Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

To note that at the Annual Meeting, Council resolved that Councillor Rob Davies be appointed as Chair of the Committee.

The committee formally noted that following the Annual Meeting, Councillor Rob Davies be appointed as Chair of the Committee.

The committee formally noted that following the Annual Meeting, Councillor Rob Davies be appointed as Chair of the Committee.

To appoint a Vice-Chair for the Committee.

That Councillor Steve Copple be appointed as Vice Chair of the committee.

The Chair sought nominations for the appointment of Vice-Chair     

Councillor Bernie Attridge proposed Councillor Steve Copple.  This was seconded by Councillor Antony Wren.

As there were no other nominations this was carried unanimously.

RESOLVED:

That Councillor Steve Copple be appointed as Vice Chair of the committee.

To receive any Declarations and advise Members accordingly.

No Declarations were received.

            In response to a question raised by Councillor Bernie Attridge, the Chief Officer (Governance) clarified that Agenda item 6 related to Councillor roles and that generally Councillors would not need to declare an interest. This would only be required if a Councillor had a previous criminal conviction as they would be in a different position to the rest of the committee and would need to declare a different level of interest than a personal interest.

RESOLVED:

No Declarations were received.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 15 March 2023.

That the minutes be approved as a correct record.

Theminutes of the meeting held on 15 March 2023 were approved as moved and seconded by Councillors Steve Copple and Ian Hodge

RESOLVED:

That the minutes be approved as a correct record.

That the Council should undertake DBS checks on Councillors as follows:

(a)     Enhanced checks (without barred lists) of Members acting as

(a) Cabinet Members

(b) Members of the adoption and fostering panels

(b)     Standards checks for

(a) Members of the Education and Youth Overview and Scrutiny Committee; and

(b)  Members of the Social and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

(c)     That lobbying through professional networks and the WGLA for changes to the legislation to enable an enhanced level of checks in respect of all Councillors given the vulnerable nature of the people they serve

In presenting the report the Chief Officer (Governance) outlined the context and low level of risk of the issues being discussed. A great deal of vetting was caried out informally prior to candidates being elected, which included the formal step of the signing the Declaration prior to being able to stand for election. This would dissuade some people from standing. It was important to protect the vulnerable, the reputation of the Council and the role of Councillor.

            The Chief Officer outlined the level of disclosure that Councillors would expect and the legal complexities which were included in the report. It was a balance between the right to know, the privacy of an individual and rehabilitation which was enshrined within legislation and limited the Council’s ability to obtain disclosure. Information on the three levels of checks was located at point 1.01 in the report with the enhanced level required for Cabinet, Adoption and Foster Panels because of the sensitive information which would be shared. The Chief Officer (Governance) then referred to point 1.07 of the report saying that standard checks should be obtained for those Councillors sitting the Education Youth & Culture and Social & Health Care Overview & Scrutiny Committees as they discharged functions of the Council. For the other Councillors who did not hold any of these roles then the basic checks would be sufficient.

            It was explained that the results of the checks would be sent to the Chief Officer (Governance) as Monitoring Officer and he would ensure that they remained confidential. If however it was identified that a member had a conviction which would make them unsuitable for their role, then discussions would be held with the Cabinet Member or Group Leader. The Chief Officer had no mandate to decide who sat on Cabinet or the Scrutiny Committees, this would depend on the co-operation of the Leader and Group Leaders. If it was identified that a Councillor, who had been convicted and sentenced to more than three months in prison, should not have been eligible to stand in the first place, then notification of this would be given to the Chief Executive, as the Returning Officer, and to their Group Leader. This would mean that they were disqualified by reason of having a conviction, that their role became vacant and a by-election would need to be held. A report would be sent to the Ombudsman’s office and a process would be followed with independent and impartial consideration of that person’s privacy. This information would remain confidential, with access restricted following the guidance which had been set by legislation.

            Councillor Bernie Attridge fully supported this very important report. He asked if the Chief Officer had taken advice from other Monitoring Officers to ascertain what other authorities were doing with regard to the enhanced DBS checks and if the WLGA could take this to the next level. He also suggested lobbying Welsh Government (WG) to enable changes in the guidance so that DBS checks were carried out for every local member every  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

(a)      That a ‘training needs analysis’ was undertaken of all Members by the Democratic Service Manager to better inform future development programmes.

(b)      That if Members had any suggestions for future development, they were invited to contact the Democratic Services Manager to discuss them.

(c)       That a draft training and development plan was brought back to the Committee meeting in September.

            In presenting the report the Democratic Services Manager referred to the successful Member Induction Programme which was delivered following the last Election. It was proposed to deliver a more targeted, thematic programme which would benefit Members. The WLGA were reviewing their framework which was hoped to be re-introduced within the next 12 months. Appendix 1 of the report outlined the topics which were discussed in the induction sessions and it was planned to re-visit some of the sessions to refresh and update where any changes had been made. He referred Members to point 1.05 of the report which highlighted some of the generic topics which could be included in the programme and outlined the five key areas, skills based, organisational knowledge, ethics, service or topic based and regulatory or technical sessions. The Democratic Services Manager sought Members views on what topics they thought would be beneficial and included on the training programme.

            Councillor Roz Mansell asked how much the training sessions cost. It was confirmed the sessions would be delivered by specific officers with free sessions provided Data Cymru on data management and carbon literacy training. The sessions would be free with any small cost to the Council. Most of the sessions would be delivered in house.

            Councillor Gina Maddison referred to the lone working policy and asked if this would be included in the Safeguarding training or did the Council have a lone work policy which could be shared with Councillors. The Democratic Services Manager confirmed the WLGA were focussing on sessions for this within their Framework. The Council did have a Lone Working Policy for different areas of work and he agreed to take this back as an Action. Health & Safety and Safeguarding for Members was part of the schedule and development process for the coming 12 months and beyond.

            Councillor Bernie Attridge sought clarification that it was this Committee which identified items for the Members Training Programme and asked if any training sessions agreed would be presented to full council for adoption. He asked how other Members put forward suggestions for their training needs if they were not on this Committee and commented that the Standards Committee had requested more guidance around social media. He felt it was important that the guidance was given as soon as possible as social media was a useful tool to use with the correct guidance.

            The Democratic Services Manager reported that the guidance from Welsh Government (WG) under the Local Government Elections Act stated that the Constitution and Democratic Services Committee was responsible for the training programme for Members. The Act also stipulated that Members had Individual Development Plans with regular reviews of their training schedule and needs to ensure Members were equipped with the right skills.

            The Chief Officer (Governance) agreed with the comments made around the Training Programme. Previously discussions had been held at the start of committee meetings to enable Members to suggest ideas for training on specific themes which would be beneficial to them. This could be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

(a)     That the Forward Work Programme, as amended, be noted; and

(b)     That the Democratic Services Manager, in consultation with the Committee Chairman, be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings, as the need arises.

            The Democratic Services Manager introduced the report and provided an overview of the items which had been included for the committee. Members of the committee were encouraged to suggest further items for inclusion on the Forward Work Programme which would be developed over time.

The recommendations within the report were moved by Councillor Bernie Attridge and seconded by Councillor Ian Hodge

RESOLVED:

(a)     That the Forward Work Programme, as amended, be noted; and

(b)     That the Democratic Services Manager, in consultation with the Committee Chairman, be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings, as the need arises.

There were no members of the press or public present.

There were no members of the press or public present.