Camels and Committees (4/12/14)

I have only once been a member of an committee set up to advise Government Ministers and that was the Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee (SLARC) which was established to find a solution to a long standing problem - coming up with realistic and fair salaries for Scotland's elected local councillors.

Now this task had proved too much for two previous 'Commissions': the Sewell Commission (chaired by the Labour peer Lord Sewell) and the Kerley Commission (led by an academic), both of which failed miserably to untie the Gordian knot.  

And if you ask me why SLARC succeeded where Sewell and Kerley failed, it's because SLARC was not jam packed with vested political interests where the representatives of different political parties try to 'solve' a problem with at least one eye  on what suits their own side.

Now SLARC, of which I was a member, had no 'party reps' whatsoever and instead we were a diverse group of people who had a knowledge and understanding of politics, but no one was banging a drum (or operating quietly) in pursuit of their own preconceived agenda.  

The result was that we were able to resist the entreaties of Labour-led COSLA (the self-styled voice of Scottish local government) to give elected councillors a basis salary of £25,000 a year and link the salaries of council leaders to those of MSPs at the Scottish Parliament.

The end result was a workable, widely-acclaimed and completely new system of pay and allowances which regarded most councillors as part-time and awarded higher salaries to this carrying greater responsibilities.

Every political party and the Scottish Government welcomed SLARC's report and with one or two minor exceptions its recommendations were all implemented, without any fuss or bother. 

I was reminded of my time on SLARC when the Smith Commission finally published its proposals on new powers for the Scottish Parliament and as every day goes by they look more and more like a horse designed by committee.