09 July 1999
Launching its report, The Representativeness of Councillors, at the LGA conference, the foundation said councils must overhaul their recruitment and selection procedures to encourage more women, young people and those with full-time jobs into local government.
Reinforcing the need for reforming local government, the report said councillors were wasting too much time in council meetings undertaking 'punishing levels of irrelevant activity'.
Backed by the New Local Government Network, the foundation said that it wanted to see radical changes to encourage councillors to ensure that their jobs were more rewarding.
The report recommended positive action by political parties to improve recruitment, with salaries, childcare facilities and allowances for carers to encourage people to come forward as candidates.
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