Agenda and draft minutes

No apologies for absence have been received

The minutes from the meeting of 24/03/21 were agreed

The minutes of the previous meeting were confirmed and taken as read.

·         Action Point – Member Support Team to look into providing basic ICT for Members.

MK said that they hadn’t had time as yet but as a team they have yet to decide what would be a good thing to provide, she felt that it would be a good idea to send an email to see what they may want in terms of training 

Cllr Bhinder understands the point that MK made however if they don’t ask the question they won’t get the answer, members don’t know what they need so feels and email asking may not be the best option, he gets members calling him with the most basic questions, he feels they need to suggest subjects like the how to use the Office packages, as when updates are made they don’t always understand what’s changed.

·         Action Point – Member Support to liaise with ICT to find out whether the USB device can   be provided or suggestions as to where Members can purchase the device.

In terms of the USB port to allow other things to be plugged in, Cllr Bhinder to raise with IT

MK said she has spoken to ICT already and they have given 2 options with 2 costs £19 and £32 and it would be up to the members to decide which they require.

Cllr Bhinder said that the one that does a job, however ICT may wish to consider another option that is cheaper.

Cllr Griffiths said that she is happy with that however the email sent to members asking if they require one would need to be carefully worded so those that do need it understand how and why they need it.

Cllr Bhinder agreed, he said that he would like to when they are routinely back to have an open session with a Lenovo set up with various additional items so members can look at what they could need.

·         Action Point - Member Support to look at other training previously undertaken and add to attendance sheet. (DMC etc.)

The spreadsheet is up to date, we need to check if the planning session for the new members to DMC is added from last week.

·         Action Point – Member Support to discuss further planning training if required with planning department.

Further development management training is coming up in June for all members which will cover this.

·         Action Point – Layla Fowell to send Mandatory spreadsheet to the committee showing who has undertaken mandatory training and who hasn’t and in what year(s).

Will go through this on agenda item 4

·         Action Point– Member Support to look into the possibility of utilising the DORIS/DENNIS Member module on the intranet to include essential training information for Members

MK needs to sit with IT and understand how members see DORIS/DENNIS see how best to utilise this, Re-add to action points

·         Action Point– Member Support to discuss with Officers regarding specific training for Members.

Discussed in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

A schedule of internal training/briefing sessions has been put together for Members to approve which will involve various training sessions throughout the year 2021/2022.

Members will be consulted on what external training sessions they would like to receive.

A Development Management and Planning Enforcement Training session will be taking place on 17^th June 2021 and is open to all Members to attend.

MK shared her proposal for in-house training with members, she asked members if it’s    something that they would like her to go ahead and book.

Cllr Griffiths said that rent and income should fall under housing as it could be confused with finance, she also felt that a finance session would be a good idea in the future. She said the local plan may possibly have to be re-scheduled for a different time.

Cllr Douris requested that the finance team provide training in Jan 2022 rather than the local plan which could be moved to Feb 2022

A.P MK to remove the local plan from January and replace with a finance session, look for alternative date for Local Plan.

Cllr Freedman agreed that the local plan date would possibly need to change, he also felt any training would need to be in a hybrid form however the users online should not be able to partake in the meeting so as not to distract the trainer.

Cllr Douris said that there will be people who will not want to attend in person, especially in months like November, he would like to explore the hybrid options, and with the technology in the chamber this should be possible.

A.P MK to find out more details on what the training will provide, feedback to members before booking.

MK presented the option for external licencing training and the costs, it would be a full days training virtually, however she can look into doing this in person if social distancing allows.

Cllr Griffiths said she feels it would be very interesting however she wants to add what licences local government issues as there are many licences that they issue.

Cllr Freedman commented that being a whole day course it will be difficult for those councillors that work, could it be delivered at the weekend?

Cllr Griffiths suggested they ask if they could record it for Cllrs that cannot attend. This would be good for refreshing memories also.

Cllr Bhinder said there could be an issue with recording an external company, officer may wish to query. As he recalled the last licensing sessions were very long with lots of questions being asked, he feels it would be more practical to move it to a weekend or split it so as not to create information overload.

Cllr Douris asked if a person is on the licencing committee do they have to undertake a shorter version of the training.

Cllr Griffiths said that training does have to be undertaken to sit on the committee.

Cllr Douris feels that being a Councillor they have to expect to possibly take time off workwhich is allowed for in employment law.

Cllr Bhinder said although he enjoys the licencing committee it is hard going and feels that splitting it would be a better way.

Cllr Douris asked if MK can see if they could possibly split the sessions and could we record it.

A.P MK to see if she can split the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

LF shared the mandatory training excel spreadsheet and the tabs that showed who were non-compliant. She explained that some of the courses have only been provided once to they need to look into getting them re-booked for the members that couldn’t attend the 1^st one.

Cllr Douris stressed the importance of keeping this up to date and also sharing with the group party leaders so they can speak with members who are not compliant to ensure they can complete when the sessions are available.

There has been no expenditure against the 2021-2022 budget and therefore the full budget of £10,020 is still available. 

No update

Evaluation from the Health, Safety and Resilience Briefing received positive scores but low responses.

Evaluation didn’t show a lot in terms of feedback, no further comments from the committee.

None