They may make the decisions that change the lives of their constituency, but many local counsellors do not seem to understand the issues presented to them by civil servants and upon which they must vote.

A survey by the Danske Kommuner (Danish Local Councils) magazine shows that almost 25 per cent of the nation’s counsellors have voted on issues that they did not understand. Perhaps equally troubling - a further six per cent were not sure whether they had, or hadn’t.

“The first time I was given an agenda for a council meeting I looked and thought – Good heavens – do you have to have a degree to be a politician,” Danish People’s Party Counsellor Jette Skive from Aarhus tells Danske Kommuner, adding that material is written by academics for academics.

The reason for the problem appears to be the complex nature of the material received by counsellors and upon which they must vote. According to Frederiksborg Amts Avis (FAA) in North Zealand, the problem is particularly acute in issues involving the environment, housing or technical issues.

A survey showed that in Elsinore Council, which has 25 elected counsellors, 11 out of the 16 asked had voted on issues without understanding what they were about.

“People shouldn’t vote on issues that they don’t understand. Obviously there are proposals that are technical – but here you have to rely on the others in your party group who perhaps know more than you, and rely on their expertise,” says Social Democratic candidate for mayor Henrik Møller.

While that may be the case for larger parties, smaller parties have a problem.

“The pressure of work among counsellors has got greater, so if there are only two of you in the group it’s more difficult to delve into cases as properly as if you were eight,” Counsellor Katrine Vendelbo of the Danish People’s Party tells Frederiksborg Amts Avis.

Elsinore Council’s single member of the Local Democrats, Jan Ryberg, says that civil servants must get better at removing unnecessary information and presenting issues in a less complicated manner.

There are 2,475 counseillors countrywide in Denmark, of whom 910 took part in the survey.

Asked whether figures and the economy are presented in a way that is easy to understand, 54 per cent in the Danske Kommuner survey either disagreed or completely disagreed. On the other hand some 61 per cent said that the language in meeting agendas was, in general, easy to understand. Twenty-two per cent disagreed.

Asked whether agendas always gave a clear picture of the consequences of their decisions, 50 per cent said no and three per cent were not sure, while 47 per cent say yes.

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