Agenda item

That the arrangements made for a trial of remote attendance and webcasting at the meeting of the Democratic Services Committee and the Constitution Committee be noted. 

The Democracy and Governance Manager introduced a report to inform Members of the arrangements for remote attendance and webcasting to be trialled at the meeting of the Democratic Services Committee and at the Constitution Committee meeting that was to follow. 

 The Democracy and Governance Manager provided background information and advised that the final guidance relating to remote attendance had yet to be published by the Welsh Government (WG).  He explained that there were no legal provisions relating to the webcasting of meetings but the WG viewed it as a way of making Council meetings more accessible.  He said a questionnaire would be distributed to Members following the meeting to seek their views on their experiences of the remote attendance and webcasting of the meetings of the Democratic Services and Constitution Committees held today.  The Democracy and Governance Manager advised that a report on the final guidance received from the WG and feedback on the questionnaire would be provided to the next meeting of the Committee.

During discussion Members expressed a number of views which were in support of and against the remote attendance and webcasting of Council meetings. 

Members commented on the cost of providing remote attendance and webcasting of meetings and referred to the financial challenges faced by the Authority and the pressure to maintain current services.  Councillor George Hardcastle raised concerns around ongoing funding to meet the costs for future provision for the remote attendance and webcasting of meetings.  The Head of Legal and Democratic Services advised that Flintshire had received grant funding from the WG to enable it to investigate the use of remote attendance and webcasting of meetings.  Conditions had been attached to the grant and failure to meet them would have made the grant repayable to the WG.   The Democracy and Governance Manager said he would provide a report to the next meeting of the Committee on the financial implications for the ongoing costs for providing remote attendance and webcasting of the Council’s  meetings. 

In response to a question from Councillor Owen Thomas concerning accessibility to the webcasting of meetings the Head of Legal and Democratic Services explained  that the webcasting of meetings would be available to the general public on the Council’s website.  The intention of the WG was to increase accessibility of the workings of local government.

Members raised further queries and concerns around the additional costs of staff time, translation facilities, and quality of sound and visual equipment. 

Councillor Arnold Woolley raised concerns around the number of Members who could potentially be in remote attendance at a meeting.  He also commented on the issue of substitutions and asked how the necessary paperwork would be submitted before the start of the meeting if a Member was in remote attendance. 

Councillor Clive Carver also commented on the possibility of more Members attending a meeting remotely than physically.  He also expressed concerns in relation to the possible unofficial recording and webcasting  of meetings.  In response to the concerns raised around more Members attending a meeting remotely than physically, the Democracy and Governance Manager advised that the quorum rules for meetings had been amended to comply with the legislation that there must be a majority of Members physically present at a meeting for it to be quorate

Officers noted the concerns raised around webcasting of meetings and commented that it was for Members to decide at a future date whether they wished to invest in the provision of remote attendance and webcasting of meetings or not. 

RESOLVED:

That the arrangements made for a trial of remote attendance and webcasting at the meeting of the Democratic Services Committee and the Constitution Committee be noted.