Member Champion Responsibilities

The main responsibility of each Member Champion is to encourage communication and positive action over their issue.

Strengthening Service Improvement

An important aspect of the role of Member Champion is the opportunity it provides for member and officer development. The learning and understanding that can come out of a close but positively challenging officer/member working relationship on a particular topic, with a focussed brief could be potentially very powerful in strengthening the Council's drive towards achieving some real service improvements.

Fulfilling Agendas

The introduction of Member Champions fulfils a number of current agendas:

• the need to focus on our crosscutting themes such as those highlighted in the CPA Self Assessment, Social Inclusion, Equalities, Areas Based Services and Sustainability as well as those that focus on specific population groups, vulnerable children and young people and older people
• provide member input and support to other key areas for policy development / service improvement highlighted by the Executive, Cabinet Teams or Scrutiny Panels.
• gives officers, who are working on these key developments, a steer and an opportunity for dialogue.
• gives non-executive members, in particular, an opportunity to take a role in which they can engage more fully with policy development and service improvement, reviewing of best practice elsewhere, examination of current performance, liaison with community interest groups etc.