What Is Full Council?

Full Council is the main formal meeting of a local council, where all elected councillors come together in one place.

It is the closest local government equivalent to a parliamentary chamber. Councillors debate major issues, ask questions, vote on important decisions and set the overall direction of the authority.

This does not mean Full Council decides everything the council does. Most day-to-day decisions are made by the Cabinet, committees, individual councillors with delegated responsibilities, or council officers. Full Council instead deals with some of the authority’s most significant responsibilities, including setting the annual budget and Council Tax, agreeing major policies and appointing councillors to leadership and committee roles.

For members of the public, Full Council is often the most visible part of local democracy. Meetings are normally open to the public, agendas and reports are published in advance, and many councils now broadcast them online. There are limited circumstances where the public and press may be excluded while confidential or exempt information is discussed. It is where residents can see their elected representatives debate, disagree and vote.

For newly elected councillors, however, the first Full Council meeting can also be one of the most daunting moments after an election.

You may be sitting in a formal council chamber surrounded by dozens of other councillors, senior officers, members of the public and sometimes local journalists. There will be unfamiliar procedures, formal language and established councillors who appear to know exactly when to stand up, what to say and how to make a point of order.

It can feel like everyone understands what is happening except you.

The reality is that most councillors have had to learn how Full Council works through experience. You do not need to understand every part of the procedure before attending your first meeting. You do, however, need a basic understanding of what Full Council is, what it decides and how you can contribute to it.

What does “Full Council” mean?

Full Council is the formal meeting made up of all elected councillors in a local authority.

It is the council’s main public decision-making forum and the place where certain important decisions must be made collectively. It is sometimes described as the council’s highest decision-making body, although that does not mean every council decision is brought before it.

In councils operating executive arrangements, the Cabinet or elected mayor will usually make many of the council’s day-to-day political decisions. Committees deal with areas such as planning, licensing, scrutiny, audit and standards, while council officers are authorised to make a large number of operational decisions.

Within this wider structure, Full Council agrees the overall budget and policy framework within which the Cabinet, committees and officers are expected to operate.

The exact terminology and responsibilities can vary between councils. Some meetings are chaired by a ceremonial Mayor, while others have a Chair of the Council. Councils may also use different governance systems. The best place to find the precise arrangements for your authority is its constitution.

What decisions does Full Council make?

One of Full Council’s most important responsibilities is setting the council’s annual budget.

This includes agreeing how much the council intends to spend, approving its main financial plans and setting the council’s share of Council Tax. The administration will usually develop and propose the budget, but the final decision must be taken by Full Council.

Budget Council is often one of the most politically significant meetings of the year. The administration will present its proposals, opposition groups may put forward amendments or alternative budgets, and councillors will vote on the final position.

Full Council will also normally:

• Approve the council’s main policy framework and certain major strategies.
• Elect the Leader of the Council, where the council’s governance arrangements require this.
• Elect the ceremonial Mayor or Chair of the Council.
• Establish committees and agree their political membership.
• Approve and amend the council’s constitution.
• Receive reports from the Cabinet, committees and senior statutory officers.
• Debate motions submitted by councillors.
• Allow councillors to ask formal questions.
• Make decisions which cannot legally be delegated to the Cabinet, a committee or an officer.

The precise list will be set out in the council’s constitution. This matters because Full Council cannot simply take over any issue it wishes. Some decisions legally belong to the executive, while others are delegated to committees or officers.

Full Council does not run every council service

A common misunderstanding is that Full Council personally makes every important decision within the council.

It does not.

A large local authority may provide hundreds of services and make thousands of decisions. It would be impossible for every matter to be debated by every councillor.

Full Council might agree the overall budget for waste collection, for example, but it will not normally decide individual collection routes or how a missed bin is resolved. It might approve a broad housing strategy, but it will not determine every housing application or tenancy decision.

The Cabinet or policy committees provide much of the council’s political direction. Scrutiny committees examine decisions and services. Planning and licensing committees make regulatory decisions. Officers manage services and carry out the work of the authority.

Understanding these distinctions is important for new councillors. Raising the right issue in the wrong meeting rarely achieves very much.

Full Council is most effective when it concentrates on the matters that genuinely belong there: the council’s strategic direction, finances, governance and major political debates.

What happens during a Full Council meeting?

The agenda will normally be published before the meeting and will set out the business to be considered.

A typical meeting may include:

• Formal apologies for absence.
• Declarations of interest.
• Approval of the previous meeting’s minutes.
• Announcements from the Mayor, Chair, Leader or Chief Executive.
• Public questions or petitions.
• Reports requiring a decision.
• Questions from councillors.
• Motions and amendments.
• Reports from the Cabinet or committees.
• Appointments to committees or outside bodies.

The order and format will vary between authorities.

The meeting is controlled by the Mayor or Chair, who is responsible for maintaining order, applying the council’s procedure rules and deciding who may speak.

Democratic Services officers support the meeting and advise on procedure. The Monitoring Officer may also provide legal or constitutional advice, particularly where there is disagreement about what the council can lawfully decide.

Councillors should not be embarrassed about asking Democratic Services for guidance before a meeting. It is far better to check the process in advance than to discover during the debate that a question, motion or amendment has not been submitted correctly.

The political side of Full Council

Although Full Council is a formal legal meeting, it is also a political arena.

The administration will use it to explain and defend its decisions. Opposition groups will challenge the administration and promote alternative approaches. Independent councillors may use it to raise issues that are not receiving attention elsewhere.

Some debates will be constructive and thoughtful. Others will become repetitive, theatrical or openly confrontational.

New councillors can sometimes be surprised to discover that the outcome of a vote is already fairly predictable. Political groups will usually discuss major items before the meeting and agree how their members intend to vote.

That does not necessarily make the debate pointless.

Full Council allows different arguments to be made in public. It creates a formal record of what councillors said and how they voted. It can also bring attention to an issue, influence future decisions and demonstrate the strength of feeling across the council.

However, councillors should be realistic. A passionate speech will not always change the result of a vote, particularly where one political group has a clear majority.

The value of a contribution is not always measured by whether it immediately changes the outcome.

Motions and questions

Councillors will usually have opportunities to submit formal questions or propose motions, although the rules and deadlines vary between councils.

Questions can be used to obtain information, challenge a decision or ask the administration to explain its position.

A good question is clear and specific. A long question containing several arguments is often easier to evade than a short question asking for a precise answer.

Motions allow councillors to ask the council to adopt a position or take a particular course of action. Some motions deal directly with council services or policies. Others express the council’s view on a wider local or national issue.

It is important to understand what a motion can realistically achieve. Full Council cannot instruct people or organisations over which it has no authority. It may also be unable to make an executive decision through a motion if that decision legally belongs elsewhere.

A well-written motion should therefore be clear about what the council is being asked to do and whether Full Council has the power to do it.

Speaking at Full Council

Speaking in the council chamber can be daunting, particularly during your first few meetings.

From my own experience, new councillors should try to take an early opportunity to speak, even if it is only for a few seconds or a couple of minutes.

Your first contribution does not need to be an ambitious speech on the most controversial item of the evening. It could be a short comment supporting a report, thanking a community organisation or making one clear point about how an issue affects your ward.

Once you have stood up and spoken, some of the nervousness begins to disappear. You become more familiar with the chamber, the microphone and the experience of addressing a large room.

It then becomes easier to contribute again.

There is a temptation to wait until you feel completely confident. That confidence may never arrive unless you start speaking.

Preparation helps. Write down your opening sentence and the two or three points you want to make. Do not write a ten-minute speech if members are only allowed to speak for three minutes. Check the rules and practise keeping within the time limit.

Most importantly, do not feel that you must imitate the style of longer-serving councillors. You do not need to shout, perform or use complicated language. A short and genuine contribution will often be more effective.

How to prepare for a meeting

The first step is to read the agenda.

You may not initially understand every report, but you should identify the items that affect your ward, your committee responsibilities or areas in which you have a particular interest.

Read the recommendations carefully. The recommendations tell you what councillors are actually being asked to approve.

A lengthy report may contain pages of background information, but the formal decision could be contained in a few lines near the beginning or end. Always know what you are voting for.

It is also worth:

• Attending your political group meeting, where applicable.
• Asking experienced councillors to explain unfamiliar items.
• Contacting the relevant officer if you need factual clarification.
• Reading the council’s procedure rules.
• Checking the deadlines for questions, motions and amendments.
• Preparing any contribution in advance.
• Declaring any relevant interests and seeking advice when unsure.

You do not need to speak on every item. Full Council meetings can already be long, and repeating a point that has been made several times rarely adds anything.

Choose the subjects where you have knowledge, experience or something useful to contribute.

Mistakes to avoid

One mistake is assuming that every Full Council contribution must be a political attack.

Challenge is an important part of local democracy, but constant confrontation can make it harder to be taken seriously when you have a genuinely important point to make.

Another mistake is speaking without understanding the decision in front of you. It is possible to deliver a strong speech that has very little connection to the actual recommendation being debated.

New councillors should also avoid being discouraged by more experienced speakers. Someone who appears completely comfortable in the chamber may have been attending meetings for twenty years. It is not reasonable to compare your first meeting with their hundredth.

Finally, do not allow one difficult contribution to stop you speaking again. You may lose your place, run out of time or receive a response that you were not expecting. These things happen to experienced councillors as well.

Your first Full Council checklist

Before attending:

• Read the agenda and identify the main decisions.
• Check whether you need to declare an interest.
• Ask for advice about anything you do not understand.
• Find out how questions, motions and amendments are submitted.
• Prepare a short contribution if there is an appropriate opportunity.
• Arrive with enough time to get settled.
• Keep the wording of the recommendations in front of you.
• Listen to how the Mayor or Chair manages the meeting.
• Do not be afraid to ask Democratic Services for procedural advice.
• Try to speak during one of your first few meetings.

Final things to consider

Full Council is important, but it is only one part of being a councillor. Much of your most useful work may happen elsewhere: helping residents with casework, influencing officers, participating in scrutiny, developing policy or working with organisations in your ward.

Full Council is where the authority comes together to make its most significant collective decisions and conduct its most visible political debates. It can feel intimidating at first. The procedures can appear complicated and the chamber may not feel like a natural environment. The best way to become comfortable with it is to prepare, pay attention and take part.

You do not have to know everything before you speak. You simply need to understand the issue in front of you, make your point clearly and gradually build your confidence through experience.