Issue - meetings

Information in relation to publishing Elected Members’ Annual Reports for 2017/18.

Submitted - the report of the Democratic Services Manager, outlining that the purpose of the reports was to give Members an opportunity to communicate their activities to their electors. Guidelines on what should be included would be circulated, with a template that had been submitted to Committee members. He noted that annual reports were not published for 2016/17 due to the election, but that the opportunity was being offered to Council Members again for 2017/18.

Comments arising from the discussion:

-       More emphasis on the electoral work of members was needed on the template

-       It was useful for Members to keep a diary in order to make the process of producing an end of year report easier.

-       The opportunity to note why a Member was unable to be present at meetings or events was appreciated

-       Would there be any further promoting apart from publishing the reports on the Council's website?

In response, the Democratic Services Manager noted that there was a statutory duty in place to enable Members to publish the reports. There was no obligation for Members to produce annual reports. He added that the exemplary template could be adapted to coincide with individual Members’ content, and that there would be no further promoting.