Agenda and minutes

Minutes of meeting held on 3^rd April 2008 (previously circulated). 

The Minutes of the meeting held on 3^rd April, 2008 were agreed by the Chairman as a correct record.

The Head of Democratic Services presented a report which provided a summary of the training events between August 2007 and March 2008 including details of Members’ attendance, a breakdown of the days of the week events had been held on, the locations across the district and attendance by political groups.

The report also listed forthcoming training events over the next few months and explained the progress made to develop the dedicated Members area on the intranet to include a What’s New area, Planning Applications lists and more recently a link to roadworks and temporary traffic regulation orders.  The Committee was also informed that officers had recently visited each of the political groups to also gain feedback and a number of suggestions had been put forward.

It was suggested that information such as membership of committees, cabinet member portfolios, the list of group administrators and calendar of committee meetings should all be included on the dedicated Members area on the intranet.

Members were advised that over 50% of Members had held one to one discussions to discuss their development and support needs which had fed into the Member Development Strategy and the recently launched Member Training Programme.  It was explained that as most of these discussions were now due for renewal and Members were asked to determine a process for this review.

It was felt that Members should get the opportunity to meet with the person who originally took their one to one discussion and it was also suggested that Members should be given the opportunity to undertake the review by email, phone or face to face and that the current one to one discussion template should be amended to reflect this.   The Committee considered the options with regard to the length of time after which such a review should be held and agreed that it would be appropriate for it to take place annually with a review being offered after 12 months by email with a copy of that email also being sent to the relevant Council Business Committee Champion.  Members also requested that the Committee be provided with a list of Members who had not as yet had one to one discussions.

Members were advised that the Charter re-assessment would take place on Thursday 8^th May 2008.

Resolved:

(1)     That the report be noted.

(2)     That information such as membership of committees, cabinet member portfolios, the list of group administrators and calendar of committee meetings should all be included on the dedicated Members’ area on the intranet.

(3)     That the following process be put in place to ensure that records of Members’ development needs are kept up to date and the Members’ Training Programme remains appropriately targeted:

o        That a review of each Member’s Personal Development Plan is undertaken after a period of 12 months

o        That each Member be individually notified of the need for this review by email, with a copy to the relevant Council Business Committee Champion, and offered the opportunity to undertake the review  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.