To receive apologies for absence (to include reasons, where appropriate) from Members/Officers.

Apologies for absence were received from the following Members/Officers for the reasons listed

            Councillor C E Smith  -  Work Commitments

The Chairperson on behalf of Members passed on their best wishes for a speedy recovery to Councillor C J James.

To receive for approval, the minutes of the meeting of the Democratic Services Committee held on 15 May 2014.

RESOLVED:         That the minutes of a meeting of the Democratic Services Committee held on the 15 May 2014 were approved as a true and accurate record. 

To receive declarations of personal and prejudicial interest (if any) from Members/Officers in accordance with the provisions of the Members’ Code of Conduct adopted by Council from 1 September 2008.

None

The Head of Democratic Services presented a report the purpose of which is to advise the Committee on the performance and updates in relation to the services provided to elected Members.

            The table shown at paragraph 4.1.2 details the number of member referrals completed during the period 1 May 2014 to 31 August 2014.  The Head of Democratic Services explained that the average five and ten day completion rates during this period were 53.91% and 78.10% respectively.  This was an increase in the performance compared to the previous year and despite concerns that budget cuts and staff numbers within the Directorate would affect completion rates.  The Head of Democratic Services advised that he was unsure however that this could be maintained in the long term.

            A Member asked for clarification on this point as page 57 of the minutes noted that during the period of 1 May 2013 to 30 April 2014 96% of referrals had been completed.

            The Head of Democratic Services advised that the figures reflected the fact that as the months progress the more complicated referrals that have not been closed remain as part of the statistics.  Monitoring would continue and a report will come back to the Democratic Services Committee in February.

            The Head of Democratic Services referred the Committee to paragraph 4.2.2 of the report and the pre-Council briefings that have been planned and scheduled.  He explained that Corporate Management Board have indicated that these briefings would offer the most appropriate opportunity to provide elected Members with updates on the significant changes that are taking place within the Authority.  The Democratic Services Committee were therefore requested to be flexible in respect of prioritising topics and the delivery dates of any pre-Council briefings.

            The Head of Democratic Services requested that Members reviewed the pre-Council briefings listed in paragraphs 4.2.5 - 4.2.6 and proposed additional topics which they would like to be delivered between December 2014 and April 2015.  To provide sufficient flexibility it is proposed that the Committee prioritise three topics with progress to be reviewed at its next meeting in February 2015.

            A Member advised that he had been fortunate to visit the Bridgend Says End Bullying project and found it to be a very worthwhile and interesting initiative with proven successes.  The Committee agreed that this topic should be prioritised and delivered as a pre-Council briefing in December.

            The Committee suggested that Permanence Strategies for Looked After Children was something that should be considered by the Council as a whole not just by scrutiny especially as it was an area facing one of the biggest pressures.  The Committee agreed to prioritise this topic for a pre-Council presentation in January 2015.

            The Committee suggested that dementia and highways issues be scheduled as future pre-Council briefings.  In respect of the topic ‘Facilities at the Waterton Depot’ it was asked that this be expanded to include the ongoing rationalisation of all the depots i.e. Fleet Maintenance Service and the South Wales Police.

            A Member requested that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

            The Head of Democratic Services presented a report to the Committee the purpose of which is to provide Members with an update on the progress made in respect of the Modern.gov committee administration system and to request its proposals in respect of how Members’ related to information is provided on Bridgend County Borough Council’s website.

            He explained that the implementation of the system is progressing and Members have been receiving agendas and reports in the new format. The ICT Department are providing support and plans have been put in place to migrate the 40,000 plus Democratic Services documents currently held on stellent to EDRM before the end of October 2014.

            The Committee received a short demonstration by the Head of Democratic Services which illustrated the elected Members, Committee and webpage functionality of the Modern.gov system.

            Members asked that the option of a “find your Councillor” by post code function was looked into.  They also asked that before the Members’ Register of Interests was published a reminder be circulated so that all Members could ensure their details were up to date.

            The Head of Democratic Services demonstrated how elected Members attendance at meetings would be displayed on the website and the available ‘reasons for absence’.  Members requested that the list of reasons for absence be amended if possible to include other council business and illness.  They were concerned that if the minutes of meetings gave the reasons for absence this should be reflected in the attendance data.  The Head of Democratic Services agreed to look into this with Modern.gov.

            The Head of Democratic Services advised that the attendance at Member Development events was currently intended to be published on the intranet and only formal meeting attendance would be displayed on the external web pages.  In future however this information could also be made public.

RESOLVED:         That the Democratic Services Committee:

·      Received a short demonstration of the Members, Committee and web page functionality of the Modern.gov system;

·      Provided their views on the content and display of elected Members web pages;

·      Provided direction for the ongoing development of the Modern.gov system prior to its implementation.

The Head of Democratic Services presented a report to Members the purpose of which is to inform the Democratic Services Committee of the proposed items that will be considered at future meetings.

The proposed items for inclusion at the subsequent meeting of the Democratic Services Committee are shown at Appendix 1.

The Head of Democratic Services advised Members that the draft report of the Independent Remuneration Panel has just been published and the Committee requested that a report on its recommendations be added to the forward work programme.

The Head of Democratic Services informed the Committee that as part of the Estyn Inspection Members have been requested to take part in a survey on the information/data that is available to them.  The Committee agreed for Members to undertake this survey. 

RESOLVED:         That the Democratic Services Committee considered:

·         The proposed Work Programme;

·         Any additional items for inclusion on the Work Programme

·         Any changes required to the content and type of reports presented to the Committee.

To consider any items(s) of business in respect of which notice has been given in accordance with Part 4 (paragraph 4) of the Council Procedure Rules and which the person presiding at the meeting is of the opinion should by reason of special circumstances be transacted at the meeting as a matter of urgency.