When a Council Officer Sits on a BID Board

What the framework allows

It is common for a council to nominate an officer to sit on the BID board. The officer represents the council as a large levy payer and as the body that collects the levy.

Nothing in the legislation requires that officer to be a different person from the one who manages the council's agreement with the BID. Nothing requires the board role to appear in the council's register of officers' interests. And nothing requires the agreement between the council and the BID to be reviewed independently.

So one officer can hold several related roles at once: board member, manager of levy collection, the council's contact for the ballot, and counterparty to the agreement. Each role is legitimate. Held together, they are worth managing with care.

Why the register of interests matters

A register of officers' interests is how the public, councillors and auditors can see when an officer's outside roles might bear on their council work. A directorship of a company that receives and spends a compulsory levy is exactly the kind of role it is designed to record.

Councils sometimes take the view that an appointment approved by the cabinet does not also need to be registered. The two do different jobs. Cabinet approval shows that the council agreed to the appointment. The register shows the public that the role exists, so that any moment where the two sets of duties meet can be recognised and handled.

What good governance looks like

Three steps cover most of it.

A clear declaration.The officer on the BID board records the role in the council's register of interests when appointed, and confirms it each year. The entry names the BID company, describes the role, and notes any payment or benefit.

Separate roles.The officer who sits on the BID board is not the same person who manages the council's agreement with the BID. One represents the council inside the company. The other manages the council's contract with it. Keeping them apart costs little and makes both roles simpler.

A reviewed agreement. The agreement between the council and the BID is reviewed independently at each renewal. It governs how a compulsory levy is collected and passed on, so a fresh look every five years is sensible practice.

Three questions to ask

A levy payer who wants to understand their own council's position can ask, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000:

• Who is the council's nominated representative on the BID board?
• Does the council's register of interests record that role?
• When was the agreement between the council and the BID last reviewed independently?

The answers give a good picture of how the relationship between a council and its BID is looked after.

Sources: Local Government Act 2003, Part 4; Business Improvement Districts (England) Regulations 2004; Local Government Transparency Code 2015.