There was submitted a joint report by the Clerk and the Treasurer relative to remuneration for elected members who are appointed conveners and vice-conveners of Joint Boards.  

The report intimated that The Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 (Remuneration) Regulations 2007 introduced a system of remuneration for elected members which included those councillors who held offices as convener or vice-convener of a joint board such as the Renfrewshire Valuation Joint Board. 

The Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 (Remuneration) Amendment Regulations 2018 came into force on 1 April 2018 and implemented an increase of 0.4% in the yearly remuneration payable to councillors from 1 April 2018. 

The convener of a joint board would be paid a total yearly amount of £21,245 and the vice-convener of a joint board would be paid a total yearly amount of £20,183 both inclusive of any amount payable to a convener or vice-convener as a councillor or senior councillor. 

It was noted that the Regulations stated that “remuneration shall be paid by the local authority of which the convener and vice-convener (as the case may be) is a member to one convener and one vice-convener for each joint board”.  The remuneration costs for both the Convener and Depute Convener of the Renfrewshire Valuation Joint Board shall be met in full by Renfrewshire Council for Councillor Audrey Doig and East Renfrewshire Council for Councillor Danny Devlin.

DECIDED: 

(a) That the revised remuneration levels mandated by The Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 (Remuneration) Amendment Regulations 2018 for the Convener and Depute Convener of the Renfrewshire Valuation Joint Board be noted;

(b) That it be noted that the remuneration costs for each position would be met by the local authority at which the position holder was an elected member.

Under reference to item 8 of the Minute of the meeting of this Joint Board held on   30 June 2017 there was submitted a report by the Assessor and Electoral Registration Officer relative to an update on the progress of the service review in relation to the current issue of the loss of the Depute Assessor’s post.

The report intimated that this was the first stage in meeting the strategic changes and workforce issues which would require to be addressed over the coming months and years.  Audit Scotland, in their 2016/17 report, had highlighted the need to establish a financially sustainable position going forward whilst acknowledging the fiscal constraints under which local government was currently operating and accepting the fact that service delivery must be maintained.

The deletion of the post of Depute Assessor and Electoral Registration Officer had been approved by the Joint Board at its meeting held on 18 November 2016     however, the duties previously undertaken by that post required to be re-distributed and re-assigned to one or more job roles within the organisation to ensure that the Assessor and Electoral Registration Officer had appropriate cover as set out by statute.   

The changes to the structure of the Joint Board were detailed in the report. An amended Appendix D was tabled at the meeting which detailed the current structure of the Joint Board and Appendix E to the report detailed the proposed structure of the Joint Board.

It was noted that the Assessor and Electoral Registration Officer believed that the revised structure allowed the Joint Board to incorporate the previous duties and responsibilities of the Depute Assessor and Electoral Registration Officer’s post.  Going forward, the Assessor and Electoral Registration Officer would look again at the Joint Board structure to ensure that the Joint Board was fit for purpose and had suitable resources to allow the future challenges to be met.

 DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Assessor and Electoral Registration Officer providing information on the forthcoming annual canvass 2018 and an update on the tendering for both an electronic management system and print and scan services.

The report intimated that the issue of household enquiry forms to all properties in the Joint Board area would commence in early June.  These forms invited those at each property to complete and return the form either online, by telephone, text or post and details of the method of return for 2015, 2016 and 2017 were detailed in the report.  Any changes notified would result in the issue of an Invitation to Register which could be completed online using the Governments Digital Service, by post or by telephone.  Reminders would be issued to all properties where no response had been received in early August.

The next phase, the door-to-door canvass of properties where no response had been received, would be undertaken during September and November with canvassers visiting the properties in an attempt to obtain a completed household enquiry form.  Under current legislation local data held by Councils and other bodies could not be used for this canvass and this continued to add to the costs and complexity of the canvass.  Discussions were ongoing with the Government around making changes to the canvass procedures to make the process more efficient both in terms of cost and engagement with electors.

The Registers would be published on 1 December 2018 and details of the electorate for the last three years by constituent authority area were detailed in the report.

In relation to revised proposals for the 2018 Review of UK Parliamentary Constituencies, the Boundary Commission was considering responses to the consultation and developing final recommendations for submission to the Secretary of State for Scotland in September 2018.

The report advised that Returning Officers were responsible for the next compulsory review of polling district and places which must be started and completed between 1 October 2018 and 31 January 2019.  The Electoral Registration Officer would have additional workload resulting from the review.  

In December 2017, Renfrewshire Council’s procurement service had invited tenders, on behalf of the Joint Board, for an Electoral Management System.  On review of the submissions it was clear that some matters required further clarification and the original tender was withdrawn.  A new tender document had been prepared and would be advertised in due course.  The Joint Board was also in the process of inviting tenders for the provision of all print and scan services.

A National Democracy Week would take place in early July and Assessors and Electoral Registration Officers throughout Scotland had engaged STV to run some TV advertising to promote democratic engagement and help ensure that the message reached a wider audience.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Clerk relative to a revised scheme of delegated functions for the Joint Board.

The report intimated that the Joint Board approved its scheme of delegation and recognition at a meeting held on 28 August 2018.  This scheme had subsequently been amended at meetings held on 14 August 1998, 14 May 2004, 19 May 2006 and 20 August 2010.  

Having regard to the role and functions of the Joint Board and good practice and in view of the passage of time, a review of the scheme had been undertaken by the Clerk, in consultation with the Assessor and Electoral Registration Officer.

A copy of the revised scheme of delegation formed the appendix to the report with suggested deletions detailed in blue ink and scored through and the suggested additions detailed in red ink.  The current review was aimed at ensuring that the provisions of the scheme did not contain any obstacles to the efficient operation of the Joint Board’s functions and the amendments proposed reflected that approach.  The most significant changes were set out in section 4 of the report.

DECIDED: That the existing scheme of delegation be revoked and the revised scheme of delegation, as appended to the report, be approved.