Agenda and draft minutes
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Apologies for Absence and Declarations of Interest To receive apologies for absence and declarations of interest. Minutes: Apologies were received from Cllr Felton. No declarations were made. |
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Minutes of the Previous Meeting To consider the minutes of the previous meeting. Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 10 May 2018 were received and signed by the Chairman as a correct record. |
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Public Engagement Working Group Report To consider the Public Engagement Working Group report. Minutes: The Chairman referred to the importance of Member induction and the need for refresher training throughout a councillor’s term of office. Members in the group cited differing experiences of their training.
In response to a question form the Chairman, The Assistant Director – Corporate Services referred to an online document called ‘Be a Councillor’ that provided information to people who were interested in standing as a councillor to ascertain what was involved. https://beacouncillor.co.uk/resources/
Members identified the following points as being beneficial to a Member’s development, based on their own experiences and ideas; · Being allocated a ‘buddy officer’ from the council. · Being shown around the building during induction and then again a few weeks later. · Guidance from other experienced Councillors was a valuable contribution. · To encourage attendance of all Councillors at training sessions, both the new and re-elected, to ensure all were kept informed as things change. · Ongoing training for specific committees. · Commitment to a 4-year training programme. · Meeting etiquette.
The group spoke about National Democracy Week and European Local Democracy Week and the role that Councillors played in educating the local children in schools, and local guiding groups, for example with school visits or having classes come to the council offices.
Councillor Light asked about the premise of Democracy Week and the group discussed that there was not a lot of information available and that this had somewhat been ‘over taken’ by ‘Our Day’ and that there was merit in reinvigorating this next year. It was discussed that this would be the ideal time to get Councillors out to schools etc.
Discussion was had as to whether the responsibility lay with officers or Councillors to arrange for these visits.
Councillor Redfern said she thought that it was the responsibility of Councillors to arrange their own visits to schools, due to resource concerns if officers were to do this for them.
Councillor Fairhurst said that it was good to have the backing of the Council and the Chief Executive offered support where required.
Members discussed the implementation of an extensive public engagement campaign in the context of the approaching election in May 2019. As Members didn’t want to commit the incoming council to a budgetary expenditure of £20,000, it was agreed that the correct approach would be for the campaign to be reconsidered in the municipal year of 2019/20, following the elections. It was felt that they should be focussing on appendix A – Current Engagement Methods, and work on doing things better rather than embarking on a new strategy at this point.
The Chief Executive said that the coming election would provide opportunities for much public engagement. It would be a great time to have an essential conversation regarding what the public wanted from their councillors and to feedback that information into a public engagement focus group.
Councillor Light suggested a pilot scheme.
The Chief Executive said that new Members would have new ideas which could shape the engagement programme and that this section highlighted a timing issue and ... view the full minutes text for item 3. |