SPC Guidelines

The proposal to establish SPC’s in the Better Local Government White Paper was followed up in November 1997 with more detailed guidelines as to how these should be set up.
A Number of core principles are identified in relation to the selection of groups e.g. groups should have a county/city wide mandate; and groups should be broadly representative and accountable; and groups should have a fairly broad sectoral remit. Each sector should select its own nominees(s). The local authority should not be involved in the selection of individual nominees. In order to facilitate adequate consultation among the groups in a sector, it is recommended that an appropriate time-frame (about 2 months) be built into the selection process for each sector. This will be particularly important in the case of the community/voluntary/disadvantaged sector.

The Community/Voluntary/Disadvantaged sector is named as one of the sectors to be represented in each local authority’s SPC, along with Agriculture/Farming; Environmental; Conservation/Culture; Construction; Business/Commercial; and Trade Union. (The Agriculture/Farming sector would not be represented on county borough SPC’s nor necessarily in a highly urbanised county council). It is a matter for each council, in drafting its SPC scheme, to compile a list of groups and organisations appropriate to each sector in the light of local circumstances.

Concern has been expressed however, that it is the local authority which defines who is in the sector. Before doing this, it is imperative that the broad community sector is consulted locally.

It is especially important that community groups with a focus on poverty, and social exclusion are centrally involved in the process. For example, the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs supported Community Development Project are a valuable resource which local authorities might utilise.

 Strategic Areas for SPC’s

The guidelines suggest that SPC’s could be configured under the following strategic areas.

  • Economic development and policy planning
  • Environmental policy
  • Transportation and infrastructural Policy
  • Housing policy, social and cultural development.

SPC’s; the participants

  • Each SPC should have, as a minimum, a total membership of 9, with care being taken to avoid excessively large or unwieldy committees.
  • The chairs of the SPC’S should be appointed by the full council from among the council appointees to the SPC’S i.e. the chair will be a council member.
  • The SPC chair should hold office for a minimum period of two years.

External Representatives

The guidelines clearly state that the involvement of a range of sectors, community and other interest groups will "be a major resource to local government, will foster a higher degree of community relevance and local participation and will provide different streams of expertise and advice". The following factors have been identified in determining external representation:

  • The need to represent a spread of relevant interests on each SPC.
  • The need for balance between divergent interests.
  • The range of groups within each sector.
  • The relationship between the number of SPC’S and the range of interests which can be represented.
  • A commitment to fostering inclusiveness and equality in line with the principles of the National Anti Poverty Strategy and to the involvement of the community / voluntary / disadvantaged sector; and
  • Gender balance, in particular, the need to attract participation by women.

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