Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence.

• Action: K Mogan said that some instructions had been created on how to book Microsoft Teams meetings and that she could send these out to Councillor Bhinder.

Outcome: Completed

• Action: Councillor Douris asked if a tint of colour could be added to the whole column for mandatory training on the spreadsheet.

Outcome: Completed

Councillor Douris confirmed there is Constitution training planned for Thursday 1^st October starting at 7pm, K Mogan confirmed this should be 6.30pm.

K Mogan said the team are looking at filling some blank dates in the calendar and confirmed we have a couple more mandatory trainings to complete which should hopefully be programmed in for October and November. The team are also asking members if there is other training they would benefit from.

Councillor Douris referred to previous action point:

• Tour around Doris

K Mogan explained there was a previous date for this training that was cancelled due to the pandemic but could look to run this virtually if this was suitable for Members. With it being hard to know when face to face training would resume, Councillor Douris suggested training virtually should be looked at.

Councillor Douris feels there are issues with Doris, Councillor Griffiths agreed, Issues raised were as follows:

• Click through to book and then no training available
• Felt uninspiring and more of an information system.

K Mogan explained that it’s designed as a booking system, dates do not have training available as the dates have not yet been booked. Once they are, Members can book instead of Member support sending emails to offer training and members to respond with interest.

Councillor Griffiths asked, as a portfolio holder, if there are plans for training, as they have changed the way they advertise portfolio decisions, she understood that they could sign electronically, this wasn’t the case, and it would be important for all members to access and understand the process as it’s currently not clear

K Mogan explained that the current process is that we just receive the notice and publish that a decision is due to be made. After the 28 days it gets published in more detail on the website, until that point, the lead officer would hold the information on the decision. Member support only receive the full detailed decision once the statutory comments have been completed.

Councillor Douris felt this was clunky and Members want to access information quickly and simply.

A.P K Mogan to arrange briefing on this process to Members.

Mandatory training -

K Mogan explained that they are all currently listed on Doris however certain training has not been scheduled as yet, and the team have been asked to put on 3 of each session for the mandatory training, feels it’s better to spread them out. Also to ensure if external trainers come in we maximise attendance.

Councillor Griffiths stated she did attend some training and is still showing as non-compliant.

A.P KM will speak to HR about running training with Members for Doris.

Councillor Bhinder asked if officers had any feedback on Doris as they have been using it for some time. He also asked if Doris is a pre-built software that DBC has bought, he understands were not able to make changes, he would like to find out how other councils are getting on.

K Mogan said she  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Councillor Douris asked what the Bid training course was.

K Mogan advised this wasn’t a training course, more of an information pack that was more of a distance learning and not a training course and it was completed in the councillor’s own time.

Councillor Douris asked if we ask for feedback from external courses from the members. K Mogan advised we don’t currently however this is something we could look to do and bring back to this meeting. Councillor Douris asked the meeting if they feel we should.

Councillor Griffiths agreed we should, she feels different members may feel have a different view of what they got from the training.

Councillor Douris feels as we are using public money for the benefit of an individual member.

All agreed this would be a good idea.

AP – K Mogan to ask councillors for feedback on individual training sessions they have attended and present to the next committee.

Councillor Douris asked if we ask members to pay for courses should we book and they don’t attend, K Mogan confirmed we wouldn’t. Councillor Williams advised that previously leaders were advised that should people not attend it was expected that members should reimburse the council.

Councillor Silwal advised he is booked on to a safeguarding course through his school governor duties, will this be recognised as completing the mandatory training in his councillor duties. K Mogan advised that mandatory training has to be provided by the council to be compliant.

Councillor Douris noted that the costs for the safeguarding training costs are not on the budget.

A.P:  K Mogan to chase these up and see if this is recorded.

Equality training is £680 for one day, Councillor Douris asked if the safeguarding training was similar amount for 1 or 2 days so far. K Mogan to check and send round. The Equality and Diversity training was a little more expensive as it was tailored to councillors.

Councillor Douris referred to the Safeguarding training feedback which was held on the 11^th & 14^th September. There were some technical issues preventing some members from joining.

K Mogan apologised, we were previously advised this was user friendly by the provider, we will go back to the provider and explain the issues faced.

The committee commented that the Course content was good however technical issues made this difficult.

Councillor Bhinder asked if we could look at what the issues were to avoid them going forward.

K Mogan will ensure going forward that online providers of training understand what virtual platforms we use to ensure members are able to access the training. 

K Mogan explained the feedback was in a different format because the provider had their own evaluation form.

Councillor Douris asked if we have an online feedback form, K Mogan advised due to being online we haven’t been getting the feedback forms back by email from members but the Doris system will start to send online evaluation forms and will collate the information.

Councillor Douris asked for any comments on the course. Councillor Williams felt the training was fine.

K Mogan asked if they found the Equality and Diversity training was valuable, K Mogan found it valuable and asked if this should be offered out again to members who were unable to attend the first time all agreed this would be good.

Councillor Douris asked Councillor Williams if there is a system of speaking to Members that haven’t attended mandatory training to ensure they do.

Councillor Williams replied when the policy was set in 2019 that if members didn’t attend the mandatory training then the group leaders would be notified. Apart from 1 exception he said he has not been notified of any non-attendance.

K Mogan responded that we haven’t done another update this year however there have been notifications sent to monitoring officer. K Mogan asked if Councillor Williams would like this information sent directly to him.

Councillor Williams happy for it to come to him, and for K Mogan to speak to Mark Brookes and advise this was included in the policy and should be sent to group leaders.

Councillor Griffiths feels the data is misleading as it only shows 1 year and not the 2 years, she feels they need to be compared as training could have been done the previous year.

K Mogan suggested the mandatory training attendance could be put in a separate spreadsheet

Members need to be made aware if the final session of mandatory training is approaching. Councillor. Williams was happy to have a list of members who have not yet attended be sent to him so he can send on an email advising them they need to attend.

Councillor Bhinder asked if they have to take mandatory training every year, Councillor Griffiths advised that it’s once in the 4 year term.

K Mogan advised Doris’s traffic light system will make this clearer as the green light for complete will last the remainder of the term.

A verbal update will be provided at the meeting

All covered above

Councillor Douris asked for a Review of Doris at the December meeting based on the evaluation forms from the training.

Agreed