Report of the Head of Human Resources
Member Training and Development – Update
1
Background
At the meeting of the Human Resource Cabinet Working Group in
October 2005 a report was considered regarding the North West
Charter for Elected Member Development.
It was agreed that the City Council should seek re-accreditation under
the Charter and that arrangements be put in place to undertake this.
An action plan for completion in April 2006 was agreed.
At the time North West Employers (who manage the Charter) had not
finalised re-accreditation processes and the action plan was
dependant on this as a first step. To-date those arrangements have
yet to be finalised. Officers from the Council are meeting with
representatives from North West Employers immediately before the
Working Group meeting and an update will be provided verbally.
2
Other Developments in Member Development
2.1
Members Residential Training Weekend
The Members Residential Training Weekend took place on 25 th to 27th
November 2005.
34 Members and a number of officers attended it.
The programme covered the following topics;
 Neighbourhood Management
 Comprehensive Performance Assessment
 Housing
Feedback from delegates was very positive.
Consideration needs to be given to whether to undertake early
planning for a similar event in 2006.
2.2
Equality and Diversity Training
Following a request from the Customer and Support Services Scrutiny
Committee two training sessions have been provided to that
Committee on ‘equality and diversity’, in particular focussing on how to
scrutinise this aspect of the Council’s work. The events have been
structured to take place an hour before meetings of the Committee
therefore minimising the additional time demands on Members.11
Members have attended the events. Further sessions for the other
Scrutiny Committees have been arranged for February and march
2006.
It is anticipated that the majority of non-executive Members will have
attended this training at its conclusion.
Consideration needs to be given to;
a) Whether this pattern of short sessions before planned meetings
is an effective way of increasing Member involvement in
training?
b) How best to involve Executive Members in this process?
2.3
External Training Events
Following a request from this Cabinet Working Group a list of courses
provided by North West Employers has been circulated to all
Members inviting them to nominate themselves for any programmes
they identify as being relevant..
To date there have been no nominations received.
2.4
Mentoring
The Improvement and Development Agency (I&DeA) has provided a
national ‘Peer Mentoring’ scheme for Members for the past 3 years.
Presentations on the scheme have been made at Members
Residential Training Weekends in 2003 and 2005.
There has been some take-up for the scheme but we are currently
under-utilising our available capacity in this respect.
The I&DeA describe the scheme as follows;
This programme is a collaboration between the IDeA and Local
Government Information Unit (LGIU) and Association of Public
Excellence (APSE).
One definition of mentoring is “help by one person to another in
making significant transitions in knowledge, work or thinking.”
Mentoring is a way of helping councillors to understand their roles
more fully by learning from the day-to-day events and the
experiences of others.
The mentoring relationship is designed to help all councillors at any
level in their personal development and aims to help them represent
their communities and carry out their duties more effectively.
Mentoring works best when it is a confidential relationship, giving
the learner (mentee) the opportunity to speak freely about any
concerns they may have with the mentor.
Mentoring is also a personal learning experience and it should be
viewed as a two-way exchange of information that taps into both
individuals’ abilities to learn.
More information is available at http://www.ideaknowledge.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=433262
The I&DeA is seeking further interest from Members in Salford
including from opposition groups and the scrutiny and overview role.
Consideration should be given as to how to inform Members of this
opportunity.
2.5
The Neighbourhood Works
The Council has been funded by the Office of the Deputy Prime
Minister to provide (in collaboration with Oldham MBC) a
comprehensive training package to support the further development of
Neighbourhood Management. The programme is designed for both
officers and Members.
Final details of the training programme have been agreed and all
Members received full details and nomination forms in December.
The training will take place between February and July.
3
Conclusion
The future shape of the Member Development Programme will be
clarified in response to the requirements of the re-accreditation
process for the Charter. However there remains an important level of
training opportunities available for Members.
Further reports will be provided to future meetings of the Working
Group.