Purpose of report:

To seek the endorsement of the Standards Committee of the new member training and development scheme for the municipal years 2020-24.

Recommendation:

That the Standards Committee resolves to:

1.    Endorse the Draft Member Training and Development Scheme (Appendix 1)

2.    Note the arrangements for buddying (para. 6f & Appendix 2)

3.    Note the arrangements for offering personal safety training and guidance to members and election candidates (paras. 8-9)

The Head of Law and Governance introduced the report which built on existing good practice and represented the outcome of previous input by the Standards Committee as well as feedback from councillors and officers. The Draft Training and Development Scheme (attached as Appendix 1) was intended to support newly elected councillors to become effective in their role as early as possible while not overloading them. Code of Conduct training would be compulsory for all councillors on a biennial rather than an annual basis, reflecting the positive culture of the Council and the fact that councillor conduct has not been a significant issue. There was an expanded programme of optional training which included role specific training and a focus on emerging issues such as personal safety and social media. The Scheme also granted discretion to the Head of Law and Governance to agree where councillors were not required to attend compulsory training by exception.

The Committee thanked officers for their work in drawing up a comprehensive training scheme and in discussion noted that:

·       The offer of personal safety training for existing members and election candidates was welcome.

·       It could be difficult to get some councillors to recognise the value in being trained so there was a need to think about how to position the training with councillors.

·       All election candidates would be informed of the key training dates and what to expect in their early weeks in office, if elected. The Head of Law and Governance would also be meeting with candidates and agents.

·       Safeguarding training was vital and should be compulsory on an annual [or biennial[1]] basis. Issues of coercive control came up regularly in different scenarios (e.g. domestic violence, county lines drug trafficking, child sexual exploitation) and councillors should be trained on how to recognise and report safeguarding concerns.

·       Online safety was similarly important and would be picked up in social media training.

·       Scrutiny training was very important and should include a focus on good scrutiny outcomes from other councils. Consideration should also be given to training to Scrutiny members collectively as well as individually.

·       The frequency of compulsory licensing training reflected the significant impacts of decisions taken by councillors on peoples’ livelihoods.

·       While there were many clear benefits in attending face to face training, there would be merit in officers exploring whether some training could be made available online, for example by utilising the training resources of partner organisations.

·       It would be helpful if acronyms were explained in reports.

 The Standards Committee resolved to:

1.     Endorse the Draft Member Training and Development Scheme 2020-24 subject to:

                            i.         the requirements for and frequency of safeguarding training being increased,

                           ii.         the inclusion of a focus on domestic violence and other issues of coercive control within safeguarding training,

                          iii.         further exploration of options for online training delivery;

2.     Note the arrangements for buddying;

3.     Note the arrangements for offering personal safety training and guidance to members and election candidates.