2024-25 Elected Member Requests Report
North Ayrshire Council · 28 August 2025
Back to Audit and Scrutiny Committee — 28 August 2025 and its agenda
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NORTH AYRSHIRE COUNCIL 28 August 2025 Audit and Scrutiny Committee Title: 2024/25 Elected Member Requests Report Purpose: To inform the Audit and Scrutiny Committee of the Council's performance relating to Elected Member requests handled in Financial Year 2024/25. Recommendation: That the Committee notes the report and the information provided. 1. Executive Summary 1.1 This report details Elected Member requests information covering the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 (referred to in the report as 2024/25). 2. Background 2.1 This section contains information and commentary on Elected Member requests handled by the Council during Financial Year 2024/25. 2.2 Volume of Elected Member requests actioned during the year (including MP/ MSP): Volume of requests actioned during year 2,998 2.2.1 Councillor requests can be handled by Services under two stages: Stage One – non-complex requests with a timescale to action of 5 working days Stage Two – complex requests with a timescale to action of 20 working days
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2.2.2 The table below details all Councillor requests actioned during the year: 2024/25 Total Actioned 2,287 Stage One requests actioned 2,284 Stage One requests actioned on time 2,010 % Stage One requests actioned on time 88% Stage Two requests actioned 3 Stage Two requests actioned on time 3 % Stage Two requests actioned on time 100% Total % of requests actioned on time 88% 2.2.3 Year on Year comparison 2.2.4 The table below shows a comparison of the volume of Councillor requests received and actioned over the last three years: Councillor Requests 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 Total Actioned 2,905 2,307 2,287 Stage One requests actioned 2,903 2,305 2,284 Stage One requests actioned on time 2,588 2,003 2,010 % Stage One requests actioned on time 89% 87% 88% Stage Two requests actioned 2 2 3 Stage Two requests actioned on time 1 2 3 % Stage Two requests actioned on time 50% 100% 100% Total % of requests actioned on time 89% 87% 88%
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2.3 Volume of requests per Directorate 2.3.1 Councillor Stage One requests (5 working day timescale to action) Directorate Department No. of requests actioned No. actioned on time % actioned on time Average no. of days to resolve Stage Ones Target (days) Corporate Services Committee & Member Services 1 1 100% 10 5 Customer Services 21 16 76% 4.7 5 Financial Mgmt & Revenues 1 1 100% 1 5 Legal Services 17 14 82% 3 5 Communities & Housing Community Facilities 7 6 86% 3.4 5 Community Learning & Dev. 6 6 100% 2.3 5 Information & Culture 3 3 100% 1.6 5 Sports & Activity 3 3 100% 4.7 5 Building Services 95 83 86% 3.3 5 Housing 520 458 88% 3.5 5 Planning 34 33 97% 2.9 5 Protective Services 33 27 82% 3.6 5 Education Education 38 29 76% 3.9 5 Facilities Management 10 9 90% 3.2 5 Place Roads 551 519 94% 2.6 5 Streetscene 365 320 88% 3 5 Waste 296 256 86% 3.3 5 Business Development 4 4 100% 2 5 Regeneration 36 25 69% 4.6 5 Energy/Sustainability 15 14 93% 4.2 5 PMI 124 107 86% 3.9 5 Transport 3 3 100% 3 5 Health & Social Care Partnership Children, Families & Justice 18 15 83% 3.3 5 Finance & Transformation 3 3 100% 1.3 5 Health & Community Care 65 47 72% 4.8 5 Mental Health 11 5 100% 3.2 5 Other (Money Matters etc) 4 4 100% 2 5 2,284 2,010 88% 3.2 5 2.3.2 Councillor Stage Two requests (20 working day timescale to action) Directorate Department No. of requests actioned No. actioned on time % actioned on time Average no. of days to resolve Stage Ones Target (days) HSCP Health & Community Care 1 1 100% 3 20 Place Roads 2 2 100% 1.5 20 3 3 100% 2 20
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2.4 MP/MSP requests 2.4.1 MP and MSP requests have a set timescale of 10 working days to action and the table below details the requests actioned during the period: 2024/25 Requests actioned 711 Requests actioned on time 596 % of requests actioned on time 84% 2.4.2 Councillor and MP/MSP requests that did not meet timescale was due to multiple factors, including: • administrative errors • employee/officer availability for reviewing/approving responses prior to issue • reduced resources, causing delays investigating requests • further information required to respond to requests (including from third parties) • operational pressures. 2.4.3 A comparison table showing MP/MSP requests over the last 3 financial years showing volume received and performance: MP/MSP Requests 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 Requests actioned 562 670 711 Requests actioned on time 495 496 596 % of requests actioned on time 88% 74% 84% 2.5 Recording Councillor requests 2.5.1 The table below shows how Councillor requests were logged throughout the year: Volume % Volume of Councillor requests recorded 2,292 Volume logged by Councillors 1,280 56% Volume logged by Member Services 493 21% Volume logged via other channels 519 23% 2.5.2 Of the 2,292 requests logged by Councillors during the period, 21 Councillors used their NAC online Member accounts to log requests themselves. 2.6 Issue identified regarding follow up actions for Councillor requests 2.6.1 At a previous Audit and Scrutiny Committee it was noted that that some Councillor requests that required follow up actions were being closed with no further updates being provided, causing difficulties for Councillors relaying closure information to constituents.
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2.6.2 To address this, additional questions were added to the Elected Member request form (from 1 October 2024) allowing services to record if a request had outstanding/follow up actions, what these were and when they would be completed by. 2.6.3 The number of Councillor requests that had follow up actions since the introduction of the new questions was 108, of which 88 had been marked as complete at the time of producing this report. 3. Proposals 3.1 It is proposed the Committee approves the report and recognises the Council’s performance in handling Elected Member requests in relation to Section 2 above. 4. Implications/Socio-economic Duty Financial 4.1 None. Human Resources 4.2 None. Legal 4.3 None. Equality/Socio-economic 4.4 None. Climate Change and Carbon 4.5 None. Key Priorities 4.6 None. Community Wealth Building 4.7 None. Islands Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA) 4.8 None. United Nations Rights of the Child (UNCRC) 4.9 None.
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Consumer Duty 4.10 None. 5. Consultation 5.1 None. Aileen Craig Head of Democratic Services For further information please contact Aileen Craig, Head of Democratic Services, on 01294 324 125. Background Papers None