Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 19 May 2022 were approved and signed by the Chairman.

The ICT Project and Development Officer led the group through a demonstration of the Single Sign-On for Members e-learning.

Report of the Service Manager – Corporate Services

The Service Manager Corporate Services presented her report providing an update on Councillor Training.

The Service Manager Corporate Services explained that the report formed part of a twice yearly update to the Group and set out the current position of training completed by Members, including for the mandatory training sessions such as licencing and planning which had now been completed. She explained that due to the death of Her Majesty the Queen, Risk Management Training had been rearranged and that that, along with Code of Conduct and Treasury Management Training, were scheduled to take place shortly.

The Group was informed that Single Sign-On for e-learning had been trialled and following the successful demonstration with Members of the Group at the start of this meeting, it was planned to now roll this out to all Councillors. The Single Sign-On link could be found on the front page of the Members Intranet and Councillors simply needed to click on the link to take them directly to their e-learning account where all available training would be listed.

The Service Manager Corporate Services explained that the aim of the Single Sign-On was to make it easier for Councillors to access training and for it to act as a reminder of what had been completed and what was outstanding. The system would also send notification emails to Members to let them know of e-learning courses that they were due to complete, with a link taking them to their e-leaning account. She asked for Members to report any difficulties experienced and highlighted that the alternative to e-learning would be in-person training which had cost and time commitments. She said that the Council would circulate individual training records to all Members shortly.

The Chairman referred to anecdotal feedback from Councillors that they had previously had difficulty finding the training system and therefore thought that the Single Sign-On access, with the reminder system, would be a great help, particularly for training which required regular refreshment such as GDPR. The Chairman encouraged Members of the Group to feed this back to Councillor colleagues to hopefully lead to an increase in training completed.

In relation to brining in sanctions for uncompleted training, Members of the Group thought that this wouldn’t be necessary and suggested that it could be more for Chairs and Vice Chairs to encourage uptake for their relevant Committee members. The Group also hoped that the Single Sign-on in itself would help with completion rates.

Councillor J Wheeler suggested that Councillors not be allowed to sit on committees until they had completed the training required for that committee and highlighted the importance of mandatory training, such as GDPR for accessing emails, as potentially something that the Information Commissioner would look at if there were a data breach. He suggested that election candidates be pre-notified that completion of basic and mandatory training would be required of them if elected as a Councillor next year.

In relation to training completed elsewhere, including at the County Council and through employers and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

Report of the Service Manager – Corporate Services

The Service Manager Corporate Services referred to the induction process for newly elected Councillors, and specifically the Councillor’s Handbook which set out all of the basic information that a Councillor needed to know immediately upon election. She confirmed that the Council was proposing to keep the handbook and asked if Members of the Group would support that decision and if they had any feedback about content.

Members of the Group agreed that the handbook was useful and that the Council should continue to provide it. Members of the Group asked whether it would be available online, and also how a candidate could get it if they did not attend the count to receive it at that point. The Service Manager Corporate Services confirmed that a physical copy would be handed out to Councillors at the count and whilst it was unusual for a candidate to not attend, a copy could be emailed or posted to them if required. The content of the handbook would also be replicated on the Members extranet. The Group suggested that it would be helpful to have a pdf version of the handbook also.

The Service Manager Corporate Services reflected that the 2019 training schedule had included twelve face-to-face training sessions over a seven week period and had been hard for officers and Councillors and had ultimately resulted in a drop off in attendance. Members of the Group echoed those sentiments and thought that it had involved a lot of time and travel commitment and questioned whether the new programme could include online and hybrid training and also whether information could be uploaded onto the Members Intranet.

The Service Manager Corporate Services referred to proposals for the 2023 induction programme as set out in the report, which included three sessions. The first session proposed was an evening drop-in session where Councillors could meet officers and other Councillors and complete essential paperwork and find out key information; Session One – Admin and Logistics.  Session Two would be an all-day Saturday session covering fundamental information about the work of a council and what it was to be a Councillor; Session Two – The Fundamentals. Session Three would an exhibition style evening session providing information about the wider work of the Council, including partner organisations and big scheme projects; Session Three – The bigger Picture.

Councillor Jeffreys said that it was essential that returning Councillors attend these sessions to engage with and support the new Councillors. Members of the Group also suggested that new Councillors be reminded to speak to their employer about having flexibility to attend to Council business and asked whether training sessions could be recording so that Councillors who both were and weren’t able to attend could use them as a learning resource.

Members of the Group supported the three session schedule and the breakdown of information into three discreet events, including having a drop-in session where Councillors could meet with colleagues.

Members of the Group thought that informing candidates of the dates ahead of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.