Membership of the Local Government Association

Report: 12
Date: 8 February 2001
By: Clerk

Summary

Members are asked to consider taking out corporate membership of the Local Government Association.

A. Recommendations

That Members agree to take out corporate membership of the Local Government Association (LGA) for one year in the first instance.

B. Background

The LGA is the national voice for local authorities (metropolitan, county and district) in England. It offers corporate membership to police authorities. The benefits this offers are set out in detail in the letter of invitation from the Chief Executive, Brian Briscoe (Annex A). Broadly, these may be summarised as:

• influence at a national level;
• representation at the General Assembly of the LGA and the Policy Review Groups;
• access to all LGA circulars and information systems.

The Association of Police Authorities of which the MPA is a full and active member, is the main and most important national forum for addressing all police authority issues directly. It represents all police authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The LGA has ten police authorities in corporate membership. These are, in the main, the authorities for larger metropolitan and urban forces, so there is a clear shared interest.

The fee is flat rate and not linked to the number of members an authority sends. One year's notice is required to leave the LGA normally. Members may feel that it would be worth negotiating a joining arrangement that allowed membership from March 2001 with an option of terminating in March 2002 if experience suggests that the benefit of membership is not sufficiently positive to justify renewal.

C. Financial implications

The current membership fee is £10,805.00: this will rise slightly from March 2001. The MPA budget approved by the Chairs Coordination & Urgency Committee made provision of £12k for the LGA membership fee. Subsequently we received notification that the APA plenary meeting had agreed an increase in subscriptions, which raises the MPA's charge to an overall £81,685 for 2001/2002. The budget will therefore need to be adjusted.

D. Review arrangements

Continued membership, if the recommendation is agreed, should be reviewed in January 2002.

E. Background papers

• Chair's Coordination & Urgency Committee Meeting (MPA Support Organisation Budget 2001/02 – Report 4) 25 January 2001

F. Contact details

The author of this report is Catherine Crawford.

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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