The Head of Democratic Services presented a report updating the Democratic Services Committee on the performance of services provided to Elected Members.

He outlined the current position with member referrals and referred members to tables which showed that 96.79% of 13880 referrals had been completed since November 2011 and that 72.3% of all referrals fell within the Communities directorate.

He explained that between 8 May 2017 and 30 June 2017, 961 referrals were made which compared to 258 for the same period in 2016 and to 518 in the last post-election period in 2012. This was a very heavy workload and provisional plans were being considered to update the referrals system.

The Head of Democratic Services referred to a table showing member induction activities held since the election and highlighted the fact that all members had to attend the Intro to Local Government & Code of Conduct training but to date, only 72% had attended. He corrected the total attendance figure for the Active Travel Plans from 18 to 16 and referred members to the programme of member development sessions scheduled for delivery this year. He also introduced a list of topics being considered for inclusion in the programme and asked members to prioritise three topics and identify any additional topics for delivery.

Members agreed the Community Action Fund, the E-Learning Modules and ICT Training for Members for inclusion in the programme and suggested that it would be useful to have training on the procedure at Council meetings at the next Pre-Council briefing as  it would be useful to clarify the various processes such as follow-up questions etc. Members agreed that Protocols at Council meetings, update on the Awen Trust and Halo should be listed for Pre-Council briefings for the next few months.

Members discussed Code of Conduct training and that attendance of the course was also a requirement for Community Councillors. Some had received an email offering training from other organisations and they were advised to attend BCBC training if available.

Members asked how the Community Action Fund was administered and if not used during the year, could it accumulate to be used in a later year. The Head of Democratic Services explained that it was £5,000 allocated to each member to spend within their ward and if it was not used before the end of the financial year it was returned to the “corporate pot”. The application process was simple and on completion of the relevant paperwork a confirmation e-mail would be sent and the funds would be transferred into an appropriate bank account. Funds could not be allocated to a group if there was a personal or prejudicial interest. A report was being presented to Council which would finalise how and when the fund could be used and training sessions would be arranged to provide more detail.

Members queried the level of importance of certain meetings and if they could only attend one, they would prefer to attend one of high importance. The Head of Democratic Services referred to the survey and said that future meeting times would reflect the outcome of the survey and that might make it easier to attend more meetings.  He added that an e-learning facility was being developed and he would e-mail members when it was available. This would allow members to undergo corporate and mandatory training online, a certificate would be issued upon completion and their HR record updated. He explained that there were presentations for most topics and these were posted online so that if a member was unable to attend they could still read the presentation.

The Head of Democratic Services referred members to the WLGA Regional Induction Training for new members on 10 November in the Swansea Marriott and the second option on 17 November at the Cardiff All Nations Centre for some new members. He outlined the Development Control Committee training sessions held at 12.45 on the day of Development Control Committee.

He advised the Committee that all Elected Members were provided with the opportunity to complete an Annual Report for the previous year’s activities but all senior salary holders were expected to complete annual reports. A sample of the report template was included in the papers for information. Details of the number of members who had published their Annual Reports were reported to the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales.

Annual Reports were published on the BCBC website but following the introduction of welsh standards, there was a requirement for reports to be translated. The cost of this could not be justified and so Annual Reports were removed from the web although the facility to use the template to create reports was still available. A member asked if in house translators were used. He was advised that there was a framework in place which was also used by other authorities that had their own translation unit.

The Head of Democratic Services explained the background to webcasting and respective viewing information including the figures following the change of webcasting provider in October 2016. In 2012 all Councils were given £40,000 to get webcasting systems up and running. A number of authorities spent this in the first year however BCBC still had funds available for webcasting.  The webcasting equipment belonged to BCBC.

He explained the I-Call system, a check call management system designed to monitor and provide reassurance to people working alone. He asked for three volunteers for the I-Call trial and if the trial was successful it would be offered to all members in due course. Councillors B Sedgebeer, E Venables and K Rowlands agreed to trial the system.

The Head of Democratic Services outlined the budget for 2017-18 for Member training of £13,650. This included a sum to cover training from external providers and funding for individual training if required.

Following the elections, members were issued with an induction pack which included an ICT self-assessment survey. The outcome of the survey was detailed in the report. Members were also requested to identify any immediate ICT training needs and a provider was being sought to deliver the training.

The Head of Democratic Services explained the role of the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales and the visit planned for 22 September 2017.

Members were reminded of the importance of not sharing constituents data with Cabinet Members, MP’s or AM’s without first obtaining permission from the member of public. Members were advised to attend Data Protection Training.

Members asked if the social media training would be mandatory. The Head of Democratic Services explained that training had been provided in the past. All members had signed the ICT Code of Conduct and attended training so the Council was not responsible for the activities of members. A member suggested ad hoc training be provided because a number of members were already familiar with social media. The Head of Democratic Services explained that this could be expensive and there would probably be a broad sweep or multiple sessions. 

RESOLVED:            The Democratic Services Committee noted the content                        

                                 of the report and

1.    Agreed additional topics for pre-Council briefings and prioritised them accordingly.

2.    Agreed additional member development topics for inclusion in the Member Development Programme and prioritised them accordingly.

3.    Agreed that Cllrs B Sedgebeer, E Venables and K Rowlands trial the I-Call system.