Agenda item

For Council to approve the Councillor Learning and Development policy recommended by the Member Training Working Group.

Full Council received a report requesting its approval of a Councillor Learning and Development Policy to assist in the Council’s previously agreed aim to eventually achieve accreditation of the East Midlands Regional Councillor Development Charter.

The East Midlands Regional Charter for Councillor Development aimed to promote best practice in councillor development. The Charter had an accreditation process which was set against standards. These standards had been developed in conjunction with the Local Government Association and other regions.

There were three essential criteria to achieving the Charter. These were:

(i)              There was a clear commitment to councillor development and support.

(ii)             The Council had a strategic approach to councillor development.

(iii)           Learning and development was effective in building councillors' skills and knowledge.

Within each of these criteria there were elements and requirements to demonstrate that the criteria were being met. These did not dictate what should be in the Council’s strategy or the nature of the content or the delivery mechanisms that should be used. The emphasis was on ensuring that all councillors were appropriately developed and supported so that they could be effective in their roles. Achieving the Councillor Development Charter was a chance for the Council’s work to be recognised.

The draft Councillor Learning and Development Policy had been drafted over the course of the previous year, along with some other essential documentation to enable work to begin on collation of the evidence required for award of the Charter.

The Member Development Working Group had met on 8^th August 2022 to consider the draft policy prior to submission to full Council for approval. It endorsed the document submitted as Appendix A with a recommendation that the Policy be approved by Council.

The Council was required to regularly review and refresh its Councillor Learning and Development Policy once it had been approved by Council, and it was proposed that this process was overseen in future by the Democracy and Standards Committee every three years.

The recommendation was MOVED by Councillor Lee Wilkes and SECONDED by Councillor King Lawal.

Councillor Wilkes stressed the importance of ensuring that where possible the delivery of training was dovetailed to the needs of individual councillors. It was recognised that councillors had competing demands on their time and also appreciated a variety of approaches to training and learning. It was important that the roll out of training and development opportunities tried to capture councillor preferences where possible.

Councillor Lee expressed concern that currently not all councillor requirements for training in relation to IT were being captured. It was important that councillors had confidence to fully utilise IT in undertaking their Council duties; this needed to be prioritised.

Councillor Griffiths particularly recommended the training and development opportunities sponsored by the Local Government Association (LGA). Councillor Griffiths felt these were exceptional and were to be highly recommended to all councillors.

Councillor Maxwell whilst appreciating that some specialist training needed to be mandatory felt that it was important not to coerce councillors into training.

Councillor Hakewill suggested that there should be exploration of joint training with town and parish councils for example relating to planning. Councillor Carr and Councillor D Brackenbury supported the consideration of this.

Councillor John McGhee also spoke in favour of engagement with LGA training and development opportunities. The Leadership Academy was commended.

Councillor Best felt that it was important that councillors took all opportunities to attend briefings and training particularly on issues that were central to the Council’s core objectives such as tackling climate change.

Councillor Jelley felt that it was important that scrutiny members received appropriate training in order to fulfil their specific duties and responsibilities.

RESOLVED that: -

(i)               The draft Councillor Learning and Development Policy attached to the report as Appendix A to the report be approved.

(Councillor Tom Partridge-Underwood joined the meeting at this point).