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Contact: Lowri Haf Evans 01286 679 878 Email: lowrihafevans@gwynedd.gov.uk
No. | Item |
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APOLOGIES To receive any apologies for absence. Minutes: Apologies
were received from Councillors Annwen Hughes and Sian Gwenllian, and Geraint
Owen (Head of Democratic Services) |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive any declaration of personal interest. Minutes: All Members
were requested to declare an interest in item 6, Consultation by the
Consultation by the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales, but it was noted
that this was not a prejudicial interest |
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URGENT ITEMS To note any items that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chairman for consideration. Minutes: None to
note |
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The
Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the last meeting of this committee
held on 29 September 2015, be signed as a true record. Minutes: The Chair
signed the minutes of the previous meeting of this committee held on 29
September 2015 as a true record |
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STANDARDS COMMITTEE - REPORT ON THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE REMIT PDF 206 KB To receive
a report by the Chairman of the Standards Committee Additional documents: Minutes: a) Dr
Einir Young, Chair of the Standards Committee was welcome to the Council to submit
the annual report of the Standards Committee for 2014/15. Dr Einir Young outlined the committee’s main
purpose and functions, namely to promote and maintain high standards of conduct
by the councillors and co-opted members of Gwynedd Council and community and
town councils in Gwynedd. She referred to the committee’s membership, and the
work that had been achieved during 2014/15. She emphasised that they measured
success through encouragement and success, rather than by dealing with
complaints. She thanked Gwilym Ellis Evans, who had been the committee’s
Chairman for 10 years, for his hard work and commitment; Sam Soysa, as Vice-chair prior to the end of his period as a
committee member, and Ms Linda Byrne for her support as a committee member. She
also thanked the Monitoring Officer and the other officers who had provided
support to the committee. Dr Einir Young was thanked for presenting the
report. b) Councillor
Michael Sol Owen, a Member of the Standards Committee, emphasised that their
work was challenging and set firm guidance for the Council and Community
Councils. c) In
response to an observation on the need to communicate a clear message to community
councils in relation to the 'declaration of interest', it was noted that a
series of training courses had been held in the Autumn with community councils
to promote and raise awareness about the code of conduct's meaning. A further
observation was made that the community councils, in their annual meetings,
received the code of conduct - which was an annual opportunity to remind then,
but it was obvious that this did not happen consistently. d) In
bearing in mind the specific role of the Committee to consider services to members,
a question was raised regarding whether more could be done to provide Council
members with support in the context of conduct, or was the support already
sufficient. In response, the Monitoring Officer outlined
two recent developments - Public
Interest Test - The
concept of the right to free speech in political Forums, where robust discussion
and criticism can take place. noted that it was intended to hold a
training workshop in the Spring to promote these developments. In relation to the Democratic Services
Committee’s work, it was intended to emphasise the role of the Standards
Committee, and to forge a more prominent relationship with the members by
raising awareness of the work and to maintain an engagement programme to share
information, to ensure that the code remained at the forefront of everyone’s
mind. RESOLVED to accept the report and to thank the
Chair and the Committee for their important work. |
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CONSULTATION BY THE INDEPENDENT REMUNERATION PANEL FOR WALES PDF 18 KB To receive the report of the Head of Democratic Services Minutes: a) Submitted – the report of the Head of
Democratic Services, to initiate a discussion on the Independent Remuneration
Panel for Wales’ draft proposals. In relation to the background to the report,
it was explained that the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales was
responsible for determining salaries and costs which were payable to
councillors in respect of their duties. The Panel publishes draft proposals annually for consultation, but
historically, the recommendations have not given rise to much discussion, as they
take a generalised view of the salaries and costs paid to each councillor. The
need to give further consideration to this year’s proposals was noted, and
attention was drawn to the recommendations in the report - the fundamental
aspect was that there would be no increase in the basic salary. b) In relation to the other changes, it
was noted that they varied in their views, but there was a need for a discussion on the
suggestion of submitting two levels to the Cabinet; a suggestion of two levels
for Committee chairs and a suggestion that the leader of the largest opposition
party should be set at the same level as the second level of chairs. c) It was noted that one matter that had
caused concern this year, which the Welsh Local Government had drawn attention to, was
that the Public Services Minister had written to the Panel, drawing its
attention to the need to be vigilant and to reduce public expenditure. The
dissatisfaction of the Local Government Association was reiterated, and it was
argued that it could appear that there had been political interference with the
decision. The letter was acknowledged, but the panel
would make an evidence-based decision. d) Observations arising from the
discussion: - It
was suggested that the existing arrangements were acceptable - Acceptance
that the responsibilities of chairs varied in terms of the frequency of
meetings, and it was considered that the Panel’s proposal was reasonable - That
recognition should be sought for Vice-chairs that stood in for the Chair for a period of time RESOLVED to accept the report and to authorise
the officers to convey the observations in the report to the Panel |
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To receive the report of the Head of Democratic Services Minutes: a) Submitted
– the report of the Head of Democratic Services, recommending that the
Committee should confirm the original vision and decision regarding Members’
official e-mail addresses. Members were
reminded that this vision had been adopted by the Council Board on 27.3.2012
when it was decided that it would be mandatory for Elected Members to receive
and use the Council’s corporate e-mail.
Reference was made to the reason for using the corporate address rather
than a personal e-mail address. It was noted that the use of electronic methods
was the main method of communication with Members - that it was part of the
Council’s brand and gave Elected Members an opportunity to operate under the
same banner as Council staff. b) It had
been noted that recently a few Members had made requests to receive
correspondence through personal e-mail accounts, and that this had not been
approved (mainly as there was no assurance of security if personal e-mails were
used). Members were also reminded that the Councillors’ corporate e-mail
accounts would be closed if the member did not use it within a 12-month period. c) A
question was asked on how to contact a member who did not use e-mail, and it
was explained that those who had informed us of their decision could receive
the information by letter / hard copy. However, in some cases, members' e-mail
accounts had been closed as they had not been used for a period of 12-months,
and the Department had been unaware of the lack of use, and as a result the
member had not received any correspondence.
In a further response to the recent changes and restrictions on the use
of e-mails on personal computers, it was noted that all members had been sent a
note through Rhaeadr to address this, and that the Technology Department had
responded helpfully and effectively. In the context of accessing e-mails from a
mobile phone, it was noted that the Technology Department had been working on a
device to enable this (an update to be submitted in February). d) Matters
arising from the discussion - concern
that some members were unwilling to use the Council’s e-mail address - difficult
to understand how a Councillor can operate effectively without using /
receiving information through e-mail - corporate
e-mail accounts ensure that communication is fair and accurate - accept that
there is a robust and secure framework in place RESOLVED to again confirm the Council’s original decision regarding the vision
and Members’ official e-mail accounts: - emphasise that the small number who do not
use their corporate e-mail account should use it, and - encourage those who have decided not to use
the technology to reconsider their decision |
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To receive the report of the Head of Democratic Services Minutes: a) Submitted
– the report by the Head of Democratic Services, to provide information on the
use of the web-casting system which had been operational since 2015. It was
noted that the Council had web-casted 23 meetings, with a total number of
viewers of around 3400. It was reported that it was now appropriate to assess
to what extent the Council wished to continue with the system from next year
onwards. It was noted that the viewing figures were comparatively small, when
compared with other Councils, with obvious differences between certain
Meetings. It also appeared, from the analysis of the figures per meeting, that
the ‘subject area’ was the driver for the viewing figures, and therefore, if it
were to continue, that much could be done to raise awareness and increase interest. b)
It was added that the system had been grant funded
and that this grant was coming to an end. Following a recent survey, it was
noted that some councils had voiced differing opinions regarding continuing
with the provision, at a time when service cuts were a contentious issue. In
Gwynedd, it was noted that there was an opportunity to improve the link between
the video-conferencing provision and remote attendance that could save costs
for the Council by redirecting existing resource to continue with the
web-casting service. c) In
response to a question regarding the cost of the system, it was noted that one
company provided the service for the majority of Councils, and that it was
possible to negotiate a price for the service. d) Matters
arising from the discussion - support
for the need to continue, but concerns about the cost - need to
raise awareness and interest - the
process was only in its infancy, and therefore to propose a further investment
for at least another year RESOLVED to continue with the Council’s Web-casting Service, to hold
price negotiations on the costs, and further discussions on how to increase
interest. |
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MEMBERS ANNUAL REPORTS 2014-15 PDF 54 KB To receive the report of the Head of Democratic Services Minutes: a) Submitted
– a report by the Head of Democratic Services providing an update to members on
the number of annual reports published in 2014/2015, and a request for
observations to facilitate the arrangements for 2015/2016. It was noted that the number of elected Members who
had published an annual report had increased of past years, with 39 having
completed one this year. b) In
response to the report, it was noted there was a need to ensure that the report
was a factual report about the Councillor. To ensure this, the legal guidelines
had to be followed, to avoid the possibility of having to edit its content and
what should be omitted. It was also
proposed that the guidelines should be distributed with the template in order
to make the arrangements easier. It was added, although the report could appear
rather bland, that it was the Council’s publication on the work of the
Councillor, and that nothing prevented a councillor from publishing his or her
own report, on social media for example. c) Matters
arising from the discussion - need to
outline more of the context - need to
re-examine the attendance percentages - a
proposal to illustrate the number of meetings a year vs attendance - had any
observations / responses been received from the public - would it
be possible to include reasons for non-attendance? In
response to the observations, it was noted that no responses had been received
from the public, but it could be possible to make further enquiries. In
relation to attendance, it was noted that the Mod Gov system also recorded attendance
percentages that were published on its website – it would be possible to
include reasons for non-attendance on the template but not on the Mod Gov
system. RESOLVED to amend the template to address the
above observations and to distribute the guidance with the template. |
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To receive the report of the Chairman of the Diversity Sub Group Additional documents: Minutes: a) Submitted
‒ the report by the Chair of the Diversity Sub-group on the recent work
undertaken by the sub-group and the information that has been collected to form
a programme of work. Members were
reminded that the Sub-group had been established in February 2015 in response
to a national report and guidance in the Local Government Act 2012 to seek to
increase diversity in local government. b) It was
noted that the sub-group had been considering the current situation in Gwynedd,
and had compared the profiles of Gwynedd’s elected members with the profiles of
the county’s residents – statistics relating to age, sex, ethnic background and
disability had been examined. Following an analysis of the situation, a work
programme had been produced with the intention of delivering a change for the
2017 Elections. c) The work
programme was discussed per heading. d) Observations
arising from the discussion -
An opportunity here to promote / encourage / share
information / train the County’s young people through Youth Clubs, Young
Farmers etc. -
Need to promote good practice -
Introduce people to specific subject areas to
encourage their interest -
A suggestion to encourage visits to Committees /
watch web-casts -
School Councils – accept that they are important
but a need to increase their knowledge of Democracy -
Encourage employers to be flexible in releasing
individual who are considering a career in politics -
A suggestion to consider evening meetings -
A suggestion to offer training to those who are
considering becoming councillors e) In
response, it was noted that the Government had identified a lack of flexibility
by employers as a barrier, and in the context of evening meetings, the Council
would consult on this annually. Resolved to approve the proposed work programme. |
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MEMBERS CHARTER - job descriptions PDF 18 KB To receive the report of the Head of Democratic Services Minutes: a) Submitted, for information, the
report by the Head of Democratic Services providing an update on the progress
towards achieving the Members Charter.
It was recommended to proceed in two steps. The first step would be for
officers to ensure clarity of the current situation and the second step would
be for the Democratic Services Committee to establish a small group of
Councillors to look at the work of achieving the Charter for Gwynedd Council
commencing with the work on the job descriptions. Resolved to accept the report and to suggest that work should progress
to seek to achieve the Wales Charter for Member Support and Development. |