Northumberland county councillors warned they have 'no right' to 'interrogate' council staff

Under a new policy, elected members have been encouraged to use the online members’ enquiry system rather than getting in touch with officers directly.

Northumberland County Council’s top lawyer said the system was in place to avoid complaints by officers against councillors. However, it has led to criticism from some members.

In an email sent to all councillors by the director of law and seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, members were warned councillors had “no right” to issue “instructions or directions” to officers. The director said he was reminding councillors to avoid “unintended formal complaints of harassment or worse”.

He added that councillors did have a “right to information” but could not “interrogate” staff or “challenge policy”. He insisted that the members’ enquiry system was the “first point of contact”.

Long-serving councillor Steven Bridgett was unhappy with the changes, arguing he had built up strong relationships with council officials over the years.

Coun Bridgett said: “We’re not allowed to contact officers. We have to go through the member inquiry system.

“It’s ridiculous. It wouldn’t be so bad if the system worked, but it doesn’t – it’s up to ten days for a response.

“I take lots of things to officers every day, I’ve built up excellent relationships with officers over the decades. Can I not now speak to teams in an emergency?

“It’s just crackers, this system is just ridiculous. There’s already several officers who are saying they can’t deal with us.”

Responding to Coun Bridgett’s comments, a spokesman for Northumberland County Council said: “For everyday queries we have our Members Enquiries process and for anything urgent, members can of course speak to the relevant officer team.”

The issue was also raised at a meeting of the county council by Reform UK leader Coun Mark Peart. Addressing council leader Glen Sanderson, the Croft ward councillor said: “We would like to raise some concerns about the members enquiry system and the lack of transparency around which officers are responding, and the fact that members were not consulted on this.

“It remains unclear who made the decision to change this system. It is increasingly frustrating.

“It seems to have been more officer-led than member-led. Residents expect us to be central in the decision-making process.”

Tory leader Coun Sanderson responded: “The decision on the member inquiry system was made last year, largely on the back of feedback from the cross-party member working group. That feedback said there was sometimes inconsistency around officer responses.

“We thought it would be better to set this system up, so that way we can monitor, we can process and we can action all of those member inquires in a timely way. Eighty-seven per cent have been answered within six days.

“We will ask scrutiny to take a look at this in the future. I believe it is the right way to do it.

“This is for issues that are not urgent. If you have an urgent issue, ring the relevant officer team – we hope the word urgent is used sparingly and correctly.”

On the criticism around the council being “officer-led”, Coun Sanderson added: “The council is team led. I’m incredibly grateful to the officer team I have around me.”