Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies received.

Councillors Adshead, Conway, Douris, Hicks were absent.

Before agenda items commenced, Cllr Taylor advised that first item of business is to elect a Chair.  Cllr Taylor declared an interest to continue as Chair if so elected.  Cllr Banks proposed Cllr Taylor, this was seconded by Cllr Howard and agreed.

The minutes of the meeting held on 14 March 2018 were agreed by the members present and then signed by the Chairman.

Update on actions;

·         Another column has been added to the budget spreadsheet for new financial year (2018/19).  Does not show on this quarterly update as this is the roundup of 2017/18.

Actions carried forward:

1.    Advise the target date on when the Councillor’s Suite review will be completed.

2.    Arrange a meeting with Cllr Taylor, Member Support, ICT and HR to take E-Learning forward once the update has been completed.

Report to follow

C ONeil circulated a breakdown of the quarterly budge and advised that there had been no new transactions since the last meeting (awaiting invoice details for the Public Speaking session which is expected to be in the region of £500 + VAT).

Cllr Taylor expressed his disappointment at uptake of Member Development and under use of budget available, commented that all members should be aware of the training programme and should support it, it is programmed from the request that Members make as to what training they would like to receive.

Cllr Taylor queried, would the underspent budget now be carried forward to the current financial year or do we start again with the full budget?  CONeil confirmed the underspend is not carried forward and that the budget for the current financial year would start again at £9,410 for the 2018/19 financial year.

Report to follow

Agreed.

Report to follow

Content noted.

Cllr Taylor reiterated his disappointment, and in some cases embarrassment, at the level of uptake of Member Development and use of budget available. 

CONeil advised that feedback was requested from Members about what they would like to see in the programme for the coming year, this was circulated via Members News and also hard copy forms placed in pigeon holes.  10 forms have been returned.

Cllr Taylor expressed the need to get the message across to Members that it is their duty to take up the training that is offered, that it is a cross party non-political initiative that is in every Councillors interest.

Cllr Banks queried whether any progress had been made following the discussion raised at previous meeting about provision of refreshments to incentivise attendance. Some Cllrs work away in the day and may not get a chance to go home before they attend, sometimes some refreshment, even light, can help.

Members agreed to provide biscuits and soft drinks at future Member Development sessions to see if it incentivises attendance, the fact refreshments are provided should be noted on the invite to the session and Members should be encourage to collect a hot drink from the kitchen provision on their way to the meeting.

Cllr Banks further suggested selecting a pilot session where we ask the trainer/facilitator to provide a buffet and bill us as part of the session, see what impact that has.

Actions:

1.    CONeil to arrange refreshments as agreed (biscuits/soft drinks) and ensure advertised on invite

2.    CONeil to provide list of Member Development dates (once agreed) for diaries and also circulate electronic diary invites as is done with committee meetings.

3.    Text message service to be maintained; 1 message a week before a session and another 1 day before.  CONeil to resurrect and speak ICT to ensure phone working correctly.

4.    CONeil & Cllr Taylor to meet to agree Member Development Programme and agree wording for an email to Members to communicate importance of Member Development

CONeil advised that there had been four session since the last meeting.  Housing Allocations Policy Briefing on 13 March that had 17 attendees.  Genera Data Protection on 22 March that had 14 attendees.  Private Sector Housing on 26 April which had 15 attendees and Public Speaking with impact on 19 April which was externally facilitated and unfortunately had only 3 attendees.