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.

To appoint a Vice-Chairman for the 2014/15 Municipal Year.

RESOLVED:  That Councillor Primesh Patel be appointed Vice Chairman of the Panel for the 2014/15 Municipal Year.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 3 April 2014 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 3 April 2014 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, Friday 5 September.  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 the 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 the Member Induction and the Member training programme of events which had taken place since the Borough Elections in May 2014.

Following questions and comments from Members of the Panel, the Divisional Director stated that:

·                    Members would be requested to provide feedback regarding the first phase of the Member Induction Programme during December 2014.   Members’ completed Training Needs Analysis forms as well as completed feedback forms from training offered to date would form the basis of the Member Development programme for 2015/16;

·                    any unfavourable feedback from training sessions would be communicated to the relevant officers;

·                    currently tea, coffee and biscuits were provided at all Member training sessions, however, he would investigate the possibility of providing sandwiches at training sessions.  However, in the current financial climate and in view of the savings the Council was expected to make in forthcoming years, it may not be possible or advisable to provide catering at meetings and training sessions;

·                    Members had agreed that training sessions should be scheduled to begin at 7.00 pm, which had been implemented following extensive feedback from Members in the past;

·                    guidelines relating to the Councillors’ Buddying scheme had been agreed at a previous Panel meeting and would be circulated to Panel Members after the meeting;

·                    he would look into providing training on the use of social media;

·                    he would look into whether it was possible to use the voting buttons on Outlook on Ipads so that Members views regarding training to be offered in 2015/16 could be sought.

Panel Members agreed the following actions.  That Party Whips be requested to:

·                    emphasise the importance and relevance of attending Mandatory training sessions, particularly the Equalities & Diversity training as this impacted greatly on the Council’s Public Sector Equality Duty;

·                    encourage Members to take greater ownership of their training and development and reminded to register on training via the MyLearning Portal.

It was also agreed that the Party Whips would receive regular updates from Democratic Services regarding their Members’ attendance at training.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

3 February 2015.