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Agenda and minutes

Venue: MS Teams - Virtual Meeting

Contact: Charlie Fisher 01392 383691  Email: charlie.fisher@devon.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

2.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 214 KB

To agree the previously circulated minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 12th May 2022 as a correct record.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 12th May 2022 were agreed as a correct record of the meeting.  

3.

Items Requiring Urgent Attention

Items which in the opinion of the Chair should be considered at the meeting as  matters of urgency.

Minutes:

There were no items requiring urgent attention.

4.

Member Development and Training Log pdf icon PDF 76 KB

To appraise Members of the learning and development activity that has taken place since the last Steering Group meeting and of learning and development opportunities available going forward.

Minutes:

The Scrutiny Officer and Deputy Democratic Services and Scrutiny Manager appraised Members of the training and development opportunities since the last meeting and the future training and development opportunities.  

 

The report highlighted the previous masterclasses and member briefings that had taken place since the last steering group meeting and the upcoming opportunities. Officers appraised Members of the All-Member Briefing on November 23rd related to the Race Equality Audit and the Head of Scrutiny’s offer to run a questioning skills refresher in the Autumn.  

 

Members and Officers discussed external training and conferences and acknowledged that the Council’s current financial position meant that these types of courses would be limited in the future.  

 

Members discussed the need to ensure that other Members take an interest and encourage others to attend these sessions or catch up with them on SharePoint.  

 

Action: Democratic Services and Scrutiny Officers would utilise the bi-weekly Members’ Bulletin to advertise any training that Members could sign up for and ensure key messages would be relayed more effectively.  

 

 

5.

Member Wellbeing Survey - responding to Member's queries pdf icon PDF 183 KB

To provide a response to Members on the comments and asks from the Member Wellbeing Survey.

Minutes:

The Scrutiny Officer and Deputy Democratic Services and Scrutiny Manager presented to Members the Feedback from the last Member Wellbeing Survey. This was an information sharing document detailing some of the asks that Members had put forward in the Survey that ran over the Christmas break of 2021/22.  

 

Members discussed the useful nature of the document and ensuring all Members were sighted on the information.

 

Members discussed communications with Members and ensuring that Officers made use of the Member’s Bulletin and the Sharepoint site as key methods of communication. This would streamline communications and reduce the number of emails that Officers sent to Members.

 

Action: Members agreed to run a fourth Member Wellbeing Survey in November 2022 to report back to the steering group in March 2023. 

 

Action: Scrutiny Officer to share the feedback document with Members and upload it to the Members’ Area SharePoint site. 

 

 

6.

Personal Safety of Councillors pdf icon PDF 132 KB

To appraise Members of the report taken to the Procedures Committee on the 20th September 2022, to report the decision taken by the Procedures Committee and to discuss further steps.

Minutes:

The Deputy Democratic Services and Scrutiny Manager appraised Members of the report taken to the Procedures Committee on the 20th of September 2022 regarding publicising the home addresses of Members on the Council’s website. 

 

The Procedures Committee agreed that the publication of home addresses would be a choice for individual Members, notwithstanding the legislation around register of interests. 

 

Members welcomed the discussion on the item and agreed with the resolution of the Procedures Committee that it should be down to individual choice. Members discussed that while home addresses can show what community a Member lives in, being sent a letter or having a constituent come to their house were not the way constituents tended to contact their Councillors in recent times.

 

The Deputy Democratic Services and Scrutiny Manager confirmed that any Member who wished to change their details on their councillor profile can contact her directly or the Members Services inbox. 

 

It was acknowledged that whilst members attending this meeting did not feel worried about their personal safety regarding intimidation and abuse, that other members may have different views. 

 

It was agreed that for the next Member Wellbeing Survey to include a question about personal safety to ensure any issues or trends are picked up. 

 

Action: Officers to include a question regarding safety in the next Member Wellbeing Survey. 

7.

Dates of Future Meetings

As shown in the calendar of meetings at http://democracy.devon.gov.uk/mgCalendarMonthView.aspx?GL=1&bcr=1

1 March 2023

 

Minutes:

Members noted the dates of future meetings, as shown in the calendar of meetings at http://democracy.devon.gov.uk/mgCalendarMonthView.aspx?GL=1&bcr=1.

 

The next meeting is 1 March 2023 at 10.30am. 

 


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