Agenda item

From the Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities, 21 March 2022

Further to Minute 32 of the Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities, the City Council considered a report of the Director of Law and Governance which indicated that the City Council provides a range of training and support for Members, including an induction programme for newly elected Members, specific training to support Members in roles such as?members of Planning?Committee?or Licensing and Regulatory?Committee,?and specific topical issues as they arise. Members would also be able to attend training and events run by other organisations. However, the uptake of training by Members has been low.

The environment in which Members work is constantly changing. Ensuring that Members are properly supported to help them meet the high demands placed on them to carry out this challenging role effectively is increasingly important. Consultation with Members and officers suggest that the training offer has not kept pace with these demands and take up of what has been on offer has been low. With support from a Member Advisory Panel, improvements have been introduced over the last year and the report set out a strategic approach to make sure that the Member training offer meets current and future needs.

In order to enable executive oversight and strategic approach to training as well as raising the profile of training with Members, a Strategy has been developed to support the delivery and promotion of a Members’ Training Programme. The draft One Coventry Elected Members Training and Development Strategy was attached as Appendix A to the report. The draft Strategy has been developed following research to identify how to support Members training and development needs and included consultation with Members. A summary of the research findings was appended as Appendix B to the report.

The draft Strategy covers:

·  Purpose of the Strategy

·  Assessing Need and Requesting Training

·  Training Matrix

·  Governance and Delivery

To oversee the governance and delivery of the Strategy, a cross-party Cabinet Member Advisory Panel has been established to review Members training needs, recommend a training and development programme to the Cabinet Member, monitor delivery of, and evaluate the programme to inform future planning. This Panel has been in place since September 2021. The Terms of Reference for this Panel were detailed in Appendix 1 of the draft Strategy.

In order to ensure that a wide range of training and development is offered to Members, a training matrix will be developed and endorsed by the Members Training and Development Advisory Panel. The training matrix will be regularly reviewed and evaluated to ensure it meets Members’ training need and will provide a programme of mandatory training, which all Members will be required to complete throughout their term of office.

In addition to this there will be role specific mandatory training for those Members with special responsibilities, or who sit on specific Committees.

It is proposed that Mandatory training for all Members?will include:

·  Code of Conduct? ?

·  Fire Safety Awareness? ?

·  Safeguarding (Awareness)? including Corporate Parenting ?

·  Equality and Diversity? ?

·  Health and Safety in the Workplace? ?

·  Local Governance and Budget Setting ?

·  Data Protection Law, Definitions and Principles with Information?Security? (annually) ?

·  ?Mandatory induction programme for newly elected Members ?

Most of these training programmes are available through the Council’s online learning portal, but preferred delivery style will be assessed through consultation with Members. There will also be Mandatory training for specific roles?, for those Members who sit on Licensing and Regulatory Committee, Planning Committee, Audit and Procurement Committee, Shareholders Panels and HR Appeals Panel.? It is proposed that the Constitution be amended to include, within the functions of each relevant Committee, the requirement that all Members shall have received appropriate training before carrying out any of the functions that are delegated to that Committee and that this role specific training should take place on an annual basis to ensure that decision making by Members is based on the most up to date and relevant information, legislation, and guidance.

It is also proposed that there will also be a programme of regular in-house supplementary training, identified by regular training needs analysis through consultation with Members. This would be organised and arranged, but not necessarily delivered, internally by Council officers. In addition to an in-house programme, Members would be able to request to attend ad hoc one-off training requests delivered by external organisations, such as the Local Government Association (LGA). A training request pro-forma will be developed and managed by the Members Training and Development Co-ordinator. There will be a budget allocated to enable one-off requests.

Members would also be able to request additional training, where several Members have identified that a greater understanding of an issue is required and is not covered by the current offer. This would enable the training and development programme to be responsive and flexible to Members training needs.

The following amendment was moved by Councillor J Lepoidevin, seconded by Councillor T Sawdon and lost:

That Recommendations 1 and 2 be deleted and replaced with the following: -

“That Council refers the report back to the Cabinet Member to consider making training advisory and not mandatory”

RESOLVED that the City Council:

1)  Approves the One Coventry Elected Members Training and Development Strategy as appended to the report

2)  Approves the proposals for mandatory training for Members as identified in Section 3 and agree that the Constitution be amended to include within the functions of each relevant Committee the requirement that all Members of those Committees shall have received appropriate training before carrying out any of the functions that are delegated to that Committee.