civic head of a council, chairs council meetings, and represents the council on civic and ceremonial occasions. The Scottish Provosts Association is a membership organisation established in 2014 for provosts and civic heads of local authorities who may use different titles. A provost or convenor of a local authority is paid a salary greater than the basic pay received by a councillor. The salary of the convenor, leader of the council and senior councillors is set across Scotland, with variation between councils on a banding system. A council's place on one of the four salary bands is based on a number of factors, including the size of the council's budget. Election As a convenor of a council, the provost presides over council meetings. The first order of business for any local authority following an election of councillors is the appointment of a convenor and depute convenor from among their number. The Scottish Conservatives and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown have proposed provosts directly elected by the public, with executive authority similar to that of directly elected mayors in England and Wales. Community councils The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 provided for the creation of community councils in Scotland to represent the interests of communities, particularly to their local authorities. A number of these community councils share boundaries similar to those of historic burgh councils and several have chosen to style their chairpersons as provosts. In 2019 the Royal Burgh of St Andrews Community Council reintroduced the title of Provost for its chairman when performing ceremonial and ambassadorial duties, in anticipation of the marking in 2020 of the 400th Anniversary of the granting of Royal Burgh status by King James VI & I in 1620. Chains of office Traditionally, provosts have chains of office, which are often valuable items of jewellery bearing an authority's coat of arms. In fiction In The Cadfael Chronicles series of historical detective novels by Ellis Peters, which take place in 12th-century Shrewsbury, England, an important role is played by the town's Provost, a prominent shoemaker. The Provost plays an important role in William Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. He is promoted at the end of the play. See also Provost (disambiguation) Provost marshal References Attribution Local government in Scotland Burghs Scots language Scots law general titles Region-specific legal occupations Heads of local government France–Scotland relations