Venue: Committee Room A - County Hall, Llandrindod Wells, Powys. View directions
Contact: Carol Johnson 01597 826206
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Apologies for Absence To receive apologies for absence. Minutes: Apologies were received from County Councillors D. Bailey and G.J. Bowker and County Councillor M.J. Jones who was on other council business. It was noted that a number of new members had been appointed to the Committee at the Annual meeting in May. County Councillor D. Mayor, a newly appointed member, had sent his apologies as he had already got diary commitments.
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Election of Vice Chair To elect a Vice Chair for the ensuing year. Minutes: RESOLVED that County Councillor L.V. Corfield be elected as the Vice Chair for the ensuing year.
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Minutes of Previous Meeting(s) PDF 68 KB To authorise the Chair to sign the minutes of the previous meeting of the Committee held on 30th March, 2016 as a correct record. Minutes: The Chair was authorised to sign the minutes of the meeting held on 30th March, 2016 as a correct record.
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Declarations of Interest To receive and consider declarations of interests from Members relating to items to be considered on the agenda. Minutes: There were no declarations of interest.
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Matters relating to Democratic Services Issues PDF 75 KB To consider the report of the Head of Democratic Services. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Committee considered the report from the Head of Democratic Services [copy filed with the signed minutes.]
1. Public Participation at Council meetings
The Head of Democratic Services advised that following the request of Council a review had been undertaken to establish whether other Welsh Authorities allowed public participation at Council meetings. As a result a draft document containing principles which could be developed into a protocol had been developed. It was noted that a discussion was needed with the Cabinet to consider if it wished to have public participation at its meetings before the protocol was extended to the Cabinet.
The Committee considered the issues and agreed: · That questions should be asked of Cabinet Members and Chairs of Committees at Council meetings · Questions could be asked by letter/email and supplementary questions would be made verbally at Council meetings · Questions should be submitted no later than 10 working days prior to the meeting date and the requestor would have to submit their name and address. · The reasons for refusing questions was noted but it was agreed that people should be advised of the complaints process and the public participations process should not be used in its place · The Chair would however have discretion regarding the questions taken · Questions would be asked at the beginning of Council meetings · Questions and answers in written form would be included on an agenda and a verbal supplementary question could be asked and answered at the meeting. The person submitting the question would not be required to read out the question at the meeting. Time limits for this would be 1 minute for the supplementary question to be asked and 3 to 4 minutes for the response. A maximum of 20 minutes would be made available for this part of the agenda · One question per requestor would be taken at each meeting and an individual requestor would be allowed to submit a maximum of two questions per council year. · Any questions not added to the agenda would be added to a list for future meetings, unless due to the time lapse the question had been overtaken by events or the requestor asked that it not be taken. All questions which were not rejected would receive a written response, even if the requestor was not invited to attend the meeting. These questions and responses would be published on the council’s website with the agenda for the Council meeting. This response would count towards the total number of questions which could be asked in a year. Rejected questions would not be publicised or available for inspection. · Consent issues would need to be included in the protocol as Council meetings were webcast and requestors needed to understand that their question would be made public. · The system would be trialed at a Council meeting and then reviewed by the DSC.
It was noted that the public would need clear guidance of any system introduced and be advised that the Council meetings are webcast. The trial would need to be ... view the full minutes text for item DSC17 - 2016 |
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Elected Members Trent Self Service Utilisation PDF 111 KB Minutes: On reconvening the meeting, County Councillor D.R. Price was absent for the following item. County Councillor W.T. Jones attended the meeting for this item.
Elected Members Trent Self Service Utilisation
County Councillor W.T. Jones, Portfolio Holder for Finance thanked the Chair for allowing the report to be added to the Agenda. It was noted that the Members’ use of the Trent Self Service system, for claiming travel expenses, had reduced. By using the system the Council could save approx. £3000k and officers’ time could be better used in promoting the service to other potential users. The Portfolio Holder advised that training would be provided at Shire meetings in September/ October 2016 to support current members in using the system and training would be included in the Induction Programme for new members after the 2017 election.
The Committee suggested that the staff in the Member Support Unit be trained to provide support to Members in using the system and in response to a question the Portfolio Holder advised he would establish whether an automatic email reminder could be sent to Members every month reminding them to submit claims.
In response to a comment the Portfolio Holder advised that during this period of reducing services to the public, Members had been affected little by the cuts. It was important that they used modern practices which meant that savings could be made.
The Committee supported the Portfolio Holders’ approach.
Councillor D.R. Price returned to the meeting room.
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Member Development Working Group PDF 56 KB To receive the notes of the Member Development Working Group held on 11th March, 2016. Minutes: The Committee received the notes of the Member Development Working Group held on 11th March, 2016.
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Joint Chairs and Vice Chairs Steering Group PDF 82 KB To receive the notes of the meetings held on 18th March and 12th April, 2016. Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee received the notes of the Joint Chairs and Vice Chairs Steering Group held on 18th March and 12th April, 2016.
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