I thought, since I have a data page, I should have some data relevant to me in there as well as data I use in posts.

There aren’t that many datasets that I think are particularly useful, but the first that sprang to mind was attendance. It’s a tricky one, because I’m elected as a councillor and part of that means I should be attending meetings and voting or expressing a view. But on the other hand formal meetings are such a small part of it. If I were to draw up a list of what makes a good councillor then attending meetings would be at the bottom of that list, there are many many more important criteria.

Havind said that, it is publicly available information and often cited politically (usually negatively) so I can’t really ignore it.

My list is fairly limited, it basically consists of public meetings I attend as a councillor or meetings to which I have been appointed by the council, I’ve back-dated to the last election and on some included a note to explain why I was absent. My track record isn’t too great, although I feel it isn’t as bad as it might look.

Of the 16 listed meetings I missed four. However, two of these were executive meetings, which, in the Wandsworth system, are basically short rubber-stamp exercises in the Wandsworth system (it’s expected the main discussion has already taken place at the scrutiny committee meeting whose decisions we approve).

I missed one school governors meeting, because it clashed with a council meeting, so whatever I did I would have missed something. And I missed one full council meeting because I was working out of London that week, however, it was the annual council – essentially the Mayor making – so it was a civic event rather than a meeting transacting substantive business.

The data page explains each meeting in a little more detail.

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