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 the attendance at this meeting of the following duly appointed Reserve Members:-

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)               all Members of the Panel;

(b)               all other Members present.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no declarations of interests made by Members.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 1 October 2013 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 1 October 2013 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

To receive any public questions received in accordance with Executive Procedure Rule 50 (Part 4D of the Constitution).

Questions will be asked in the order notice of them was received and there be a time limit of 15 minutes.

[The deadline for receipt of public questions is 3.00 pm, <DATE>.  Questions should be sent to publicquestions@harrow.gov.uk  

No person may submit more than one question].

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

Report of Divisional Director of Human Resources and Development & Shared Services.

The Panel received a report of the Divisional Director Human Resources and Development and Shared Services, which updated the Panel regarding plans for the Members’ Welcome Evening, Members’ Handbook and the Member Induction Programme for 2014 following the local elections in May 2014.

The Divisional Director stated that, the first of these events, an information evening for prospective candidates, was the first event of its kind in Harrow.  The event had been widely publicised and was attended by 82 individuals, 30 of whom had completed evaluation forms.  Feedback had been very positive, with most attendees saying they had found the event very or fairly helpful.  The Chair congratulated officers for organising a successful event.

The Divisional Director stated that:

·                     the Members’ Key Facts Booklet 2014 would be distributed to successful candidates at the Count following the local elections on 22 May 2014.  The booklet would contain key information that Members would need during their first few weeks;

·                     the programme for the Members’ Welcome Evening would follow the same format as in 2010;

·                     the Members’ Handbook would be scaled down in both size and content, and would be distributed at the Members’ Welcome Evening on 29 May 2014;

·                     the Member training programme for the first six months would include mandatory, Councillor skills training and skills-based training;

·                     plans for the Virtual Borough Tour had not been progressed.  Officers were looking at the possibility of local media studies students undertaking this work.  A fallback option would be to invite members of the Harrow Youth Parliament to the Members’ Welcome Evening to give a presentation about the borough from a young person’s perspective.

Members were of the view that:

·                     the cover design of the Members’ Handbook was a good representation of the geographic and demographic make up of Harrow;

·                     first-time Councillors might require more support than returning Councillors, particularly Independent ones. 

Resolved to RECOMMEND:  

That

(1)               the report be noted;

(2)               a final update report be submitted to the Panel at its Meeting on 3 April 2014.

Reason for Recommendation:  To keep Members informed of the proposals for Member development and Member Induction in the lead up to the 2014 Local Elections and thereafter.

Report of Divisional Director of Human Resources and Development & Shared Services.

The Panel received a report of the Divisional Director Human Resources and Development and Shared Services, which provided an update on the Member Development Programme of Events that had taken place since the last meeting of the Panel. 

The Divisional Director made the following points about Members’ attendance and feedback regarding attendance at recent Member Development training events:

·                    most training sessions had been reasonably well attended and feedback provided on the evaluation forms for these sessions had been largely positive, and Members had requested further training on most of the topics covered;

·                    views about the joint event with Brent had been mixed and this brought into question the value of any further joint Member Training events in the future;

·                    some of the feedback in the evaluations would be communicated to the relevant heads of service;

·                    the training scheduled for 27 May 2014 would be cancelled and the new programme of Member Development Events would be launched at the Members’ Welcome Evening, following the local elections in May.

Members made the following comments:

·                    guidance to new and returning Councillors should emphasise the importance of courteous behaviour towards trainers and other Members during training sessions;

·                    the recent training on SEN provision and the one on Planning had been excellent.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

3 April 2014.