Commentary on Sections Part 1 – Strengthening local democracy Section 8 – Head of democratic services
22.Requires the Democratic Services Committee of each principal council to designate one of the authority’s officers to be the Head of Democratic Services (“HDS”), but its head of paid service, monitoring officer or chief finance officer cannot be designated in this respect.
23.The HDS may arrange for the discharge of democratic services functions by staff and the HDS must be provided with such staff, accommodation and other resources as are, in the opinion of the HDS, sufficient to allow their functions to be discharged.
24.The purpose of the post is to ensure that councillors outside the executive are provided with sufficient support to enable them to carry out their duties effectively, with the necessary administrative and research provision.