Democratic Services works to ensure that the democratic process is administered correctly. This includes meeting both local and legal requirements. You'll see references to "Members" and Councillors, these are the elected representatives (Members is short for "Members of the Council"). Staff are often referred to as Officers, short for "Officers of the Council".
What we do:
- Provide information for members of the public about councillors and our meetings.
- Process questions from the public for Full Council.
- Give advice to councillors and officers about the formal decision-making process. This includes maintaining a Forward Plan of future decisions.
- Support the Overview and Scrutiny function which looks at Cabinet decisions and keeps an overview of what the Council does.
- Maintain and update our Constitution. This helps govern how the elected councillors and the Council interact.
- Support councillors, including directing to other services and external bodies.
As Democratic Services have a cross cutting role, liaising with all services, we also undertake other functions. This includes:
- Processing complaints which have reached the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman.
- Supporting services with more complex Freedom of Information requests.
What does the law say?
The key laws governing the work are:
- The Local Government Act 1972, as amended by Access to Information Legislation 1985.
- The Local Government and Housing Act 1989.
- The Local Government Act 2000 and ensuing regulations.
Contact us
You can ring us on our number below or email: democratic.services@hertsmere.gov.uk
