Current Councillors

[mk1]

I'm a member of several FB political groups, several motorcycle groups too if you're interested.

and you have a motorcycle behind you on your Facebook photo and that 'Vote Labour' sticker over your face pic??

[jeffh]

Holiday allowance and shift swaps etc could be used to facilitate attendance. I'm not saying they can do so everytime, there will always be circumstances which prevent attendance at some point.

Why is it none sense Steve? If a councillor is just getting by paying bills etc each month and would lose money from work attending a meeting, the slightly higher allowance might make it possible for that person to miss work and attend as opposed to have to work regardless. It's a very real possibility these days. Not everyone has a large bank balance.

Out of 33 Councillors -
17 are unemployed or retired
2 are Teachers
2 are employed by Healthwatch, Hartlepool
1 Scheme Manager with Anchor Housing
1 employed by OFCA, Jutland Road
1 School Business Manager
1 Doctor
1 UKIP Office Manager
1 Provider of Supported Lodgings
1 Regional Manager for Crimestoppers
1 Accountant
1 HGV Driver
1 Company Director
1 CFA Member - though I don't know whether that counts as employment
1 Maintenance Manager

Out of the 17 unemployed/retired 13 are Labour Councillors

This information was taken from the 2016/17 Councillors' Register of Interests - I have requested the 2017/18 forms

[jeffh]

Holiday allowance and shift swaps etc could be used to facilitate attendance. I'm not saying they can do so everytime, there will always be circumstances which prevent attendance at some point.

Why is it none sense Steve? If a councillor is just getting by paying bills etc each month and would lose money from work attending a meeting, the slightly higher allowance might make it possible for that person to miss work and attend as opposed to have to work regardless. It's a very real possibility these days. Not everyone has a large bank balance.

Out of 33 Councillors -
17 are unemployed or retired
2 are Teachers
2 are employed by Healthwatch, Hartlepool
1 Scheme Manager with Anchor Housing
1 employed by OFCA, Jutland Road
1 School Business Manager
1 Doctor
1 UKIP Office Manager
1 Provider of Supported Lodgings
1 Regional Manager for Crimestoppers
1 Accountant
1 HGV Driver
1 Company Director
1 CFA Member - though I don't know whether that counts as employment
1 Maintenance Manager

Out of the 17 unemployed/retired 13 are Labour Councillors

This information was taken from the 2016/17 Councillors' Register of Interests - I have requested the 2017/18 forms

You could try and guess who does what - without looking at their Registers of Interest 

[steveL]

Cranney isn't employed by OFCA

[steveL]

Tell me how exactly a teacher or other professional person, the kind you would like to become involved, 'shift swaps' and then ask yourself if any teacher worth his salt would willingly disrupt the lesson flow of his kids to attend a council meeting?

Then ask yourself if the input of practicing professionals like teachers would be a worthwhile addition to any council responsible for education in a town. Or should we just settle for lushes like Barclay who spends his full councillor allowance surveying the drinking establishments in the town

[jeffh]

Cranney isn't employed by OFCA

That's right -  it's SAB - according to his declaration - Cranney isn't employed

[steveL]

Just so we all know who we're dealing with here:

[Username]

I no longer have a vote Labour sticker over my profile pic on Facebook, it was set to expire at the close of voting for the GE as I'm sure many of the hundreds of thousands of people with such a political badge had at the time. Again, at no time have I hidden who I am, I have been openly interacting on a thread of which I know members of this group have visibility. As I stated in a message on pre-mod last night, I'm fine with people knowing who I am. The views I've expressed here are also consistent, in many cases the same as those I post on Facebook.

Admin: Surely the disruptions a teacher would cause their pupils would depend entirely upon the type of teacher, primary school, secondary school, college, supply etc. the person was. I would suggest the primary school teacher would cause the most disruption as it's one teacher per class all day. In many situations I doubt the impact would be much at all in fact, it could be turned to an advantage by using these occasions to spark discussion of the political system and process, obviously being careful not to impart our own political beliefs upon the impressionable. As for the situation requiring this, I'm not saying it's an ideal situation, never have, for anyone. I would say it is a known quantity before standing and I would discuss with my employer or take care of my schedule if self employed, before standing to ensure I could complete the required duties. Again, I've never said 100% attendance is reasonable or required. Other professionals would also be a valuable addition to the council roster I agree. And I know that solicitors for example have the capacity to ensure meeting attendance in most circumstances but not all, the same is true of all professionals.

[Username]

Just so we all know who we're dealing with here:

I believe most people already know who they are dealing with but is it not against the registration agreement to post personal information about other users? I'll have a read again.

[fred c]

The opportunity for councillors to attend meetings has been deliberately manipulated by the LabTor Mob, who use attendance records as a stick to beat the working councillors with, why then shouldn't the employment history of all councillors be open for discussion, we could always start with the councillors of working age, who haven't actually engaging in paid employment for years, we could then move along to councillors who are employed in the public / community / charity sector, we then have the self employed / self employed in the community / part time sector, finally the retired.

All of those listed employments would provide opportunities for those councillors to take time out to attend day time meetings, councillors employed in the private sector are faced with a completely different set of circumstances, the opportunity to take time out to attend meetings is, unless you are fortunate to have a civic minded employer nigh on impossible.

[Username]

Holiday allowance and shift swaps etc could be used to facilitate attendance. I'm not saying they can do so everytime, there will always be circumstances which prevent attendance at some point.

Why is it none sense Steve? If a councillor is just getting by paying bills etc each month and would lose money from work attending a meeting, the slightly higher allowance might make it possible for that person to miss work and attend as opposed to have to work regardless. It's a very real possibility these days. Not everyone has a large bank balance.

Out of 33 Councillors -
17 are unemployed or retired
2 are Teachers
2 are employed by Healthwatch, Hartlepool
1 Scheme Manager with Anchor Housing
1 employed by OFCA, Jutland Road
1 School Business Manager
1 Doctor
1 UKIP Office Manager
1 Provider of Supported Lodgings
1 Regional Manager for Crimestoppers
1 Accountant
1 HGV Driver
1 Company Director
1 CFA Member - though I don't know whether that counts as employment
1 Maintenance Manager

Out of the 17 unemployed/retired 13 are Labour Councillors

This information was taken from the 2016/17 Councillors' Register of Interests - I have requested the 2017/18 forms

Is the HGV driver still a Councillor after his recent conviction? I'd read that due to the sentence he would be automatically removed is this not correct? I'm not sure what the process is there to be honest.

[mk1]

Now its known you are not the organ grinder or the monkey it is very unlikely you will  get your martyrdom.

[mk1]

Is the HGV driver still a Councillor after his recent conviction? I'd read that due to the sentence he would be automatically removed is this not correct? I'm not sure what the process is there to be honest.

The 'legal advice' your friend received is bollocks. It would be unwise to accept all his claims at face value.

[Username]

The opportunity for councillors to attend meetings has been deliberately manipulated by the LabTor Mob, who use attendance records as a stick to beat the working councillors with, why then shouldn't the employment history of all councillors be open for discussion, we could always start with the councillors of working age, who haven't actually engaging in paid employment for years, we could then move along to councillors who are employed in the public / community / charity sector, we then have the self employed / self employed in the community / part time sector, finally the retired.

All of those listed employments would provide opportunities for those councillors to take time out to attend day time meetings, councillors employed in the private sector are faced with a completely different set of circumstances, the opportunity to take time out to attend meetings is, unless you are fortunate to have a civic minded employer nigh on impossible.

I need clarification, are you saying it's difficult to take time out of work to attend meetings in the private sector? I must disagree with that, I've found that most employers, bar a few, are more than happy to facilitate their employees doing things like emergency service response or civic duties. Obviously the terms are individual with most requiring the time to be made up but that is not unreasonable.

I'm not sure the meeting times have been manipulated but if you can post a link to where I can find old meeting times versus the existing ones etc I'd happily review my point of view on that.

One thing that is clear is that the bulk of our Councillors are unemployed or retired, I'd like to see the split there. While I'm sure we would benefit from the experience a lot of these people might offer where retirement is concerned, I'd much rather see a healthier split of age ranges throughout the chamber simply for the sake of diversity. We've all seen the vast differences in vote tendency between young and old in the last GE and in the EU referendum, we could use a better view point split there. Of course I've assumed there are more retired than unemployed Councillors.

[Username]

Now its known you are not the organ grinder or the monkey it is very unlikely you will  get your martyrdom.

I am pleased not to be a monkey, they don't last long here. I don't much like the sound of martyrdom either. I had pointed out those things last night though, and I know my identity was known last night too.