commitments (and in the case of (c) below, the average number of instances per month):

    Commitment	Average per month
    (a) Time spent at Authority, committee and working group meetings, including travelling time	Hours
    (b) Reading reports and background papers prior to attending meeting	Hours
    (c) Number of “outside body” attendances (includes giving talks to organisations on Authority activities and as the Authority’s representative on an outside organisation)
    (d) Time spent attending “outside bodies”	Hours
    (e) Time spent on any “special responsibility” duties (such as extra work or commitments in capacity as a Chairman or Deputy Chairman)	Hours
    (f) Time spent on site attendances for Planning Development Control Committee applications and Tree Preservation Order Objection Panel matters	Hours
    (g) Time spent on other Authority business (please specify, e.g. training, members’ briefings, site visits, etc.)	Hours

13. Please can you indicate your involvement on committees of the Authority in the table below:

    Name of Committee	Chairman (please tick as appropriate)	Deputy Chairman (please tick as appropriate)	Member (please tick as appropriate)

14. Do you think the mileage rates for approved journeys, being the Inland Revenue’s approved annual mileage payments (currently 40p per mile for motor vehicles, 25p per mile for motor cycles and 20p per mile for bicycles) are appropriate?

    Yes: □    No: □

    If you do not think so, please state why not:

15. Do you think the subsistence allowances set out in the table below are appropriate?

    Event	Max. allowance	Notes
    Breakfast	£5.20	Claimable if away from normal place of residence for more than 4 hours before 11.00 am.
    Lunch	£7.20	Claimable if away from normal place of residence for more than 4 hours including the lunch time period of 11.30 am and 2.30 pm.
    Tea	£2.85	Claimable if away from normal place of residence for more than 4 hours including the period 3 pm to 6 pm. Cannot be claimed if evening meal allowance is also claimed.
    Dinner	£9.00	Claimable if away from the normal place of residence more than 4 hours, ending after 7 pm. Cannot be claimed if tea is also claimed.
    Overnight	£95.00	Claimable if away overnight from normal place of residence. Prior approval from the Authority is required for accommodation in excess of the maximum.
    Incidental Expenses	£4.20 per night £16.80 per week	Claimable for residential courses and conferences.

    Yes: □
    No: □

16. If you do not think so, please state why not:

17. Once a new scheme of members’ allowances has been agreed by the Authority, the Regulations provide for future annual increases to the allowances to be linked to an index for a maximum period of four years. Do you support this approach?

    Yes: □
    No: □

    If you do not think so, please state why not:

18. Please give any other comments in the box below:

For members’ guidance – further details relevant to the scheme of members’ allowances can be found in section 4 of the Authority document file.

Appendix 3

19

21

Appendix 3

20

22

Appendix 4

New Forest National Park Authority – sample basic rates

Average hours required for carrying out the role of members, including serving on either of the main committees

Appendix 5

Members’ Allowances 2006/07

• (1) Welsh national park authorities are able to pay an attendance allowance as well as or instead of other allowances.
• (2) Brecon Beacons National Park Authority has opted to pay an attendance allowance rather than a basic allowance.
• (3) In national park authorities this will apply to independent Standards Committee members. The Broads Authority also appoints co-opted members to the Navigation Committee
• (4) Also payable to planning committee members

6 Publication of independent remuneration panel’s recommendations

6.1 Under the Regulations, once an authority receives a report from an independent panel or reviews its scheme by other means it must place copies of the recommendations at its offices for inspection by the public, publish a notice in local newspapers, and supply copies to the public on request.

7 Recommendation

(a) That the Committee consider the report of the independent remuneration panel on a revised scheme of members’ allowances and make recommendations accordingly.

(b) That the Authority be advised of the need to make the panel’s recommendations available for inspection.

Section A:

Members in receipt of Special Responsibility Allowance

Section B:

Members NOT in receipt of Special Responsibility Allowance

*Tabulated values for hours worked per week are calculated assuming 4.3 weeks in a month

Average Hours Worked per week by Members on Authority Business