Agenda item

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 induction programme was attached at appendix 1 of the officer’s report along with a calendar (appendix 2) showing the timetable of the meetings and induction sessions during May and June 2023.

Members were then asked to consider three questions for discussion.

·        Are there any other knowledge areas or skills that should be incorporated into the member induction program?

·        How can we make member induction and development sessions more accessible and what can we do to encourage attendance?

·        What information would you have found useful to receive pre-election and post-election?

Discussions around knowledge and skills included etiquette and expectations of members in committees and full councils, IT skills and equipment, ensuring members had the relevant training for the committees they attended, essential training such as data protection and safeguarding, a “who’s who” guide for members and potentially opening up mental health first aid training for certain members.

Members then discussed the accessibility of training and the need for the political groups to ensure member attendance as required, appropriate follow up from Democratic Services for any non-attendance, evening training sessions to help make attendance more accessible along with the possibility of recording training sessions so they could be shared with non-attendees virtually and ensuring training was set up with appropriate comfort breaks and refreshments as an additional incentive.

Members also discussed the location of training sessions, highlighting that some locations, such as the Town Hall, were more accessible via public transport so may be preferable to some members.  The need for all to attend personal safety training was also highlighted by members.  The Senior Democratic and Scrutiny Officer advised that personal safety training was delivered by an external provider so it may be useful to look for providers who would be able to deliver training at different times to ensure all members can attend in or out of daytime hours.

Final discussions around pre and post-election information included a possible handbook to provide a view of what would be expected of new members as it was noted that a lot of training was required for any new member in the early days post-election.  Members also discussed a “buddy” system where new members could “buddy up” with existing members to seek advice on procedures and share experience.  The Senior Democratic and Scrutiny Officer confirmed that when more details were known around members standing for election, a list of potential “buddies” for new members could be drafted by Democratic Services. 

The Chair thanked the Senior Democratic and Scrutiny Officer for the update.

RESOLVED –

That the update be noted.