Issue - meetings

Members gave consideration to the Member Development Annual Report 2020/21 which reviewed Member Development activity for the past 12 months and set out relevant actions into the Civic Year 2022/23.

Section 2 of the report summarised the Development Sessions held October 2020 – September 2021.  Overall, attendance at Member Development sessions for the period had increased, with some sessions seeing over 30% attendance. This was an increase on previous years and was considered to be as a result of sessions being held online, reducing travel time.

Section 3 of the report set out the focus for the next Member Development Group, this being the delayed roll out of Learning Pool and early preparations for the 2023 Full Induction Programme. Finally, Section 4 set out a proposed timetable of activity for the Member Development Group, including reports to its parent Committee, up until December 2022.

Debate ensued and in response to questions Officers confirmed a number of the sessions had been open to Parish Councils. This had initially been attended well, the most recent sessions less so.  Parishes had been provided with advance notification of the sessions, with repeaters issued in the Parish News.  Training slides had been made available to all Parish and Town Clerks.

Members considered further work could be undertaken to improve the engagement and relationships between the District Council and its Parishes, reminding Members the focus of this report was Member Development for District Councillors.   

Members welcomed the introduction of Learning Pool, an on-line training platform for Members, which had long been an aspiration.

RESOLVED that: -

(a)     the report be accepted as an accurate reflection of Member Development for the period October 2020 to September 2021; and

(b)     the proposed action plan regarding future development sessions and initial preparations for the 2023 Full Induction be supported.