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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED – That Councillor Derek Wright be appointed Member Development Champion for the 2022/23 Municipal Year.
RESOLVED – (i) That a Meeting with Germaine Hughes, Head of ICT service, Head of Democratic Services, the Council’s ICT Champion, Councillor Malcolm King OBE, Councillor Claire Lovett and Councillor Derek Wright be held to progress the aforementioned ICT matters with a view to develop necessary training for Members. (ii) That the Democratic Services Committee note that the Council has committed to refreshing the Member Development Strategy for consideration by the new Council in 2022.
RESOLVED – That the Committee notes that all Members are invited to submit their Annual Reports for 2021/22 to the Head of Democratic Services by 31 July 2022.
RESOLVED – That the progress made to date with the draft guidance in respect of All Member Workshops be noted and that the aforementioned issues be addressed as part of full implementation.
RESOLVED – (i) That meetings of this Committee be held on a Thursday at 2.00pm on the following dates: 3 November 2022 2 March 2023 6 July 2023 (ii) That a Task and Finish Group comprising the following Members be established to meet in July 2022 to consider the timings of council Committee meetings and the associated practicalities and implications of any proposed change. Councillor Carrie Harper Councillor M C King OBE Councillor Jeremy Newton Councillor Rondo Roberts Councillor Debbie Wallice Councillor Anthony Wedlake
RESOLVED – That the Forward Work Programme for this Committee for the current municipal year as outlined in report COG/71/22 be agreed.
The Chair welcomed newly elected and returning Members to the first meeting of the Committee since the Local Government Elections in May 2022.
An apology for absence was submitted on behalf of Councillor Rondo Roberts.
RESOLVED – That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 3 March 2022 be signed as a correct record.
The Chair provided Committee Members with an overview of the functions of the Democratic Services Committee. He explained that the Committee reviewed and monitored the effectiveness of the Council’s democratic services functions, which included the provision of advice and support to Members, ICT support, the Member Development Strategy and the reports of the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales. The Committee often appointed Task and Finish Groups in order to deal with specific matters and the Chair provided a brief overview of the findings of recent Task and Finish Groups established by this Committee. Referring to the review of Local Member Information Sharing, work undertaken by this Committee during 2021, the Chair requested that the Head of Democratic Services re-circulate the guidance in light of newly elected Members who may be unfamiliar with the protocol.
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Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That Councillor Derek Wright be appointed Member Development Champion for the 2022/23 Municipal Year.
The Head of Democratic Services submitted a report (COGC/67/22) to nominate a Member Development Champion from within the members of the Democratic Services Committee in accordance with paragraph 2 of the functions of the Committee set out in Section 13 of the Council’s Constitution. RESOLVED – That Councillor Derek Wright be appointed Member Development Champion for the 2022/23 Municipal Year.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – (i) That a Meeting with Germaine Hughes, Head of ICT service, Head of Democratic Services, the Council’s ICT Champion, Councillor Malcolm King OBE, Councillor Claire Lovett and Councillor Derek Wright be held to progress the aforementioned ICT matters with a view to develop necessary training for Members. (ii) That the Democratic Services Committee note that the Council has committed to refreshing the Member Development Strategy for consideration by the new Council in 2022.
The Head of Democratic Services submitted a report (COGC/68/22) to enable the Democratic Services Committee to evaluate and monitor the annual Member Development Programme and the Member Development Strategy. Presenting the report the Workforce Development Lead drew Members’ attention to Appendix A highlighting the rolling programme of the delivery of ‘core training’ as well Member take up of mandatory eLearning modules and the delivery of other knowledge and awareness topics. Appendix B set out the Member Induction programme, due to be completed by the end of July 2022. The Officer also sought the Committee’s views in respect of the Member Development Strategy which the council had committed to refresh during 2022. The Head of Democratic Services reported that the majority of induction sessions had been recorded and would be uploaded on to the Members area of the Council’s internal website along with any associated presentation slides for the benefit of those Members who had been unable to attend. The Committee were pleased to note that all Members had completed Code of Conduct training. During discussion of the report the following matters were highlighted by the Committee: · Requested that the recording of Member Training sessions be loaded on to the Mod.Gov system for ease of reference. The Head of Democratic Services advised that he would discuss the practicalities of this proposal with the Committee Lead and ICT. The Chair reported that some Members were experiencing difficulties in accessing the recordings. · Requested that ICT provide Members with a list of functions available on iPads (eg. embolden text, attaching photograph) to ensure that the iPads were being used to their fullest extent. RESOLVED – (i) That a Meeting with Germaine Hughes, Head of ICT service, Head of Democratic Services, the Council’s ICT Champion, Councillor Malcolm King OBE, Councillor Claire Lovett and Councillor Derek Wright be held to progress the aforementioned ICT matters with a view to develop necessary training for Members. (ii) That the Democratic Services Committee note that the Council has committed to refreshing the Member Development Strategy for consideration by the new Council in 2022.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That the Committee notes that all Members are invited to submit their Annual Reports for 2021/22 to the Head of Democratic Services by 31 July 2022.
The Head of Democratic Services submitted a report (COGC/69/22) to set out the process for the preparation of Annual Reports by Members of this Local Authority for the 2021/22 municipal year. The Chair reminded Members that whilst there was no requirement to complete an Annual Report it was considered good practice and the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011 required councils to ensure that all their elected members were able to do so. The Head of Democratic Services highlighted the template attached at Appendix 1 to the report and confirmed that an reminder e-mail would be sent out to all Members inviting them to submit their Annual Report for publication. RESOLVED – That the Committee notes that all Members are invited to submit their Annual Reports for 2021/22 to the Head of Democratic Services by 31 July 2022.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That the progress made to date with the draft guidance in respect of All Member Workshops be noted and that the aforementioned issues be addressed as part of full implementation.
The Head of Democratic Services submitted a report (COGC/70/22) to consider and review how the draft guidance in respect of the All Member Workshops process had progressed between September 2021 and March 2022. During discussion of the report the following points were noted: · As a result of the guidance All Member Workshops had improved, however further work was still required. · Suggested that both the presentations given at Workshops and the record of the Workshop be uploaded into Mod.Gov for the benefit of those Members unable to attend. · Members did not feel that sufficient information was provided in advance in relation to the purpose of Workshops. RESOLVED – That the progress made to date with the draft guidance in respect of All Member Workshops be noted and that the aforementioned issues be addressed as part of full implementation.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – (i) That meetings of this Committee be held on a Thursday at 2.00pm on the following dates: 3 November 2022 2 March 2023 6 July 2023 (ii) That a Task and Finish Group comprising the following Members be established to meet in July 2022 to consider the timings of council Committee meetings and the associated practicalities and implications of any proposed change. Councillor Carrie Harper Councillor M C King OBE Councillor Jeremy Newton Councillor Rondo Roberts Councillor Debbie Wallice Councillor Anthony Wedlake
In accordance with The Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011 and the decision taken by Annual Council on 25 May 2022, the Head of Democratic Services invited the Committee to consider the dates and times of future meetings of this Committee as specified on the agenda with a view to reporting back to Council in September any adjustments they wished to make to the draft timetable. Members were also invited to consider if they wished to consider the wider issues of the timings of Committee meetings generally, with a view to maximising accessibility for Members whilst considering the practicalities and implications of any change to meeting times. RESOLVED – (i) That meetings of this Committee be held on a Thursday at 2.00pm on the following dates: 3 November 2022 2 March 2023 6 July 2023 (ii) That a Task and Finish Group comprising the following Members be established to meet in July 2022 to consider the timings of council Committee meetings and the associated practicalities and implications of any proposed change. Councillor Carrie Harper Councillor M C King OBE Councillor Jeremy Newton Councillor Rondo Roberts Councillor Debbie Wallice Councillor Anthony Wedlake
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That the Forward Work Programme for this Committee for the current municipal year as outlined in report COG/71/22 be agreed.
The Head of Democratic Services submitted a report (COGC/71/22) to consider items for inclusion in a Forward Work Programme for the Committee during the current municipal year. RESOLVED – That the Forward Work Programme for this Committee for the current municipal year as outlined in report COG/71/22 be agreed.