Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Deputy Christopher Hayward.

There were no declarations.

To agree the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 21^st July 2023.

The public minutes of the Member Development and Standards Sub-Committee meeting of 21^st July 2023 were considered and approved as a correct record, subject to the removal of one attendance entry for Eamonn Mullally whose attendance had been duplicated.

Town Clerk and Comptroller and City Solicitor to be heard.

The Town Clerk and Comptroller & City Solicitor updated the Sub-Committee with regard to the ongoing recruitment of three additional Independent Persons as sanctioned by the Court of Common Council. It was reported that a total of 44 applications had been received and that shortlisting was due to take place later today. Following this, interviews would be held in the week commencing 25^th October and that any candidate considered appointable by the Recruitment Panel would ultimately require the approval of the full Court of Common Council before being appointed. .

The City Solicitor reported that the revised Code of Conduct developed by the Civic Affairs Sub-Committee would be presented to the next meeting of the Sub-Committee for further comment and approval, prior to wider consultation.

The Sub-Committee were informed that, at present, there were no live complaints under the Code of Conduct.

RECEIVED.

Report of the Town Clerk

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Town Clerk, and were encouraged to comment and provide feedback in relation to recent learning and development activity.

Members of the Sub-Committee who had attended the recently held “Decision Making and Influencing Change” session – the first offering of Quarter 1, were in agreement that the style of delivery and knowledge of the presenters was good,  which was enriched by their internal knowledge of the systems within the Corporation. There was acceptance around the late notice and circulation of invitations which may have impacted on Members ability to attend. It was envisaged that, going forward, Members would be notified of forthcoming sessions in good time. The recent session had been recorded and uploaded to the Members Portal; a full list of all Quarter 1 offerings was now also provided.

It was noted that the Quarter 1, Leadership sessions had a particular focus on skills for chairs, Members felt that there should be a balance between skills and knowledge offerings. 

The Chair suggested investigating a level of ‘soft’ appraisal for Chairmen to support them in the effective management of their committees which the Town Clerk undertook to explore in further detail.

The Chair talked of the benefits of an overall critical evaluation of Quarter 1 of the L&D programme, looking at what worked well and not so well; how best to engage learners, the creation of a “golden thread” to include key prompts, member behaviour and building on comments from the Court; these considerations would influence the content of Quarter 2 of the programme.

RECEIVED.

Town Clerk to be heard.

The Town Clerk reported that all Members had now been provided with a link to the portal and Officers continued discussions with IT colleagues to enable Members direct access to the portal as their landing page.

The Town Clerk displayed the Portal page to the meeting and talked the Sub-Committee through its layout and content. Members commented that the portal was a useful resource. However, they  were conscious that there would be a requirement for varied levels of Member support around the technology. The Town Clerk reassured all that the Governance and Member Services Team would be available to support those Members who required any additional guidance.

The inclusion of reception dates was a feature that the Town Clerk had been  in discussion with the Remembrancers Department about, the Sub-Committee felt that all function dates should be included in the list going forward.  The Sub-Committee commented that Members needed to be encouraged to inform Officers when their availability to attend certain events had changed so as to minimise any wastage and to also allow others to attend in their absence where possible. Members of the Sub-Committee reported that it was not always clear as to how they should  withdraw acceptance for invitations. The Town Clerk agreed to take these comments back to colleagues in the Remembrancers Department.

A Member queried how the Member Portal might be accessed on mobile devices. The Town Clerk explained that the landing page would be activated via Members’ Corporation laptops and PCs only but that it would also be possible to bookmark the page on individual Corporation mobile devices to improve ease of access.

RECEIVED.

None.

No items of other business that the Chair considered urgent were received.

MOTION - That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

RESOLVED - That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 21^st July 2023.

RESOLVED – That the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 21 July 2023 be approved as a correct record.

The Town Clerk to be heard.

The Sub-Committee heard the update of the Town Clerk relating to the Independent Review.

None.

There were two additional items of business that the Chair considered urgent and which the Committee agreed should be considered whilst the public were excluded relating to the handling on non-public/ confidential information and Sub-Committee attendance.