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.

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 interests made.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 30 March 2011 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 30 March 2011 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

To receive questions (if any) from local residents or organisations under the provisions of Executive Procedure Rule 51 (Part 4D of the Constitution).

RESOLVED: To note that no public questions were put or petitions or deputations received at this meeting.

RESOLVED:  To appoint Councillor Mrs Rekha Shah as Vice-Chairman of the Member Development Panel for the 2011/2012 Municipal Year. 

The Panel also noted the appointment of Councillor Phillip O’Dell as Chairman of the Member Development Panel for the 2011/2012 Municipal Year.

Report of the Divisional Director Human Resources and Development.

The Panel received a report of the Divisional Director of Human Resources, Development and Shared Services, providing an update on the Member Development Programme of events that had taken place since March 2011. 

With regard to the resolutions made at the Panel meeting of 30 March, and the follow up actions taken, an officer stated that:

·                    Members would shortly be sent a user-friendly guide with step-by-step instructions on how to access the Member Development training resources on the Hub and the e-learning resources on the Modern Councillor website;

·                    a repeat of the Children’s Safeguarding training session would be offered in April 2012;

·                    the Overview and Scrutiny Community Engagement training session had not been repeated yet, because the content of this training might overlap with the content of the Community Involvement training session planned for November 2011.  Officers are currently reviewing the approach with Scrutiny and will report back to the next meeting of the Panel;

·                    officers would shortly be liaising with Facilities Management about providing a Health and Safety training session for Members;

·                    a running total of all Member Development training sessions, inclusive of attendance figures since May 2010 would be provided at the December 2011 Panel meeting.

Members made the following points with regard to e-learning:

·                    it was important to recognise that not all Members had the same learning style;

·                    many Members had not been able to easily locate the learning resources on the Hub or access the Modern Councillor site.  The step-by-step guide would encourage Members to engage better with this;

·                    that the step-by-step guide include the offer of 1-2-1 coaching sessions in the Members’ Library for those Members who experienced difficulty in accessing the Modern Councillor website.

With regard to the update on the Member Development Programme of events that had taken place since March 2011, an officer made the following points:

·                    the training sessions had been relatively well attended when considered against previous Member attendance figures, and  when taking into consideration Members’ busy schedules.  However, attendance levels were generally lower than is desirable;

·                    Members needed a wide knowledge base to support their roles as Councillors, and the Member Development Programme of events 2010/2011 had reflected that need;

·                    some of the repeat training sessions requested by Members, such as on Social Media, were now available as e-learning modules on the Modern Councillor website.  Officers would regularly update Members about any new e-learning modules available on the Modern Councillor site;

·                    Scrutiny officers would not be doing a presentation at the Members’ Quarterly Briefing on 27 February 2012.  Instead, Mind in Harrow would be invited to do a presentation on mental health awareness.  Members would be requested in evaluating the information received, to indicate whether they had a requirement for further development on:

(i)                 mental health awareness

(ii)               mental health service provision

(iii)             your role as a Member in working with members of the community who may have mental ill-health.

An officer stated that Members had also requested follow-up training sessions in the following areas:

·                    assertiveness

·                    data protection  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

Wednesday 7 December 2011 at 7.30 pm in Committee Room 5.

Wednesday 7 December 2011 at 7.30 pm in Committee Room 5.