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The minutes are published. No summary has been written yet.
1.1 Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Joanne Gauden.
2.1 There were no declarations of interest.
3.1 The minutes of the previous meeting were confirmed as an accurate record.
4.1 The Deputy Monitoring Officer (DMO) clarified the process around exempt reports. She explained that reports might be legally exempt due to the inclusion of personal or commercially sensitive information. In general, these exempt reports were not made available to members who did not sit on that committee. Members could request a copy of an exempt report if it was relevant to their council work, in which case, the Monitoring Officer would need to authorise access. The DMO also reminded members of the process for challenging Cabinet decisions. She explained that a decision sheet was published following every meeting which included details of the challenge process. 4.2 Some members commented that they had experienced difficulties in being able to access pink papers that were circulated via modern.gov. The Senior Business Support Officer (Democratic Services) (SBSO(DS) explained that members should receive two links, one link to access papers via the public website, and the other link to access pink papers via the intranet site. He explained that when accessing pink papers, members should be prompted to supply their username and password which should then allow access to the exempt papers, however, should members experience any difficulties in the future, any member of the Democratic Services Team would be able to assist. Other members who had experienced similar issues explained that council equipment should be used when trying to access pink papers as it automatically logs on through VPN. 4.3 The SBSO(DS) clarified that decision sheets were published as soon as possible after the meeting. He explained that the Democratic Services Team endeavoured to publish decision sheets on the day of the meeting or by the following day. 4.4 As requested by the Committee, the Busines & Democratic Support Services Manager (B&DSSM) had explored the logistics around recording and storing all meetings where they were not live streamed. He explained that following the elections in May, these meetings would be recorded and loaded to You Tube after the event. 4.5 The B&DSSM had spoken to a number of people around the opportunity for young children in schools to engage with the council by joining council meetings remotely. This idea had been supported and discussions were ongoing to establish how to take this forward.
5.1 The Head of Democratic Services (HoDS) outlined the report and updated members of the Committee on the final induction programme for the May 2022 intake of Councillors. 5.2 The HoDS referred to an error in paragraph 4.1 of the report which stated that the Count would be held on Friday 6 April. She clarified that the Count would be held on Friday 6 May 2022. 5.3 In summary, the following points were made: · Members welcomed being asked to sign their Declaration of Acceptance of Office at the Count immediately after the result of their ward election is announced. · Members would have a photograph taken with the Chief Executive upon signing their Declaration of Acceptance of Office. If preferred, re-elected Members could retain their existing swipe card/website photographs as long as they were clearly recognisable. · A Candidate Briefing Session was scheduled to take place on 12 April where a copy of the induction programme would be made available. · Members were pleased that the Count would be held on the day following the election rather than through the night. 5.4 The Committee approved the Member Induction Programme in readiness for the local government elections in May 2022.
6.1 The Business and Democratic Support Services Manager (B&DSSM) outlined the report inviting members of the Committee to view a demonstration of the tablet and also the Modern.gov app to be provided to all members to access committee papers digitally. 6.2 The SBSO(DS) provided a demonstration of the Modern.gov app. He explained that the tablets would be rolled out with other ICT equipment as set out in the Induction Programme. He assured members that officers would be on hand to assist with set up. 6.3 In summary, the following main points were made: · Members welcomed the introduction of tablets to view committee papers and commented that this would be a great improvement which was long overdue. · Other than the Modern.gov app, no other software would be installed on the tablet. Members would be able to view documents relating to all council meetings that were published via the Modgern.gov system. · The tablet would require connectivity to initially auto download a document. Once downloaded, the document could be viewed/annotated without being connected to wifi. · A tablet was available in Democratic Services for any members wishing to view a demonstration of the modern.gov app in person. 6.4 The committee viewed the demonstration and shared their views and suggestions to improve the roll out of tablets to all members to access committee papers going forward.
8.1 The next meeting was scheduled to take place on 16 June 2022 at 10.00am.
Councillors must say when they have a personal link to something being discussed, such as a job, a property or a family member. A prejudicial interest is one strong enough that the councillor usually leaves the room and takes no part.
Declarations are read from the minutes once they are published.
Lists the council's current councillors only. Co-opted members, officers and former councillors aren't shown.