Agenda item

(Deputy Monitoring Officer) The Chairman of the Standards Committee has requested that an item be placed on the agenda to discuss Member training, and specifically how many Councillors have attended and what actions we could do to promote training further. A review of Member training records shows the following profile of attendance:

A table of attendances is available.

Those that have not attended Code of Conduct training recently are mostly members with significant Council experience or have missed opportunities to attend training recently. It is the view of Officers that Code of Conduct Training should be attended at least once during each term of office. The Committee may wish to advise how to encourage attendance at training and the desired frequency of refreshers.

The Deputy Monitoring Officer informed the Committee that the Chairman had requested a discussion on Member Code of Conduct training, and specifically how many Councillors had attended and what actions the Council could take to promote greater attendance. A review of the Member training records had shown the last occasion when each of the 57 Members had attended Code of Conduct Training:

·                  Prior to 2010   19;

·                  2011                5;

·                  2012                1;

·                  2014                7;

·                  2015                9; and

·                  2016                16.

The Deputy Monitoring Officer reported that those who had not attended Code of Conduct training recently were mostly members with significant Council experience or had missed opportunities to attend training recently. Attendance by Local Councillors at Code of Conduct training was also very poor, but Officers could organise training sessions at Town or Parish Councils if requested. It was the view of Officers that every Member should be attend Code of Conduct training at least once during each term of office, but the Committee was requested to advise on the desired frequency of attendance and any measures that could be implemented to encourage greater attendance at training.

The Committee felt strongly that it was very important for Code of Conduct training to be undertaken regularly by all Members, and that such training should be listed as mandatory for all Members. It was deemed that attendance once per each term of Office was sensible, unless there were changes to the Code in which case all Councillors should attend further training. In addition, it was felt that Group Leaders should be encouraging all of the Members in their Group to attend Code of Conduct training on a regular basis.

The Deputy Monitoring Officer added that Councillors could not be prevented from attending meetings if they had not attended Code of Conduct training, but that recent attendance at such training was a factor which was considered when assessing any complaints against a particular Councillor.

Cllr J H Whitehouse highlighted that e-training modules on their Code of Conduct was available at Essex County Council, and it was genuinely mandatory for all Councillors to work through them; Officers were very strict on following up and reminding those Councillors who had not completed the training modules. The Deputy Monitoring Officer pointed out that the Code of Conduct training at Essex County Council would be different to that required at this Council; and there was also neither the time nor expertise currently available to develop an on-line version of the training currently provided. The Chairman commented that this could be an option to explore for implementation in the future.

The Independent Person, Mr P Adams, enquired whether Code of Conduct training could be included as an element of each Councillor’s Declaration of Acceptance of Office, and opined that perhaps the priority should be to concentrate Code of Conduct training on Town and Parish Councillors in order to reduce the number of complaints that were received and had to be assessed. The Deputy Monitoring Officer undertook to investigate whether such training could be included as part of each Councillor’s Declaration of Acceptance of Office, and reiterated that the proportion of Town and Parish Councillors who had undertaken Code of Conduct training was likely to be no more than 25%. The Deputy Monitoring Officer also reminded the Committee that it took approximately 1.5 to 2 hours to deliver the training, but that training could be provided for individual Councillors, on a one-to-one basis, if they were unable to attend the scheduled group training sessions.

Cllr Stallan suggested that each individual Member be written to, highlighting when they last attended a training session on the Code of Conduct, and copying in the Group Leader/Whip for information. The Chairman added that he was happy to sign such a letter and the Chairman of each Town and Parish Council could also be written to, as well as a short item placed on the next Council agenda, advertising when the next Code of Conduct training session was scheduled for. The Deputy Monitoring Officer stated that this could be achieved, and reminded the Committee that there was a list for each Councillor published to the Council’s website detailing which training courses they had attended.

Resolved:

(1)        That each Member should attend Code of Conduct training on at least one occasion during each term of office, or more often if the Member Code of Conduct was amended;

(2)        That the possibility of providing e-learning modules for Code of Conduct training be investigated by Officers and reported back to the Committee in January 2018;

(3)        That attendance at Code of Conduct Training by a particular Member was a factor when assessing any complaints made against that Member be noted;

(4)        That a letter be written, signed by the Chairman of the Standards Committee, to each Member of the District Council informing them of when they last attended Code of Conduct Training; and

(5)        That a further letter be written, signed by the Chairman of the Standards Committee, to the Chairman of each Town and Parish Council within the District advising their Members to attend the next scheduled Code of Conduct training session.