Mr. Des Dowling:

I will try to break this down into its key elements. The priority in the action programme obviously is to give emphasis to the role of the elected member in the first instance. This is something to which we gave a fair amount of attention in the advance discussions on and subsequent preparation of the document because it often is the case that as they discuss these issues with us, even members themselves acknowledge they often underestimate the extent of the powers available to them. The document sets out at considerable length the range of powers for the elected member, as opposed to the executives or the managers, as they are described at present. The Minister sought to reinforce this emphasis by stating that in terms of a current approach, the elected council effectively should be perceived, in business parlance, as the board of directors and the manager should be perceived as being the chief executive and reporting to the council in that way. There are two dimensions to this, the first of which is to recognise the powers elected members already have. The second is to seek to try to enhance them and obviously, the operation of the municipal district approach should enhance that further in respect of pushing it down to the lowest possible level. Thereafter, the manager or then chief executive - which will require legislation - will be clearly answerable in that regard and should report in the same way as does a chief executive to a board of directors in a business organisation. There is the substantive issue but also the important issue of its appearance, that is, that the individual concerned is the chief executive but reports to the elected members.