The Interim Democratic Services Manager presented a report which sought the views of the committee regarding  provisional plans to provide a ‘Potential Candidate’ event, for anyone considering standing as a Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC) Councillor at the Local Government Elections in 2022.

He explained that Local Democracy Week was held every year in October with the purpose of:

• strengthening links between elected representatives and their communities
• increase participation in the democratic process
• involvement of citizens in community affairs
• increase their knowledge of local democratic institutions and processes

He added that with the Local Government Elections in May 2022, this year’s Local Democracy Week (11-17 October 2021) would be an appropriate time to begin preparations for the elections and to actively involve the electorate in the democratic process. Following on from this, it was proposed that two candidate sessions be held on the 18^th and 25^th November, the purpose of which was to outline information about the role of the councillor and the functions of the Council and to provide information regarding how an individual becomes a candidate at the election and the processes for being elected. The topics would be split into two parts as shown at 4.1 of the report. Further information regarding the sessions were at 4.3 of the report.

The Interim Democratic Services Manager added that a video would also be provided to potential candidates which would follow the day in the life of a councillor. The sessions would be promoted on the Councils website as well as in news bulletins and by Members and through Town and Community Councils.

He explained that to date, there had been 3 people interested in attending the first session and 6 people in the second session.

A Member stated that many other local authorities had provided videos similar to that mentioned above and was sceptical that local authorities should be  provide these videos. He believed this to be an unnecessary cost and  that the videos could be  financially supported by the WLGA instead.

The Interim Democratic Services Manager believed that the cost for the  photographer was approximately £800 for  a video involving three Members. He stated that the purpose of the videos was in place of what had been done in previous years whereby Council staff and Members  gave the briefing  to potential candidates in person in the Council Suite at the Civic Offices. With Covid-19 affecting the ability to meet in person in this way meant that other avenues had to be  explored. He added that he could feed back the Members concerns on cost to the Group Manager – Legal and Democratic Services.

A Member explained that he would have taken part in the promotion of the day in the life of a councillor if it were a question-and-answer session, but did not support the cost of £100 per head and believed that this was not a necessity.

The Chairperson asked how long the sessions would last.

The Interim Democratic Services Manager stated that it was scheduled for 2 hours, but he envisaged  the sessions lasting no more than 90 minutes.

The Chairperson asked if the sessions were being recorded and placed on the Councils website for the public to view. The Interim Democratic Services Manager believed that they were not being recorded but did not see an issue with doing so. The Chairperson believed that putting it on the website may entice more people who had thought of the idea, but were unable to make the potential candidate sessions, and that it would prompt them to get in contact with BCBC for further information.

The Chairperson asked how many attendees were at the sessions held in 2017, before the elections that year. The Interim Democratic Services Manager stated that there were around 20 attendees at each of those sessions.

RESOLVED:                         That the Democratic Services Committee considered the proposals and provided input for the prospective candidate event(s) planned to take place in November 2021.