Links

There are lots of external websites that can help you find out more about what's involved in being a Labour councillor:

• The Labour Party's national website has a section about local government: -
  www.labour.org.uk/councillors
  and includes links to brief video clips of "talking heads" with a range of Labour councillors:
  www.labouronline.org/councillors/what_a_good_councillor_does
  
  
• The Local Government Association is the national representative body for local authorities in England and publishes news and information about its campaigns and local government issues on its website -
  www.lga.gov.uk
  
  
• The equivalent body for local government in Wales is the The Welsh Local Government Association - www.wlga.gov.uk
  
  
• The equivalent body for local government in Scotland is the The Scotland Local Government Association - www.cosla.gov.uk
  
  
• The LGA's improvement arm is called the Improvement and Development Agency for local government or IDeA. It has produced a wide range of support, tools and resources for councillors, including a number of national training programmes and web-based information and forums -
  www.idea.gov.uk
  
  
• The Centre for Public Scrutiny is an independent organisation which provides support and advice to councillors and other non-executive representatives to help them perform their role on overview and scrutiny committees more effectively -
  www.cfps.org.uk
  
  
• The Standards Board for England is responsible for ensuring that councillors uphold ethical standards of behaviour and observe the national code of conduct -  www.standardsboard.gov.uk
  
  
• The government department with responsibility for local government is the Department for Communities and Local Government and their website contains details of key government policies relating to local government including the most recent White Paper, Communities in Control: Real People, Real Power - www.communities.gov.uk