Agenda and minutes

No declarations of interest were received.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Fordham and Wheeldon.

MEMBER DEVELOPMENT / INDUCTION

The Senior Democratic and Scrutiny Officer presented an update to the committee on the Member Development and Induction 2023.

This topic was selected at the Overview and Scrutiny work programming sessions for 2022/23. The purpose of the review was to provide wider member input into the development of the induction programme for the borough elections in 2023.

Key areas that scrutiny identified to review included:

·        identifying essential training

·        exploring different learning options

·        developing the skills needed for different committees

·        incorporating the development of soft/broader skills

Member development at Chesterfield was coordinated by the democratic services team under strategic direction from the Member Development Working Group (MDWG).

The MDWG was a cross-party group of members and officers who provided strategic oversight of the council’s member development arrangements, monitored progress on the rolling member development programme and oversaw the development of the member induction plan. The scrutiny chairs were members of the working group which provided an opportunity to feed into the rolling programme any development needs identified in scrutiny.

The development of the member induction programme began in early 2022 when the MDWG reviewed and provided feedback on the programme from 2019. Initial proposals from the group included incorporating more guidance on using aspire and aspire learning and additional training on using ICT. The group were then tasked with seeking feedback from their political groups to report back to the next MDWG meeting.

Comprehensive feedback was received from political groups in September and discussed by the MDWG. this included:

·        positive comments received on the member induction booklet

·        the need for additional ICT training on ipads/laptops/printers and using programs e.g. ModGov, Word, Outlook, the internet and aspire

·        having a “who’s who” to assist with casework and information on how to report and follow up complaints/queries

·        exploring different formats for training such as online courses or recording live sessions to allow Members to watch them when they can

·        additional training sessions on:

o   climate change

o   council meeting procedures

o   personal safety

A draft induction plan was put together which incorporated the outcomes from the MDWG meeting.

The provision of online courses had been explored with the HR learning and development team. A dedicated members dashboard would be developed on the council’s online learning platform, aspire learning. This would appear as an extra button on a members’ homepage when they log onto aspire learning and would contain links to different courses that were available online. The courses would include some essential training such as equality and diversity, safeguarding and data protection. There would also be additional courses that members may wish to complete for individual development needs such as effective writing, questioning techniques and presentation skills. All these courses could be completed in members’ own time and could be saved and returned to later. The MDWG fed back that there had been issues logging onto aspire learning; this would be looked into as part of the development of the members dashboard on aspire learning.

The proposed member  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

The CBC Lighting Strategy was progressing with recent Night Walks completed in both the Town centre and Staveley.  Next steps were to be picked up in the Work Programme agenda item.

RESOLVED –

That the update be noted.

The Committee considered the scrutiny recommendations implementation monitoring schedule.

RESOLVED –

That the scrutiny monitoring schedule be noted.

Forward Plan of Key Decisions 1 December 2022 – 31 March 2023,
available via link below

https://chesterfield.moderngov.co.uk/mgListPlanItems.aspx?PlanId=144&RP=134

The Committee considered the Forward Plan for the period 1 December 2022 to 31 March 2023.

RESOLVED –

That the Forward Plan be noted.

The Committee considered the items on its work programme for 2022/23. It was noted that the main agenda item for February committee was still to be confirmed.  Suggested topics included an update from Health and Wellbeing on the Cost of Living and a further update on the CBC Lighting Strategy (including a potential additional night walk for members to attend).

It was agreed that Democratic Services would consider these areas for inclusion on the next committee.

The Chair also requested that the thanks of the Committee be passed on to the teams working on the cost of living.

RESOLVED –

 That the work programme be noted.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Community, Customer and Organisational Scrutiny Committee held on 29 September 2022 were presented.

RESOLVED –

That the Minutes be approved as a correct record and by signed by the Chair.