Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)                 to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)               where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)             the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)              if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no Reserve Members in attendance at this meeting.

To receive declarations of personal or prejudicial interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)               all Members of the Committee, Sub Committee, Panel or Forum;

(b)               all other Members present in any part of the room or chamber.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no declarations of personal or prejudicial interests made by Members of the Panel arising from the business transacted at this meeting.

To consider whether any of the items listed on the agenda should be considered with the press and public excluded on the grounds that it is thought likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that there would be disclosure of confidential information in breach of an obligation of confidence or of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

RESOLVED:  That all items be considered with the press and public present.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 4 April 2006, be deferred until the next Ordinary meeting of the Panel.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 4 April 2006 be deferred until the next Ordinary meeting of the Panel.

To receive deputations (if any) relating to items of business on the agenda which the Chair agrees to hear, in accordance with the provisions of Committee Procedure Rules 11.2(iii) and 16 (Part 4B of the Constitution).

RESOLVED:  To note that no deputations were received at the meeting under the provisions of Committee Procedure Rules 11.2(iii) and 16 (Part 4B of the Constitution).

Report of the Director of People, Performance and Policy.

Members discussed the updated version of the Members’ Welcome Pack, which was tabled at the meeting. 

An officer advised that further revisions would be made to the Members’ induction programme, and a handout on Business Development would be given to Members on the Welcome Evening. 

During the discussion, Members commented that:

·         On the programme for the Welcome Evening, the correct Head of I.T. should be listed, and in the Pack recent changes to staff should be taken into consideration.

·         As new appointments were ongoing, a trigger system where Members were automatically alerted of these would be useful.  The officer advised that there was an internal trigger system, which HR Employee Services could extend.  Members commented that this should be a function of the Business Transformation Partnership (BTP).

·         Information regarding how to construct an e-mail address should be included.

·         In the Useful Numbers, Email and Websites section of the Pack, telephone numbers should be provided for Age Concern, Arts Culture Harrow and the Harrow Association of Voluntary Organisations.  The website address for Harrow Council and the political groups should also be included.

·         The Guide to Acronyms should include HART and OFRA, and number 54 on the list should be amended so that ‘state purpose?’ did not appear.  The Director of People, Performance and Policy should be consulted for any comments on the Guide to Acronyms.

·         The glossary in the Pack should be moved to the front, and under the section Members’ Handbook, the Protocol should be moved to appear with the Code of Conduct. 

·         The use of email to send information should be mentioned either under Councillors’ Post/Green Postal Bags or separately, and it should be mentioned that committee agendas were available on the Council website. 

·         On page 8 of the Members’ Handbook, ‘draft minutes are shown to the Chair for information’ should be amended to include ‘and for comments’.

·         ‘Business Risk Management’ should be referred to as ’Business Risk Management Assessment’ and a paragraph on Risk Assessment should be added.

·         Briefing note 2 should include how Scrutiny approached members of the public, and in Briefing Note 7, instead of the acronym ECF, the full term should be used.

·         Colour contrast in the Pack should be increased, a larger font size be used, and where recycled paper had been used, this should be mentioned. 

·         Information included in the Pack could be placed on the Internet.

The Chair advised that if Members wished to make any further comments, they should do so directly to the Marketing Manager.

RESOLVED: That the Member Welcome Pack be amended to incorporate Members’ suggestions.

Vote of Thanks

Noting that this was the last meeting of the Panel before the local election, the Chair thanked the Members and officers who had been involved with the Panel.  The Vice-Chair thanked the Chair for all her hard work.