Agenda and minutes

At this point, Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they might have in the business on the agenda.

Members were invited to declare at this point in the meeting any personal or prejudicial interests they might have in the business on the agenda.

Councillor Runciman declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest in the business generally, as an IDeA Member Peer.

To approve and sign the minutes of the last meeting of the Member Development Steering Group held on 6 May 2009.

RESOLVED:That the meeting of the Member Development Steering Group held on 6 May 2009 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting, members of the public who have registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or a matter within the Group’s remit can do so.  The deadline for registering is 5.00 pm on Monday 22 June 2009.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

This report sets out a proposed implementation plan to work towards achieving Charter Status by October 2010.

Members received a report that set out a proposed Implementation Plan to work towards achieving Charter Status by October 2010. 

It was noted that the Implementation Plan had been endorsed by Group Leaders.  A copy of the plan had also been forwarded to Mike Leitch, a consultant to the Yorkshire and Humber Local Government Region, and his feedback was awaited.  He would also provide support in reviewing progress on the plan. 

Members were pleased to note the variety of training opportunities that were available, including in-house training sessions, the use of external providers and e-learning. 

It was agreed that it was important that arrangements were in place to meet individual Members’ training needs where necessary, as well as providing training opportunities that were open to all.  Where Members had recently taken up new portfolio responsibilities or had been  appointed to committees on which they had not previously served, there may be a need to provide specific training either in-house or from another source.

It was suggested that information should be circulated to Members to advise them as to how they could access the North Yorkshire Partnership Learning Pool and for data on the uptake of this support to be obtained¹.

A draft Development Plan would be presented to the Working Group at the next meeting and this would then be considered at the Council meeting on 15 October 2009². 

Members agreed on the need to ensure that costings were in place.  Once Members’ development requirements had been identified there would be a need to prioritise how the budget was allocated.

RESOLVED:            That the Implementation Plan be approved.

REASON:            To provide a clear, consistent framework to meet Members’

training and development needs and to work towards achieving Charter status by October 2010.

This report sets out the final draft of the proposed programme of Member Development events for 2009/2010.

Members considered a report that set out the final draft of the proposed programme of Member Development Events for 2009/2010. It was noted that it was now intended that the Cross Cutting Scrutiny Committee training sessions would be replaced by the “Exploring the Four Principles of Effective Scrutiny” event that was to be held on 29 July 2009.

It was agreed that there was a need to ensure that all training experiences were recorded, including those that had not been arranged directly by Member Support Services.  The PDPs would be a useful tool in recording training activity.  It was suggested that electronic certificates could be sent to Members who had attended a number of events.

The Steering Group would carry out an audit and review of training that had been undertaken and would consider factors impacting on the take-up of development opportunities and how cost-effective training sessions had been. It would therefore be helpful if Members were asked to indicate their reasons for declining training opportunities.  It was also important for Members to be encouraged to put forward suggestions regarding training sessions.

Consideration was given to the suggestions for additional events.  A proposal had been submitted by the Chief Executive and the Leader regarding ID&eA peer support to members of the three main groups to assist them in better aligning their focus on the Sustainable Community Strategy, the Corporate Strategy and the council’s budget process.  It was noted that the proposed cost of this support would be £6,400 plus expenses.  Discussion took place regarding the proposed allocation of the training to the groups and as to whether it would be possible to obtain the training at a reduced cost.  It would also be helpful to ascertain how the training differed to that offered by the LGA and to obtain details of the programme that was to be offered by the Leadership Academy when it came to the York region. 

Discussion took place regarding possible events that could be arranged for Local Democracy Week.  The promotion of citizenship and community leadership was one of the actions in the Member Development Charter Implementation Plan. 

Consideration was given to the commissioning of one or more consultants to undertake the Personal Development Plans (PDPs).  Expressions of interest had been received from two consultants and their biographies and details of their fees had been included in the report.  Members stressed the importance of ensuring that the process of putting in place PDPs commenced as soon as possible.

RESOLVED:            (i)            That the Member Development Programme for

2009/2010 be approved subject to the following additions¹:

·        An additional training session on “Safeguarding Adults” to be arranged for an evening during the Autumn 2009. 

·        “Officer Member Relationships” training session to be included in the programme.

·        A pre-council seminar to be arranged on “Understanding CAA and links to the Corporate Plan”.

(ii)               That further information be provided on the ID&eA Peer Support training, including more detailed costings (as outlined in Annex 2 that had been omitted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The revised Member Development Annual Work Plan is attached for the Group’s consideration.

Consideration was given to the revised Member Development Annual Work Plan.

RESOLVED:            (i)            That the Member Development Annual Work Plan be

                                    approved.

                        (ii)            That Mike Leitch be invited to attend the next meeting.