Agenda item

Report of the Town Clerk (To Follow).

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk highlighting key themes that came out of the Skills and Effectiveness Survey 2013.

The Chairman reported that in view of the concerns and queries raised about the presentation of financial information within committee reports, the Finance Team at the Centre had offered to talk through these issues with Members and, where appropriate, make adaptations.

Other issues raised in the feedback concerned the length of the meetings and the proportion of time spent on presentations rather than discussion.  The Committee felt that in light of the feedback given on presentations, these set-pieces should be kept ideally to around 5 minutes presentation limit which should allow ample time afterwards for detailed discussion on the subject matter.

Discussion ensued around how the Board could best offer strategic input into the arts platforms at the Centre, particularly if less time was spent in the meetings hearing about artforms through the presentations. The Committee felt that an Arts Away Day, similar to the one held earlier in 2013 on the Centre’s vision, would be a good forum for such input.

In response to Member questions on the structure of the agenda, the Town Clerk undertook to investigate this but suspected this could not be changed given the Board currently sat within a Local Government framework.

Members felt that the Board would be better able to give the Centre a clear direction on matters if a set of clear options were presented within reports.