Elected to serve
Being a Councillor: ward, community and cabinet.
A half day on the whole councillor role, strictly party neutral: standards, casework, community leadership, group and cabinet life, decisions, public voice and staying safe.
- Level
- Explore
- Learning time
- 5 hours 30 minutes
- Where
- Being a Councillor
- Price
- £129
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Read the full terms
Certificate of Completion, or Certificate of Completion and Assessment with a short assessment
Overview and Outcomes.
Who It's For
New and serving councillors across Wales and England, and officers supporting members
Overview
This half-day programme covers the councillor's role in four stages, strictly party neutral throughout. It opens with what a councillor is for, the Seven Principles of Public Life and the standards regimes in each nation. It moves to the ward and the place: casework done well, failure demand, place-shaping, Hambleton's five realms and Arnstein's ladder of participation. The third stage covers political and decision making life: the group and the chamber, the whip, portfolio leadership, the budget cycle, section 114 reports, predetermination and the rules on publicity and the pre-election period. It closes with staying safe and well, drawing on the Debate Not Hate surveys, and applied cases on civility, job sharing and an open mind in planning.
Aims
This programme aims to develop councillors who carry out the role fairly and within the standards, serve every resident in their ward, take part in decisions and budgets with confidence and sustain themselves through the pressures of public life.
In summary, you will be able to:
- Apply the Seven Principles of Public Life and the standards regime in your nation to casework, community leadership and the decisions you take.
- Explain how council decisions, budgets, statutory advice and the rules on publicity work, and take part in them with confidence and an open mind.
- Prepare a personal development plan for your next year in public life, including the safety and wellbeing habits that help you sustain the role.
What you'll develop
Across this Explore, you will develop the ability to:
- Apply the Seven Principles of Public Life and your nation's code of conduct, including the rules on declaring interests, to everyday decisions.
- Apply the six steps of casework done well, from listening through to closing the loop and learning, to cases in your own ward.
- Judge when to speak for your community and when to speak with it, and plan how to hear the quieter voices in your ward.
- Distinguish political from managerial leadership, applying the principle of deciding the what and trusting officers with the how across the five portfolio threads.
- Apply the distinction between predisposition and predetermination to the decisions you take, especially in planning, licensing and other quasi-judicial work.
- Plan personal safety and wellbeing habits, including boundaries, peer support and switching off, that will help you sustain a long public life.
Built from 4 parts.
5 hours 30 minutes of learning.
- 01Your ward, your placeThe councillor role, casework and community leadershipBitesize3 modules
- 02Group, chamber and cabinetThe political group, the chamber and portfolio leadershipBitesize2 modules
- 03Decisions in publicBudgets, officer advice, the media and the code of conductBitesize2 modules
- 04Safe, well and readyStaying safe in public life, with case studiesBitesize2 modules
You have reached the top of this topic
- You are hereExplore, 5 hours 30 minutes, £129
It is also part of these programmes:
Other topics in Serving the public
- Foundations of Local GovernmentHow councils work4 hours£69
- Working in a Political EnvironmentPolitically savvy6 hours 30 minutes£129
- Leading through Reorganisation, Mergers and Shared ServicesRebuilding together5 hours 30 minutes£129
- Complaints, Ombudsmen and Learning from FailureWhen things go wrong5 hours 30 minutes£129
- Effective ScrutinyCritical friends3 hours 30 minutes£69
- Safeguarding for LeadersKeeping people safe5 hours 30 minutes£129