Agenda and minutes

At this point in the meeting, Members are asked to declare:

·        any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests

·        any prejudicial interests or

·        any disclosable pecuniary interests

which they may have in respect of business on this agenda.

At this point in the meeting, Members were asked to declare any personal, prejudicial or pecuniary interests they mayhave in the agenda. None were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the last meeting held on 1^st July 2013.

Resolved:           That the minutes of the last meeting held on 1^st July 2013 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

At this pointing the meeting, members of the public who have registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Committee’s remit can do so. The deadline for registering is 5:00pm on Wednesday 27^th November 2013.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak under the Councils Public Participation Scheme.

Lesley Whiting from the company ‘Growing You’ will be in attendance at the meeting to talk to the Steering Group about potential frameworks for Personal Development Reviews.

Lesley Whiting from Association of Local Government Yorkshire and Humber was in attendance to introduce an example Personal Development Review (PDR) to the Steering Group.

The Head of Democratic and Civic Services advised that Lesley had been invited to the meeting to speak to the Steering Group as there had been difficulties with the previous system of one to one PDR’s and a subsequent exploration of 360° reviews had been met with a mixed reaction from Members so alternatives were being sought.

The PDR introduced by Lesley was a self assessment style document which can be filled in electronically. Members were advised that the questions could be amended to fit any Local Authorities needs but the example tabled was the one used by Bradford Council.

Following time to read through the PDR, Members had the following comments:

·        Would the PDR lead anywhere for Members once it had been completed as it looked similar to other PDRs.

·        The key thing most Members need to know is where to go to find information they need.

·        The PDR could be useful to identify areas of training that some Members may require.

·        Some of the questions in the example were not relevant for York and it was considered it may take too much time to fill in which may deter some Members from responding.

·        A shorter PDR form would be preferred.

Members were reminded that Officers require something to underpin the training programme and to help co-ordinate resources and PDRs help to identify what may or may not be required.

The Vice Chair agreed to look at the PDR form suggested by Lesley along with the Chair and a representative from Democratic Services. Any recommendations would then be brought back to the Steering Group.

Resolved:           That the Chair, Vice Chair and an Officer from Democratic Services work on a suggested form that City of York Council could use and report back to a future meeting of the Steering Group.

Reason:              To identify a suitable PDR process for City of York Council elected members.

This report provides Members with an update on the Member Training Core Programme.

Members considered a report which provided an update on the Member Core Training Programme for the current municipal year.

Officers outlined the report and advised that take up of events had generally been low following the abolition of training targets for Members, although take-up had been good for the statutory legal training sessions and pre-Council Seminars.

It was reported that the new University Accredited Course in Local Government had been well received, the Vice Chair who attended the course endorsed this view. Should the course continue after this pilot year, it was likely the free places for Members and Council Officers would need to be renegotiated with the University.

The Head of Civic and Democratic Services advised the Steering Group that the new Leader of the Liberal Democrats had approached Democratic Services to enquire if the Group could use funds from the Member Training Budget to set up some training on being an ‘Effective Opposition’. Views from the Steering Group were being sought before this request was progressed. Members advised that they did not consider it was appropriate to use Council money to support a particular group in this way.

Resolved:  (i)      That the Steering Group noted the report.

(ii)      That the Steering Group did not support the proposals for the Liberal Democrat Group training.

Reason:              In order to comply with the monitoring arrangements set out in the Steering Groups Terms of Reference as approved by Council.

Members are asked to consider the Work Plan for the Member Support Steering Group.

Members considered the Work Plan for the Committee to March 2013 and were asked to suggest items for the forthcoming meeting in July.

Following discussion, it was agreed that reports on the following areas would be brought forward:

·        Draft Core Programme 2014/15

·        Member Development Budget Update

·        Update on Councillors Lagan Lite

Resolved:           That the work plan be noted.

Reason:              To provide the Steering Group with a work programme for future meetings.