Agenda item

To receive a Motion on Print free Council

That the recommendations and minutes of the meeting to be forwarded to Cabinet

            The Chair invited Councillor Rose as proposer of this motion to speak.   Councillor Rose thanked the IT Infrastructure Manager for the information he had provided which helped identify the 4.9m pages which had been printed by the Council in 2022.  He had not asked for the number of letters sent but the revision on what was printed which would impact the fiscal costs for paper income and postage also.  He said a 10g letter sent was responsible for 280g of carbon if the receiver recycled it and provided an example of an unnecessary letter recently sent to all Members.  There were 70 xerox printers within the Council which were currently up for review and he wanted to ensure that a reduction in the carbon footprint was considered within this review and not just the cost basis.

            The Cabinet Member referred to the exceptions for printing and felt more could be included.  He referred to a body which promoted tourism within Flintshire and advocated the leaflets they printed which highlighted the heritage aspects within Flintshire which could be placed in areas outside of the county to attract tourism. 

            Councillor Eastwood would have welcomed an officer report on this to understand how much paper was used, the electrical input used and answer questions on why xerox were used over inkjet printers.  An update from HR on the transition to a paperless Council would also have been useful.  She was supportive in general moving towards a paperless Council wherever possible but was concerned that some areas may have not been included.  She asked if the motion could include which printers were used in procurement and in house and referred to the Climate Change Strategy Action Plan item CCBe4 on the volume of paper used in printing services.

            Councillor Attridge, in attendance as an observer, concurred with the views of Councillor Eastwood saying that the lack of detail and officer involvement did not enable a debate on this.

            The Chair then provided information on the process of motions and how they were moved by Councillors.  Officers were able to provide advice before a decision was made in writing or in person at meetings.   He reiterated that this Committee did not have decision making powers on making recommendations or suggestions to Cabinet, for example, where more officer involvement would be provided.

            Councillor Marshall sought clarification on the energy consumption figures asking if they were based on fossil fuels and asked if solar panels were used to generate the electricity would this mean they did not generate carbon.   He then referred to the recent Council meeting where notices of motions were read from sheets of paper.  This did not fit into the restrictive category within the motion and asked if this should be expanded to included sheets used in the Council meetings. 

            Councillor Rose said this was looking at the Council’s activities and said that having something printed for an individual which was necessary for a meeting was different to the Council sending paper out which was unnecessary.  Cabinet had the authority to expand those areas but it was not possible to currently remove 100% of paper.

            The Chair spoke in favour of the motion saying it was for Cabinet to make and add more exemptions to the recommendations.  He felt that this was a good starting point for a discussion within the Council on unnecessary printing.  A lot of printing was undertaken corporately and he understood that there were cases where it was necessary and sensible to have printed backups especially for digital records.  The exemptions were broad and the Committee was asking Cabinet to set policy guidelines across the whole Council to reduce the amount of paper used and carbon generated producing and mailing it.

            The Programme Manager reported on the Member Workshops held in February 2019 and the Senior Leaders’ Academi held in March 2021 where feedback was received specific to paper use.  Members commented on the need to use less paper utilising iPads to reduce paper use.  Senior Leaders commented on the need to work paperless and force change to save energy and reduce waste in terms of none or less printing of documents and the development of online forms.  She the referred to CCBe4 in the Climate Change Action Plan which stated, “Facilitate transition towards a ‘paperless Council’ through, for example, digitisation of wage slips, report packs, contracts, applications.”  This was an ongoing body of work identifying large scale printing and assessing the options and feasibility for digitisation.  She said that through the Action Plan and the development of the Council’s Digital Strategy in 2022 changes were made to the way Members accessed meeting report packs with Members using an iPad and laptop to attend virtual meetings and view the report pack at the same time.  The report packs were not printed unless specially requested.  Further digitisation of current paper documents and forms was being reviewed within the Digital Strategy focussing on the digital customer, digital workforce, digital business and connectivity, digital information and data management and digital delivery.  She then outlined the restrictions on what could be digitised.  Moving to the printing policy she explained that each portfolio would need to be consulted to understand the service needs of the customer and ensure compliance with legislation was maintained.   The paper used by the council for printing was recyclable from sustainable paper sources with provision for recycling in offices and printer locations.  The printers utilised within the Council were currently under a hire contract with xerox and the Council was currently reviewing its stock of printers to reflect its needs moving forward.  Consumables were returned to Xerox as part of their recycling scheme and she outlined the work of the Xerox Green World Alliance. 

            The Chief Officer sought the Committee’s expectations on how it felt the motions should be reported to Cabinet.  If there was a trend for these, he felt that a process should be agreed.  He suggested that the minutes and resolutions be sent to Cabinet as the most effective way forward.  The Chair felt that when this Committee made recommendations that it was a matter for Cabinet to confirm how they wished to consider them, either by taking them forward or merely just to note them.

            Councillor Attridge felt that it was paramount that there should be a Legal Officer present at Climate Change Committee meetings to provide advice and for the protection of Members.

            The Chair said agendas were published well in advance and that it was the responsibility of the Head of Democratic Services to collect and collate motions and that all officers were welcome to attend this Committee.  Having seen the agenda the Monitoring Officer had made the decision not to attend this was not a Committee that he would routinely attend.  He asked the Committee if they would wish to adjourn to enable legal advice to be provided.

            Councillor Eastwood raised a point on recommendations to Cabinet as at the start of the meeting the presentation stated that this committee sat under the Environment & Economy Overview & Scrutiny Committee.  She was concerned about the Committee’s reputation in making recommendations which covered a lot of work which was already being undertaken by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee with no reference to it.  She put forward an amendment that the motion should be adjourned pending submission of an officer report detailing what was already being considered by other Committees.

            The Chair clarified that the Climate Change Committee did not sit under the Environment & Economy Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  He sought clarification on Councillor Eastwood’s amendment.  Councillor Eastwood suggested the recommendation be changed to “that an officer report be requested outlining the issues covered in the motion to enable to committee to evaluate and make a recommendation based on that report”.  This was seconded by Councillor Ian Hodge. 

Following a vote the amendment was lost.

            The Cabinet Member reiterated his earlier concerns saying the Committee had to recognise the workload of officers and prioritise suggestions for motions.

            The Chief Officer asked for clarity on the way forward saying that whatever the resolutions were, he suggested they would be included in the minutes and sent to Cabinet which was agreed.  The Chief Officer would forward the recommendations and minutes to Cabinet. 

On being put to the vote the motion was carried.

Flintshire County Council Climate Change Committee resolved:

The Committee recommended to Cabinet that a policy be implemented across all departments setting out that printing should only be considered where:

?     There is a statutory requirement to provide information in printed form.

?     A disabled staff member or service user requires material in printed form because they are disabled.

?     A staff member or service user required material in printed form because they are digitally excluded.

?     The relevant Chief Officer had directed that a paper backup of the document was necessary for service resilience, or

?     For the purposes of advertising a service or change in service to the public; and

?     That all paper, toners, inks and consumables procured be made of recycled materials and recycled after use.

·           The committee also called on the Cabinet to initiate an efficiency review of the current stock of printers owned or operated by the councilwith a view to rationalising these to the minimum strictly necessary.

RESOLVED:

That the recommendations and minutes of the meeting to be forwarded to Cabinet