AGENDA ITEM NO 9C COUNCIL MEETING 18 SEPTEMBER 2012 Title : Mayoral Remuneration Report of : Members’ Remuneration Independent Review panel Recommendation That Members consider the recommendations of the Panel in relation to the level of remuneration for the elected mayor, the deputy mayor and cabinet members. Summary The Panel was tasked with recommending an appropriate rate of remuneration for the elected mayor. It was also asked to consider the level of allowance which should be paid in respect of the deputy mayor and other cabinet members in a mayoral system of governance. Following the commissioning of a review by the consultant, Dr Declan Hall, details of which are appended, this report recommends the remuneration which might be paid for these positions. The significant issues in the report are: Set out below. Consultation Party Leaders and Whips. Responses from the Green, Labour and Liberal Democrat Groups are attached at Appendix A. Background 1. The Panel was convened under the Local Authorities (Member Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003. These regulations, which arise out of the relevant provisions of the Local Government Act 2000 require all local authorities to set up and maintain an advisory Independent Remuneration Members‟ Allowances Panel to review and provide advice on members allowances. All councils are required to convene their allowances panel and seek its advice before they make any changes or amendments to their allowances scheme and they must pay regard to the Panel‟s recommendations before setting a new or amended allowances scheme. 2. The Panel was asked to make recommendations as to the level of remuneration for the forthcoming elected mayor (to be elected on November 2012), their appointed Deputy Mayor and for Cabinet Members. This follows the referendum on 4th May 2012 where the electors of the City of Bristol supported the proposal to change the city governance arrangements from that of Leader (appointed by the Council) and Cabinet to a directly elected mayor and cabinet model. 3. Dr Declan Hall, consultant on member remuneration, who has previously been commissioned by the Panel to assist with its major reviews of remuneration policy, was asked to produce a report/briefing that reviewed the remuneration of the posts of elected mayor, deputy mayor and other cabinet members in the 15 other English mayoral authorities i.e. what was the national picture, are there any discernible patterns etc and provide options for the remuneration of these posts. This would enable the Panel to make a more informed recommendation in line with its statutory responsibility to provide advice to the Council, before it makes a final decision on setting the remuneration of the newly elected mayor, and their appointed deputy mayor and other cabinet members. 4. Dr Hall‟s review also looked at other comparative roles, insofar as the evidence is available, that have been taken into account by other mayoral councils and reviews when reaching their recommendations and decisions on the appropriate level of remuneration for their elected mayor, deputy mayor and other cabinet members. The review showed that English mayoral councils each retain the ability to set their own levels of remuneration. For elected mayors in particular, a discernible basis of remuneration has emerged leading to a surprisingly narrow model of mayoral remuneration. This pattern was not repeated when it comes to the remuneration of deputy mayors and other cabinet members, as the size, responsibilities and workloads of these other executive post holders is much more variable – and largely dependent on the outlook of the elected mayor. Approach 5. The document at Appendix B (sent electronically to members and available on the Council website) is Dr Hall‟s full report. In this he has: Examined what an elected mayor will actually mean for the governance of Bristol and the powers which a mayor will exercise, in particular “soft” powers. Presents the national picture on mayoral remuneration Discusses the approaches which might be used in reaching a conclusion about what the mayor‟s remuneration should be Considers the level of remuneration which might be paid to the deputy Mayor and other cabinet members which the mayor may appoint. Panel’s deliberations 6. The Panel had a wide ranging discussion. The following is a summary of the main issues: It was difficult for the Panel to make a recommendation without knowing how the elected mayor intended to carry out their role and the sort of powers that they would exercise directly The role which the elected mayor performed in other cities was not necessarily the same as the role which a Bristol mayor would perform A lot depended on how the mayor would deliver their “soft” powers, in terms of influencing and persuading and how could this be recognised. There was no mechanism for taking into account the mayor‟s performance in delivering their role when setting remuneration There may be value in reviewing mayoral remuneration again at a later date, once the mayor had been in post for a while, and when it is clear how their role is being delivered. Whatever figure was suggested initially, most mayoral councils appeared eventually to be setting pay for mayors within the narrow banding of £60 – 69K ie around the level of a MP‟s salary It was noted that it was the view of some members that mayoral remuneration should not exceed the level of that of the Leader of the Council. Should that be so, then Bristol would be very much at the lower end of the “league table” for mayoral pay, which may not present Bristol well in terms of it being a leading English city. 7. The Panel‟s conclusions and recommendations are set out in the paper attached at Appendix C Summary of recommendations 8. The recommendations of the Panel are as follows : That the elected mayor of Bristol should be remunerated in line with the current MP‟s salary ie £65,738 The Deputy Mayor should be remunerated at 62.5% of the Mayor‟s salary (ie retaining the current relationship between the Bristol leader and deputy leaders salary) thus £11,146 basic allowance plus a SRA of £29,670, so £41,086 total. There should be no change to the SRA of other Cabinet members Political Group Opposition Leaders in the current scheme should become “Political Group Leaders” in the new scheme and as currently, leaders whose groups occupy over 10% of seats on the council should continue to be remunerated at current rates of SRA. (NB : assuming the Mayor isn’t also a political group leader, then there will be one additional group leader SRA payable from November 2012) The Panel assumes that the position of Assistant Executive Member will cease from November 2012 under mayoral governance. Other options considered The approach originally envisaged by the Panel was to remunerate the incoming elected mayor at the rate currently paid to the Leader of the Council, and then to review mayoral remuneration when it was clear how that office holder intended to deliver their role. This approach was rejected by party leaders who asked that a review be undertaken immediately, in order that the remuneration could be agreed prior to the mayor taking up their post. Risk assessment No risk assessment has been undertaken Equalities impact assessment Not applicable. Legal and Resource Implications Legal - The Council has a duty to have regard to the views of its Panel before it determines the rates of remuneration for the elected mayor and councillor allowances. Financial – The costs are containable within the existing approved budget (Service Manager, Corporate Finance) Appendices Appendix A - Comments of political groups on mayoral pay Appendix B – the IRP‟s report to Council Appendix C - Dr Declan Hall‟s report on remuneration for the elected mayor, deputy mayor and cabinet members (NB : in the interests of paper economy, the full report of the IRP consultant (Appendix C) is not being circulated with this report but is available for inspection on the Council’s website.) Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 Background papers : None APPENDIX A Remuneration for the Elected Mayor Liberal Democrat Group Response to the Independent Members’ Remuneration Panel Although the position of elected Mayor is a new one in Bristol, and there are aspirations by some for it to become a much higher-profile and more significant role than the current Leader of Council, in the short term at least the responsibilities of the Mayor will remain the same as the Leader. In light of this, the Liberal Democrat Group believes that, in the first instance, the Mayor‟s allowance be set at the same level as the Special Responsibility Allowance for the Leader – i.e. £40,473 per year. This amount specifically excludes the £11,416 basic allowance currently paid to the Leader in addition to the SRA. The basic allowance is paid to all councillors in recognition of their basic role and the work that they do as members of the authority and on behalf of their constituents. For the Mayor, there is no equivalent function being performed. They will have no responsibilities, such as committee membership, as a member of the authority (with the exception of being the Mayor, for which they will receive an allowance) and they will not have the same representative and advocacy function as a councillor has for their ward. As a Group, we have always been clear that the adoption of an elected Mayor for Bristol should not lead to the creation of a new highly-paid political „fat cat‟ position. Therefore, we believe that setting the Mayor‟s allowance to the same level as the Leader‟s is fair and reasonable, particularly given the current challenging economic circumstances.