The Head of Democratic Services presented a report informing the Democratic Services Committee of the current structure, services and support provided to Elected Members.

He explained that the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011 required the Authority to designate one of its officers to discharge the democratic services functions in section 9. That duty was placed upon the Head of Democratic Services but it was the Democratic Services Committee that had responsibility for exercising the function of the Local Authority, reviewing the adequacy of provision by the Authority of staff, accommodation and other resources to discharge democratic services functions and to make reports and recommendations to the Authority in relation to such provision. 

With the implementation of the Measure the responsibility for Scrutiny was included within the remit of the Head of Democratic Services and therefore the Scrutiny section formed part of the Democratic Services team.

The Democratic Services team provided a number of diverse support services and liaised with internal departments for example the ICT Department and external agencies including the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) to provide the necessary support to enable elected members to undertake their role effectively. 

The Head of Democratic Services explained that his team provided a comprehensive administrative service to all Elected Members and the Members support section also provided specific support to the Mayor and the Civic Office and administrative assistance to the Leader and Cabinet Members. The team also dealt with member referrals, Corporate and Civic Functions and Overview and Scrutiny Support.

He explained that the Committee Section supported the Council’s Committees and formal decision making processes. The section co-ordinated and serviced the 24 formal committees of the Authority, a Joint Committee (Coychurch Crematorium), School Admissions and Exclusions Appeals Panels and various Scrutiny Panels.  The section also co-ordinated a number of informal or partnership meetings.  This equated to over 200 meetings a year for which they arranged suitable dates, prepared agendas, co-ordinated report approval, circulated documents, draft minutes, recorded decisions and attendances and published appropriate information on the various websites.

The Committee Section also administered the Council’s Scheme of Delegation handling approximately 210 decisions a month or 2533 decisions per year.  The section also provided quarterly Corporate Training in the administration of the Scheme of Delegation, and regular updates to the register of Gifts and Hospitality for Officers. The section also co-ordinated the delivery of the webcasting facility for the Authority.

The Head of Democratic Services explained that much of the support provided to Elected Members was undertaken by other Departments and Directorates although the provision of this support was co-ordinated by the Democratic Services Team.

He provided a list of the networks the Democratic Services team participated in such as the Member Support Officer (MSO)/Member Development Champions Network, the Regional and National Scrutiny Champions and Scrutiny Officers Networks and the National, Regional and Local Networks for Modern.gov Users.

The Head of Democratic Services outlined the key tasks for the Democratic Services team over the next 12 months including providing the highest possible level of support to Elected Members using the available resources, completing the Elected Member induction, determining and delivery of the Member Development Programme, reviewing the Member Referral process and delivering effective scrutiny using the new scrutiny model and undertaking a review in April 2018.

Members referred to the email sent to members regarding the survey of meeting times and dates and asked if the timing of member development sessions could be included in the survey.

The Head of Democratic Services confirmed that the survey did include member development options and he explained that when the responses were received, a report would be presented to Council and future plans would be adjusted if required.

A member suggested that it would be helpful if information contained within the report was published on the website for members to access in future.     

RESOLVED:             The Democratic Services Committee noted the content     

                                  of the report.