Local Authorities Etc. (Allowances) (Scotland) Regulations 1995

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved

1995 No. 912 (S.77)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT, SCOTLAND

The Local Authorities Etc. (Allowances) (Scotland) Regulations 1995

Made 28th March 1995

Laid before Parliament 29th March 1995

Coming into force 6th April 1995

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by sections 45(4), 47, 49A, 50 and 235(1) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 19731and sections 18 and 190(1) of the Local Government and Housing Act 19892and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations

1 GENERAL

PART I

GENERAL

Citation and commencement
S-1 Citation and commencement

Citation and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Local Authorities Etc. (Allowances) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 and shall come into force on 6th April 1995.

Interpretation
S-2 Interpretation

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

the 1973 Act” means the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973;

the 1989 Act” means the Local Government and Housing Act 1989;

“the 1994 Act” means the Local Government Etc. (Scotland) Act 19943;

“the 1991 Regulations” means the Local Authorities Etc. (Allowances) (Scotland) Regulations 19914;

“approved duty” has the same meaning as in section 49(2) of the 1973 Act5;

“committee or sub-committee”, in relation to a local authority, includes a joint committee of the local authority and one or more other local authorities or, as the case may be, any sub-committee of such a joint committee;

“constituent council” in relation to a joint board, means any local authority which appoints (or which will be entitled after 1st April 1996 to appoint) members to that board;

“councillor” means, in relation to a local authority, an elected member of that authority and, in relation to a joint board, any member of that board who is treated as if he were a councillor by virtue of regulation 14;

“joint board” means a body corporate, constituted for the purposes of a combination of local authorities (within the meaning of these Regulations) under the 1973 Act or by or under any other enactment, consisting exclusively of persons appointed by those local authorities;

“local authority” means—

(a) in the period prior to 1st April 1996—

(i) a council in respect of which an ordinary election of councillors is to take place on 6th April 1995 in terms of section 5(2) of the 1994 Act; or

(ii) an islands council; and

(b) in the period from and including 1st April 1996, a council constituted under section 2 of the 1994 Act;

“political group”, in relation to a local authority, means a political group constituted in accordance with Schedule 1, and “leader” and “deputy leader” of a political group shall be construed accordingly;

“standard maximum” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 12;

“year” means—

(a) in respect of a local authority (other than an islands council), the period from 6th April 1995 to 31st March 1996, and thereafter any period of 12 months beginning with 1st April;

(b) in respect of an islands council, the period from the date on which a scheme made by that council under regulation 4(1) comes into effect to 31st March 1996; and

(c) in respect of a joint board, the period from the date on which a scheme made by that joint board under regulation 15 comes into effect to 31st March first occurring after such date, and thereafter any period of 12 months beginning with 1st April.

(2) For the purposes of these Regulations, members of a local authority are to be treated as divided into different political groups when there is at least one political group in existence constituted in accordance with Schedule 1.

(3) For the purposes of these Regulations, the term of office of a councillor who is a member of a local authority shall begin on the date on which he makes a declaration of acceptance of that office under section 33A of the 1973 Act6.

(4) Unless the context otherwise requires, any reference in these Regulations—

(a)

(a) to a numbered Part or a numbered regulation or a numbered Schedule is a reference to the Part, regulation or, as the case may be, Schedule bearing that number in these Regulations; and

(b)

(b) in a regulation or in a Schedule to a numbered paragraph is a reference to the paragraph bearing that number in that regulation or in that Schedule.

2 LOCAL AUTHORITY SCHEMES FOR MEMBERS' ALLOWANCES

PART II

LOCAL AUTHORITY SCHEMES FOR MEMBERS' ALLOWANCES

Application of Part II
S-3 Application of Part II

Application of Part II

3. This Part applies to any local authority.

Allowance schemes
S-4 Allowance schemes

Allowance schemes

4.—(1) As soon as practicable after 6th April 1995 each authority shall make a scheme in accordance with these Regulations for the payment of allowances.

(2) Subject to paragraph (4) a scheme made in accordance with these Regulations prior to 31st March 1996 may make provision for the payment, after the scheme is made, of allowances to persons who are or have been members of that authority in respect of the period between 6th April 1995 and the coming into effect of the scheme.

(3) When a scheme is revoked in accordance with regulation 5(1), an authority shall before the revocation takes effect make a further scheme for the period beginning with the date on which the revocation takes effect.

(4) Paragraph (2) does not apply to islands councils.

Amendment of schemes
S-5 Amendment of schemes

Amendment of schemes

5.—(1) A scheme made under this Part may be amended at any time but may only be revoked with effect from the beginning of a year.

(2) Where an amendment is to be made which relates to an allowance payable for the year in which the amendment is made, the scheme shall provide—

(a)

(a) if the amendment affects such an allowance as is mentioned in regulation 6 or 7, that in relation to each of the periods—

(i) beginning with the first day in that year and ending with the day before that on which the first amendment in that year takes effect; or

(ii) beginning with the day on which an amendment takes effect and ending with the day before that on which the next amendment takes effect, or (if none) with 31st March in that year,

the entitlement to such an allowance shall be to payment of such part of the amount of the allowance under the scheme as it has effect during the relevant period as bears to the whole the same proportion as the number of days in the period bears to the number of days in the year;

(b)

(b) if the amendment relates to such an allowance as is mentioned in regulation 8, that the entitlement to such an allowance shall be to payment of the amount of the allowance under the scheme as it has effect when the duty is carried out.

Basic allowances
S-6 Basic allowances

Basic allowances

6.—(1) A scheme made under this Part shall provide for the payment for each year to which the scheme relates of an allowance (“basic allowance”) to each member of the authority who is a councillor; and the amount of such allowance shall be the same for each such member.

(2) The scheme shall provide that, where the term of office of a member begins or ends otherwise than at the beginning or end of a year, his entitlement shall be to payment of such part of the basic allowance as bears to the whole the same proportion as the number of days during which his term of office as member and councillor subsists bears to the number of days in that year.

(3) Where a scheme is amended as mentioned in paragraph (2) of regulation 5 and the term of office of a member who is a councillor does not subsist throughout the whole of the period mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) of that paragraph, the scheme shall provide that the entitlement of any such member under this regulation shall be to payment of such part of the basic allowance referable to each such period (ascertained in accordance with that sub-paragraph) as bears to the whole the same proportion as the number of days during which his term of office as member and councillor subsists in that period bears to the number of days in the period.

Special responsibility allowances—authorities
S-7 Special responsibility allowances—authorities

Special responsibility allowances—authorities

7.—(1) A scheme made under this Part may provide, in accordance with paragraph (2), for the payment for each year to which that scheme relates of an allowance (“special responsibility allowance”) to such members of the authority who are councillors as have such special responsibilities in relation to the authority as are specified in the scheme and are within one or more of the following categories:—

(a)

(a) acting as leader or deputy leader of a political group within the authority;

(b)

(b) presiding at meetings of a committee or sub-committee of the authority;

(c)

(c) representing the authority at meetings of, or arranged by, any other body;

(d)

(d) membership of a committee or a sub-committee of the authority which meets with exceptional frequency or for exceptionally long periods;

(e)

(e) acting as the spokesman of a political group on a committee or sub-committee of the authority;

(f)

(f) such other activities in relation to the discharge of the authority’s functions as require an amount of time and effort equal to or greater than any one of the activities mentioned in sub-paragraphs (a) to (e) (whether or not that activity is specified in the scheme).

(2) The scheme shall—

(a)

(a) specify the amount of every special responsibility allowance, which need not be the same; and

(b)

(b) provide that, where—

(i) members of an authority are divided into at least two political groups; and

(ii) either a majority of members of the authority, or half of such members and the convener of the authority, belong to the same political group (“the controlling group”),

a special responsibility allowance shall be paid to at least one person who is not a member of the controlling group and has special responsibilities described in paragraph (1)(a) or (e); and

(c)

(c) provide that, where a member does not...

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