Agenda Item __
MEMBER TRAINING, DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT GROUP
Notes of a meeting held on Tuesday, 30 August 2011 at 11.00am in the Committee
Room, Council Offices, Holt Road, Cromer.
Members Present:
Working
Group:
Officers in
Attendance:
Philip High
Keith Johnson (Chairman)
John Lee
Barry Smith
Vivienne Uprichard
Julie Cooke, Emma Denny, Emma Duncan, Mary Howard, Rod Lee
1. ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN
As this was the first meeting of the Member Training, Development and Support Group in
2011/2012, Members were requested to elect a Chairman.
RESOLVED
that Councillor Keith Johnson be appointed Chair. Keith Johnson thanked the Group for
their support and suggested that a vice-chairman be elected at a future date. The Group
agreed.
2. APOLOGIES
No apologies were received
3. NOTES OF LAST MEETING
The notes of the last meeting held on 26 April 2011 were confirmed as a correct record.
4. BUDGET
Julie Cooke updated the Group on the Member Training budget for 2011/12. Just over
£5000 remained. Emma Duncan added that the budget had been under-utilised in recent
years as most of the training had been provided in-house. The Group now needed to
consider how training would be provided over the next four years. Julie Cooke said that
Members may also wish to consider making savings to the budget. Most of the money
spent from the current budget had been allocated to providing refreshments for training
courses. Members agreed that very little would be saved by not providing refreshments
for Members. Mary Howard added that lunch was provided for all-day training events and
that if withdrawn, Members would buy food from the canteen and then claim the cost
back.
Rod Lee said that the budget had initially been provided to fund external training
courses. It was possible that costs could be reduced by providing e-learning instead. The
Council had already paid for this service for staff and several of the general modules
were also relevant for Members.
Member Training, Development and
Support Working Group
30 August 2011
5. MEMBER INDUCTION PROGRAMME 2011
Emma Duncan outlined the induction programme. It was very focussed on what
Members wanted and the intention was to maintain the success of the initial induction
with a four-year rolling programme of training to ensure members were kept up-to-date
and to accommodate any new Members elected via a by-election. It was this future
programme of training that the Group now needed to consider.
The Chairman asked for clarification regarding responsibility for organising training
events. He highlighted two forthcoming events relating to planning issues which did not
appear on the Members’ Induction programme. Emma Duncan replied that individual
service areas delivered training tailored to their specific needs but that it was very useful
if the Member Training Development and Support Group (MTDS) was made aware of the
scheduling of such training to avoid a clash of events and flag it up for consideration as
part of future inductions. The Chairman suggested that the Corporate Diary could be
used as a facility for scheduling Members Training and also for checking that it did not
clash with any other Council events. It was agreed that this was a good idea. Emma
Duncan would check whether the Corporate Diary was fully operational and who was
responsible for maintaining it.
Emma Duncan referred the Group to the list of potential courses and the number of
Members who had expressed an interest in attending them. She asked Members to
consider which courses they would like to take forward and if there were any they would
like to add. The Group agreed the following:
a) Media training would be limited to Cabinet members and the Corporate
Management Team (CMT) but it would be useful for the Communications Manager
to write an article for the Members’ Bulletin advising all members on how to deal with
media enquiries.
b) The more general topics such as Health and Safety, Equality and Diversity and
Managing Meetings could be provided via e-learning resources as these were
already available to staff. The Members Bulletin would be used to signpost Members
to the relevant e-learning modules.
c) Some training courses could be joined together to save time and costs. Housing
Services could be linked with Council tax and Benefits and Surviving the First Year
could be tied in with Public Speaking and Committees. Coastal Issues could be
covered by training on the Local Economy.
d) Training courses should be more information-based rather than skills-based.
Barry Smith raised the issue of mentoring. This had been discussed by the previous
MTDS Group and could provide a solution to the training needs of new Members during
their first year in office. Emma Duncan agreed that mentoring was very effective.
However, the previous Group had concerns regarding the political implications and felt
that it should be handled by the political groups. Philip High added that he had
supported two new Members in relation to licensing matters and he felt that mentoring
was very useful – regardless of political grouping. Vivienne Uprichard said that she also
had an unofficial mentor. Julie Cooke suggested that it might be useful for Members to
see a practical example of where mentoring had worked. It was agreed that the best
vehicle for this would be the Members’ Bulletin.
The issue of Outside Bodies was discussed. Barry Smith felt that Members wanted
further advice and training in this area. Emma Duncan explained that information sheets
on each body had been produced prior to the orientation day to provide Members with
information on the aims of the Body, contact details and when and where meetings were
held. The relationship between Members and the bodies that they sat on would need to
Member Training, Development and
Support Working Group
30 August 2011
be monitored to ensure that both were benefitting from the arrangement. The Chairman
added that Cabinet was reviewing all Outside Bodies.
6. TERMS OF REFERENCE AND FUTURE DIRECTION OF GROUP
Rod Lee provided an overview of the Group’s activities from 2009 – 2011. There were a
few issues that needed to be addressed by the new MTDS Group:
1. The training and development needs identified by the previous Group in October
2010
2. Identifying any new training needs that may have emerged since the election in May
2011
3. Reviewing the Council’s commitment to achieving the Charter for Member
Development
The Group felt that the issue of future training needs had been covered earlier in the
meeting. As far as the Member Charter was concerned, Rod Lee advised that members
should read the accompanying documentation thoroughly before reaching a decision. He
suggested that it might be helpful if he brought a statement of the Council’s current
position regarding attainment of the Charter to the next meeting. The Group agreed that
this was a good idea. Emma Duncan requested that he also provide a cost breakdown in
terms of the time taken to deliver. She added that a commitment to the Member Charter
could change the direction of MTDS, particularly the introduction of Personal
Development Plans.
Julie Cooke said that Members might not want to use the whole framework but could
choose elements of it that could be useful and adapt them to suit the needs of North
Norfolk Members. By taking that option, the Council could still show they were committed
to the improvement of member training.
Barry Smith asked if there was a target date for achieving the Member Charter. Rod Lee
said that the Group would need to reassess the existing target date but the Group could
choose to achieve the Charter over a longer period of time if they wished. In response to
a further question regarding the benefit of the Charter to the Council, Rod Lee replied
that it would result in accreditation and show other local authorities and members of the
public that the Council was committed to training its Members to a high standard. Julie
Cooke suggested that Members from other district councils that had already achieved
the Member Charter could be invited to come and share their experiences with the
Group and offer advice on the changes they needed to make to achieve the
accreditation. Rod Lee added that it was possible that the Council had already met some
of the criteria required by the Charter but there were one or two major issues that
needed to be addressed. He agreed to prepare a report on progress to date for the next
meeting and to get feedback from other local authorities.
Members then considered the Terms of Reference for the MTDS Group which were last
reviewed in July 2005:
1. Representation on the Member Training Development and Support Group to be on
non political lines and should include Members and Officers on a 4:4 ratio.
2. The future role and objectives of the Member Training Development and Support
Group should include:
a) the delivery of the currently agreed Training Programme
b) to support the delivery of a Human Resources Strategy and Workforce Development
Plan
c) to develop an Induction Programme for the new Council following Elections in 2007,
including the recruitment of candidates on a non political basis.
Member Training, Development and
Support Working Group
30 August 2011
d) to act as support for the structural changes to the North Norfolk Community
Partnership and the devolvement to area based 3 tier Partnership Working. And
focus on appropriate training for Members towards strengthening their Community
Leadership role.
It was agreed that the following would be removed from the Terms of Reference:
a) The requirement for a ratio for membership of the Group
b) The inclusion of a date in relation to the Induction Programme
c) The role of supporting the North Norfolk Community Partnership and area based 3
tier partnership working.
Julie Cooke suggested that 2a ‘the delivery of a Human Resources Strategy and
Workforce Development Plan’ should be organised on similar lines to the Corporate
Training Plan. The Human Resources Strategy and Workforce Development Plan was
still being finalised. The Group agreed that it should stay within the Terms of Reference
and that Julie would provide an update on any progress at the next meeting.
RESOLVED
To recommend to Cabinet the revised Terms of Reference, subject to the amendments
agreed at the meeting of the Member Training, Development and Support Group on 30
August 2011
7. WORK PROGRAMME
The Group agreed to meet on a quarterly basis. Mary Howard said she would look at
possible dates and circulate them to members. The future work programme would focus
on:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Setting and developing a training programme for elected Members
Considering the feasibility of attaining the Member Charter
A Bi-annual review of the Induction Programme
E-learning opportunities
Barry Smith asked for further information about e-learning, he pointed out that it had
been discussed by the Group several times in the past but nothing had come to fruition.
Julie Cooke replied that e-learning programmes took considerable time to set up but that
it was now underway at the Council via the Corporate Training Plan and this could be
made available to Members too. Rod Lee added that there were about 20 titles currently
available for staff to use.
The Meeting closed at 12.35pm
______________________
Chairman
Member Training, Development and
Support Working Group
30 August 2011