The Head of Democratic Services reported on progress made with the implementation of webcasting for meetings of Council and Committees.  He stated that the development of a live webcasting facility would enable greater engagement with the public, meet the requirements of diversifying democracy and some of the requirements of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011. 

The Head of Democratic Services informed the Committee Council on 30 April 2014 approved the recording and broadcasting of meetings and together with initial proposals to take forward the webcasting of meetings and to reduce the cost of its implementation and operation, the Council Chamber would be used for all webcasts.  Work had been undertaken to improve the displays and update the presentation systems within the Council Chamber.  A pilot webcast of a meeting of Council took place in November 2014 as a proof of concept.       

The Head of Democratic Services reported that quotations were invited to provide 150 hours of webcasts over a three year period, which were assessed on a 60% quality and 40% cost basis.  He stated that the supplier was awarded the contract and implementation plans put in place with installation to take place in early July 2015.  This would then enable the Democratic Services team to set up, record and manage webcasts, with the Development Control Committee on 23 July 2015 planned as a technical test for webcasting.  Further meetings were planned to be webcast from September 2015, which would be publicised on the Council’s social media sites. 

The Head of Democratic Services highlighted a plan to webcast each of the Council’s public formal Committees at least once before 30 April 2016.  He stated that the Development Control Committee has a high level of public interest and it was proposed that every meeting of this Committee be webcast.  He informed the Committee that statistics from all webcast meetings will be monitored and recorded, with viewing figures being reported being reported to this Committee to identify the future level of webcasting of Committees.  It was intended that 50 hours of webcasts be undertaken in 2016-17 and 2017-18 and that webcast refresher training be provided to Members and officers.

The Committee considered that the Council had recently been named as the most deaf-friendly organisation in Wales by Action on Hearing Loss Cymru and that the expertise of the Council’s British Sign Language (BSL) trained customer service staff could be utilised to ensure the webcasts of meetings are friendly to people with hearing difficulties. 

The Committee requested that that the feasibility of utilising sixth form pupils at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Llangynwyd in assisting with translating meetings through the medium of Welsh is looked at.

The Head of Democratic Services informed the Committee that the item on Democratic Diversity be considered as a potential item to be webcasted of the meeting of this Committee.  He requested Members contact him with ideas of potential topics to be webcasted.   

RESOLVED:               1. That the Head of Democratic Services look at the feasibility of utilising sixth form pupils at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Llangynwyd in assisting with translating meetings through the medium of Welsh and utilising BSL trained customer service staff to ensure the webcasts of meetings are friendly to people with hearing difficulties. 

                                    2. That the Committee endorsed the report on the webcasting of Council meetings and that it be submitted to Cabinet and Council for approval.