Issue - meetings
Results of the Survey on the Production of Councillor Newsletters
Meeting: 04/09/2023 - Standards Committee (Item 24)
24 Results of the Survey on the Production of Councillor Newsletters 
PDF 103 KB
Each Council term we survey Members to see
whether they need/want to use Council resources to publish their
Ward Newsletters. This report is to provide the results of that
survey.
Additional documents:
- Enc. 1 for Results of the Survey on the Production of Councillor Newsletters, item 24
PDF 43 KB
- Enc. 2 for Results of the Survey on the Production of Councillor Newsletters, item 24
PDF 61 KB
- Webcast for Results of the Survey on the Production of Councillor Newsletters
Decision:
(a) That the current protocol prohibiting the use of council IT to produce councillor’s newsletters remained in place.
(b) That councillors were made aware of the provision that they can produce an annual report that will be published on the council’s website.
Minutes:
In presenting the report the Monitoring Officer outlined that work which was being undertaken looking at the rolling review of the Constitution document, which included Codes and Protocols. The Protocol for Councillor Newsletters currently stated that council resources were not used to produce these, with councillors producing their own as it allowed more freedom to express their views and political points. He explained the protocol was developed following a survey of councillors and that this survey was repeated to establish if this was still their view. Only thirteen responses had been received with the majority not wishing to use council resources. The Monitoring Officer outlined the options for the committee to consider which were to re-affirm the protocol on that basis, to go back to councillors to see if a greater response could be achieved to the survey or to amend the survey.
Councillor Andrew Parkhurst proposed that the exiting protocol be re-affirmed. Councillor Anthony Wren seconded this.
RESOLVED
(a) That the current protocol prohibiting the use of council IT to produce councillor’s newsletters remained in place.
(b) That councillors were made aware of the provision that they can produce an annual report that will be published on the council’s website.