Section 2: Politically restricted posts., Local Government and Housing Act 1989

The following persons are to be regarded for the purposes of this Part as holding politically restricted posts under a local authority—

the person designated under section 4 below as the head of the authority's paid service;

the statutory chief officers;

a non-statutory chief officer;

a deputy chief officer;

the monitoring officer designated under section 5 below;

any person holding a post to which he was appointed in pursuance of section 9 below; and

any person not falling within paragraphs (a) to (f) above whose post is for the time being specified by the authority in a list maintained in accordance with subsection (2) below and any directions under section 3 or 3A below or with section 100G(2) of the Local Government Act 1972 or section 50G(2) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (list of officers to whom powers are delegated) ; and

the head of democratic services designated under section 8 of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011.

For the purposes of this Part other than section 1(1), a person appointed as the chief executive of a local authority which is the council of a county or county borough in Wales is to be regarded as holding a politically restricted post under that authority.

For the purposes of this Part the following persons are to be regarded as holding politically restricted posts under a corporate joint committee—

a person appointed as the chief executive of the corporate joint committee;

a person described in subsection (1)(b) to (e);

a person not falling within paragraphs (a) or (b) whose post is for the time being specified by the corporate joint committee in—

the list maintained in accordance with subsection (2) and any directions under section 3;

the list maintained in accordance with regulation 24(2) of the Corporate Joint Committees (General) (No. 2) (Wales) Regulations 2021.

It shall be the duty of every local authority to prepare and maintain a list of such of the following posts under the authority, namely—

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

posts ... the duties of which appear to the authority to fall within subsection (3) below,

as are not posts for the time being exempted under section 3 or 3A below, posts for the time being listed under section 100G(2) of the Local Government Act 1972 or section 50G(2) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 or posts of a description specified in regulations made by the Secretary of State for the purposes of this subsection.

The duties of a post under a local authority fall within this subsection if they consist in or involve one or both of the following, that is to say—

giving advice on a regular basis to the authority themselves, to any committee or sub-committee of the authority or to any joint committee on which the authority are represented or, where the authority are operating executive arrangements, to the executive of the authority, to any committee of that executive, or to any member of that executive who is also a member of the authority;

speaking on behalf of the authority on a regular basis to journalists or broadcasters.

It shall be the duty of every local authority to deposit the first list prepared under subsection (2) above with their proper officer before the expiry of the period of two months beginning with the coming into force of this section; and it shall also be their duty, on subsequently making any modifications of that list, to deposit a revised list with that officer.

It shall be the duty of every local authority in Scotland and Wales in performing their duties under this section to have regard to such general advice as may be given by virtue of subsection (1)(b) of section 3 below by a person appointed under that subsection.

It shall be the duty of every local authority in England in performing their duties under this section to have regard to such general advice as may be given by virtue of section 3B below by the Secretary of State.

In this section "the statutory chief officers" means—

the director of children's services appointed under section 18 of the Children Act 2004 and the director of adult social services appointed under section 6(A1) of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970 (in the case of a local authority in England);

the director of public health appointed under section 73A(1) of the National Health Service Act 2006;

the chief education officer or director of education appointed under section 532 of the Education Act 1996or section 78 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 (in the case of a local authority in Wales);

the chief officer of a fire brigade maintained under the Fire Services Act 1947 and appointed under regulations made under section 18(1)(a) of that Act;

the director of social services (in the case of a local authority in Wales) or chief social work officer appointed under section 144 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 or section 3 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968; and

the officer having responsibility, for the purposes of section 151 of the Local Government Act 1972, section 73 of the Local Government Act 1985, section 112 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 , section 127(2) of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 or section 6 below or for the purposes of section 95 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, for the administration of the authority's financial affairs.

In this section "non-statutory chief officer" means, subject to the following provisions of this section—

a person for whom the head of the authority's paid service or (in the case of a council for a county or county borough in Wales) the authority's chief executive is directly responsible;

a person who, as respects all or most of the duties of his post, is required to report directly or is directly accountable to the head of the authority's paid service or (in the case of a council for a county or county borough in Wales) the authority's chief executive; and

any person who, as respects all or most of the duties of his post, is required to report directly or is directly accountable to the local authority themselves or any committee or sub-committee of the authority.

In this section "deputy chief officer" means, subject to the following provisions of this section, a person who, as respects all or most of the duties of his post, is required to report directly or is directly accountable to one or more of the statutory or non-statutory chief officers.

A person whose duties are solely secretarial or clerical or are otherwise in the nature of support services shall not be regarded as a non-statutory chief officer or a deputy chief officer for the purposes of this Part.

Nothing in this section shall have the effect of requiring any person to be regarded as holding a politically restricted post by reason of his holding—

the post of head teacher or principal of a school, college or other educational institution or establishment which, in England and Wales, is maintained or assisted by a local authority or, in Scotland, is under the management of or is assisted by an education authority; or

any other post as a teacher or lecturer in any such school, college, institution or establishment,

or of requiring any such post to be included in any list prepared and maintained under this section.

This section, other than subsection (1), applies in relation to a corporate joint committee as it applies in relation to a local authority in Wales.

In the application of subsection (2) to a corporate joint committee the reference to section 100G(2) of the Local Government Act 1972 is to be read as a reference to regulation 24(2) of the Corporate Joint Committees (General) (No. 2) (Wales) Regulations 2021.

In the application of subsection (4) to a corporate joint committee—

the reference to two months is to be read as a reference to six months, and

the reference to the coming into force of this section is to be read as a reference to—

the coming into force of this subsection, or

the date on which the corporate joint committee is established,

whichever is the later.

Regulations under this section may contain such incidental provision and such supplemental, consequential and transitional provision in connection with their other provisions as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.

Section 2: Politically restricted posts.

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