The Committee was informed that the Corporate Governance Improvement Plan listed two broad areas of activity:

(a)   informal discussions with Members to capture areas of development and concern; and

(b)   development activities which enable Members to more robustly undertake their roles and responsibilities.

Councillor T Harney, in his capacity as Chair of the Member Training Steering Group (MTSG), reported that the Group’s remit was to drive and lead activity around the development of all Councillors.  Activity over the previous twelve months had focussed on delivering a training programme designed to meet the learning and development needs of Elected Members as identified through the completion of Personal Development Plans.

The Group had considered the draft Programme to achieve improvements in Corporate Governance and a proposed action plan at its meeting on 11 November 2011 and a copy of its proposals, including its role in supporting the delivery of the Corporate Governance Improvement Plan and subsequent actions it was willing to take was circulated at the meeting for the Committee’s information.

It was proposed that the role of MTSG in supporting the delivery of the Corporate Governance Improvement Plan would be to:

·  assess what  is required to support the improvement programme from a Member development perspective;

·  make recommendations to the Council’s Corporate Governance Committee on Member Development needs/activities;

·  feedback wider aspects of the Group’s work to the Council’s Corporate Governance Committee;

·  act as a conduit for ideas and suggestions made by other Councillors in relation to Member development; and

·  develop a new Corporate Governance Development Programme for all Members.

Councillor Harney told the Committee that in order to perform its role, the Group wished to increase the frequency of its meetings so as to reflect the meeting cycle of the Corporate Governance Committee.  The Committee was also informed that the proposed actions for MTSG were as follows:

Step 1 -  informal telephone conversations with all Members to establish individual learning and development needs in the context of Corporate Governance potentially supplemented by two Focus Groups by 9 December 2011.

Step 2 -  collate and evaluate responses from informal telephone conversations & Focus Groups by 16 December 2011;

Step 3 -  design a Corporate Governance Development Programme for all Members which shall be commenced in January 2012;

Step 4 -  evaluate the Corporate Governance Development Programme to determine its effectiveness (and identify any emerging development needs) by June 2012; and

Step 5 -  revise (if appropriate) and incorporate the Corporate Governance Development Programme into the Council’s mainstream Member development agenda in June 2012.

The Committee was also provided with copies of the proposed script/questions for the Corporate Governance Development Needs Analysis for consideration.  The aim was to involve all Members and receive a response from all Members.  This was also considered a good way to identify Members, with relevant expertise, who may wish to make a contribution.  After some debate iIt was agreed that the questionnaire would be subject to some minor revisions to remove jargon etc.

The Committee turned its attention to the introduction and considered it important to make it as full as possible so that Members were made aware of exactly what was happening within the Council to bring about the required improvements.  It agreed that Corporate Governance should be defined and it should be set out, in advance, exactly what it was hoped could be achieved in respect of Members’ capacity.  The Committee also questioned whether a telephone was the best way to draw out the information required and whether Members’ aspirations should be raised in respect of training that could be provided.  It was noted that it was difficult to engage with Members on training and development issues because of their other commitments.  Some would prefer that contact was made with them by electronic means whilst others preferred the telephone.  This was all about options and a lengthy discussion ensured about the best way to approach it.  The three Political Group Leaders confirmed that they were happy to sign a letter to all Members encouraging them to engage with the Corporate Governance Development Needs Analysis.

The Committee proposed that it would be very useful to send out the slides, from the presentation made on the Corporate Governance Report by AKA, to all Members.  This presentation had included good examples of Corporate Governance and it would serve to remind Members exactly what AKA had identified.  They could then think about this and what they required, in terms of their training and development needs.

Members considered the proposals in detail and the opportunities to share other local authority’s best practice.  They were of the view that the original role of a Councillor should be looked at, along with the required competencies and these should be assess against this best practice.  They also agreed that it would be helpful for Officers to carry out this work.

RESOLVED: That

(1)  a letter be sent to all Members of the Council, signed by all three Political Group Leaders, asking for their co-operation with the Corporate Governance Development Needs Analysis, explaining what is happening, including the support which is being offered by the LGA;

(2)  at the same time as the letter at (1) above is despatched to Members an electronic version of the survey for Members to complete, will be circulated with background information, including the AKA presentation;

(3)  Members not wishing to respond to the survey electronically will be offered the option of telephoning an Officer to relay their answers to the set questions orally;

(4)  Members who do not respond, electronically or by telephone, to the survey, by a date to be agreed, will be contacted by an Officer as a reminder; and

(5)  the MTSG be thanked for its work on the Corporate Governance Development Needs Analysis.