Issue - meetings

That the Forward Work Programme be accepted with the inclusion of the item on mobile phones at the next meeting in June 2015.

The Internal Audit Manager presented the report to consider the Forward Work Programme for the next year.

Following earlier discussion, the Chairman requested that the report by the Head of IT on departmental mobile phone usage be prepared for the meeting in June 2015 if possible.

Councillor Alison Halford referred to the provision of iPads for all Council Members and spoke of the difficulty in viewing full pages of agendas without resorting to scrolling.  She pointed out that the officers present at this point in the meeting were in possession of hard copy agendas and requested that the same be provided to members of the Committee for future meetings, adding that this was not unreasonable due to the size of the membership.

The Democracy & Governance Manager stated that the Democratic Services Committee was a more appropriate forum for this topic and explained that the provision of iPads had resulted in significant savings in the printing and postage of hard copy agendas and that further training could be provided.

Whilst Councillor Ian Roberts appreciated the reduction in paperwork, he agreed that scrolling through lengthy agendas was an issue and that he had requested hard copy agendas specifically for chairing meetings.  He also referred to the potential difficulty for Council Members in rural areas to access information on their iPad due to limited broadband.

The Chairman drew attention to the availability of useful tools on the iPad to improve reading visibility, adding that it would be helpful for report writers to keep documents in portrait orientation wherever possible.

Councillor Glyn Banks commented on the timing of introducing iPads to Members and felt that the withdrawal of hard copy agendas appeared premature.

The Democracy & Governance Manager pointed out the availability of a small number of hard copy agendas in Members’ group rooms, and advised that a report relating to this subject was due to be considered at a future meeting of the Democratic Services Committee.

RESOLVED:

That the Forward Work Programme be accepted with the inclusion of the item on mobile phones at the next meeting in June 2015.