Agenda item

Councillor R Sutton noted the updated Member Development Programme that had been added to the Agenda.

KM stated that 38 members had attended mandatory GDPR sessions and that 13 members had not yet attended a session. She continued that a further GDPR session had been arranged for 2^nd July but that some members had already informed member support that they could also not attend this session.

KM noted the importance of members attending sessions. She also noted the high cost of external providers.

Councillor Anderson raised his issue with attending mandatory training and gave the example of GDPR training. He said that he had already attended a GDPR session within the past 18 months and therefore did not agree that he should have to attend a further session.

Councillor Bhinder agreed with Councillor Anderson. Councillor Bhinder continued that he understood the importance of attending regular training sessions where legislation was changing all the time and gave the example of Licensing training. He reiterated Councillor Anderson’s view that if legislation had not changed and a member had attended a session within the past 18 months, then he did not agree that they should have to attend a further session.

KM stated that these views would have to be put to Group Leaders to help keep a record of training sessions that members had attended.

Councillor Bhinder noted that the Chairing Skills Training was similar as, generally, legislation did not change.

Councillor Freedman noted that it was up to Group Leaders to make that call and in ensuring compliance from members in attending training.

Councillor Barry stated that she had completed GDPR training with Hertfordshire County Council and that her commitments with them meant that she could often not attend member development sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

KM stated that the timetable was restricted and that member development sessions were planned around committee meetings.

Councillor Barry suggested members providing certificates to prove that they had attended training sessions within the past 18 months.

KM said that she could speak to Mark Brookes about these ideas.

Councillor Anderson suggested that for those members who had not attended mandatory training sessions at all, it would be preferable if they could pick a date suitable for them.

Councillor Freedman added that it may be useful to liaise with officers and Group Leaders to select dates for sessions so that the maximum number of members could attend.

KM stated that this would be reasonably straightforward for internal providers, however the cost of external providers was expensive.

Councillor Freedman noted that the budget was being underspent anyway.

KM stated that the only mandatory training not on the Member Development Programme was safeguarding due to internal staffing and that this training may need to be provided externally and would possibly take place in early 2020. She continued that invites to member development opportunities had also been extended to Town and Parish councils.

Councillor Bhinder asked if it would be possible to create separate reports of attendance for Borough councillors and Town & Parish councillors.

KM confirmed that this was possible and would be done going forwards.

Councillor Sutton asked whether all members could attend sessions when it said on the Member Development Programme, for example, ‘DMC members’ when they were not part of this committee, or whether members could only attend sessions when it said ‘Open to All Members’.

KM confirmed that members could attend all sessions, whether they were members of the committee or not.

Councillor Freedman suggested that the wording on the programme was changed to say ‘Recommended’ for relevant committee members alongside ‘Open to All Members’.

KM confirmed that these changes could be made.