Holding Surgeries on ECC Premises
ECC encourages all members to hold surgeries to provide Members with the opportunity to engage with members of the public who wish to obtain information or advice or enquire about individual concerns. We therefore support all members who wish to hold a surgery on ECC premises. However, to ensure ECC does not fall foul of the Publicity Code and that members do not breach the code of conduct the
following must be adhered to.
If you wish to book a surgery on ECC premises, you should contact the premises manager (eg the library manager personally). Please do not ask other people such as other Councillors or party officials to make the booking on your behalf, any booking made by another individual on your behalf will remain provisional until you make contact personally.
ECC makes its premises available to councillors from both the local (district, borough and city) councils and the County Council for member surgeries, you may therefore want to enquire what other surgeries are taking place on the premises you are hoping to use.
ECC does not advertise individual councillor’s surgeries, although - if you ask - they can be listed on your CMIS page or on the individual library webpage. You are responsible for making sure that any published information is kept up to date.
If you wish you can provide a poster which ECC will display at the premises if space is available. The poster must make clear what the surgery is for, who will be there and the times and dates. It must not include political party information or logos.
When you have arranged a surgery, you should make every effort to attend. If you cannot attend then you should notify the manager of the premises and arrange for any advertisement or publicity to be changed. We do receive complaints when members have organised surgeries and have not attended.
Neither members nor anyone who accompanies may engage in any form of political electioneering on ECC premises, this includes the handing out of political party literature.
We also ask that you do not hold a surgery on ECC premises during any pre-election period if it involves anyone who is involved in the election. We write to members every year to give them the dates of the pre-election period and to explain what we man by anyone ‘involved in the election’.
Although ECC encourages members to hold their surgery in the division they represent, this may not always be possible, in which case we suggest you hold your surgery within the district, borough or city which includes your division.
When considering the location of a surgery, this form provides you with a list of safety considerations you should take account of, if you would benefit from some support, advice or guidance on safety around your surgery or general personal safety in undertaking your role, please let me know.
Should you have a problem organising a surgery, you should contact Democratic Services for assistance.