Hackney councillors slammed for poor attendance at Town Hall meetings

Hackney Town Hall. Photograph: Hackney Citizen

Councillors are missing up to three-quarters of their meetings at Hackney Town Hall, according to a new report.

The campaign group, Hackney First, published the report which lists the number of meetings councillors failed to attend between 19 September last year and 12 March 2013.

Of the eighteen councillors who missed a third of the council meetings they were expected to attend, twelve were from the Labour party, three were Conservatives and two were Liberal Democrats.

Labour councillor Daniel Kemp of Victoria ward had the lowest attendance, missing all but a quarter of his meetings.

Mustafa Korel, founder of Hackney First, said: “I hope that this information we’re distributing to our neighbours inspires those on the worst list to either question whether being a councillor is right for them or to improve their attendance.”

Mr Korel, a former Green Party candidate in Hackney, attacked the Labour party for its high absence rates and “inaction”.

He said: “It’s beyond belief that this level of absence continues without Labour intervening. If we were absent from our jobs 75 per cent of the time in six months, we’d get a good talking to by our bosses.”

Hackney Labour Party said in a statement that Hackney First’s claims about low attendance were misleading and overlooked the meetings councillors attend in their wards.

It said: “Hackney Labour Group consists of dedicated hard working councillors, who tirelessly represent residents throughout the year. Singling out individual councillors in this crude way is an unfair and unjustified attack by political opponents who have no understanding of individual circumstances.”

“Out of the councillors named for low attendance, two have had recent health problems, meaning it was agreed that time off from some meetings was appropriate, one has been on maternity leave, and three others have become new parents in the last year.”

The statement also said: “Hackney First’s partisan and biased approach, which is understandable given the site is run by a former Green Party candidate, is also exemplified by focussing on Labour councillors and ignoring the fact that 66 per cent of the Lib Dem group and 60 per cent of Tories have poor attendance records, compared to 20 per cent of [the] Labour Group.”

Only three councillors – Michael Desmond, Philip Glanville and Ian Rathbone (all Labour) – have attended 100% of their meetings over the last six months.

Conservative councillor Linda Kelly said the Hackney Council website showed her attendance at 80%.

She responded to the report by saying: “Do these percentages take into account, illnesses which are not factored into the municipal diary, or urgent meetings with constituents which clash with the municipal dates that are put down a year in advance, or the amount meetings done in the community, which is not put down as a statistic.

“Mr Korel can try and score as many political points as he likes, if the day comes when he actually wins a seat in Hackney, then he will see how a councillor has to juggle his/her time between Committee meetings and the people who really matter i.e. their constituents.”

Criticising the report Ben Hayhurst, a Labour councillor who represents Hackney Central ward, said: “The figures do not take into account maternity, paternity and sick leave and so are ripe for misuse.

“Out of the 11 meetings selected, I missed four (so 64% attendance). One was 48 hours after the birth of my first child, a second was 48 hours post-general anaesthetic for an elbow operation (I had been signed off for two weeks but attended numerous Council meetings during this time), a third was to attend a childbirth class and a fourth was because of my day job.”

A spokesperson for Hackney Liberal Democrats said: “Even if the council’s own data were 100% correct (which is unlikely) there are simple mistakes. Councillor Jacobson’s absence rate is 9% not 12% although this goes up to 13% over the year – very understandable as his expected attendances were 46.

“All Liberal Democrat Councillors are in full time employment. Some committees are exceptionally long and take place during the day. Do the people of Hackney want to be represented only by the retired or the unemployed?”

Table by campaign group Hackney First of councillors' absences from Town Hall meetings