Agenda and minutes

To consider any appeals in accordance with Procedure Rule 15,2 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules. (in the event of an Appeal the press and public will be excluded)

(*In accordance with Procedure Rule 15.2, written notice of an appeal must be received by the Head of Governance Services at least 24 hours before the meeting.)

There were no appeals against refusal of inspection of documents.

There were no resolutions to exclude the public.

There were no late items submitted to the agenda for consideration.

To disclose or draw attention to any disclosable pecuniary interests for the purposes of Section 31 of the Localism Act 2011 and paragraphs 13-16 of the Members’ Code of Conduct. 

There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests.

There were no apologies for absence.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 29^th June 2018.

The minutes of the meeting held on 29^th June 2018 were approved as a correct record.

Matters arising from the minutes –

Minute 7 - The Chair requested that a list of those Members yet to have completed their DBS check should be provided to group whips as quickly as possible.

To consider the report of the City Solicitor providing options to reduce the cost of printed agenda distribution and the associated environmental impact and seek support for progressing plans to further substantially reduce the reliance on printed agenda papers.

The City Solicitor submitted a report that provided options to reduce the cost of printed agenda distribution and the associated environmental impact and seek support for progressing plans to further substantially reduce the reliance on printed agenda papers.

The Head of Governance and Scrutiny Support introduced the report, explaining that if the recommendations were taken forward, all Members would be given the choice to continue to receive paper copies for any Committees, Boards and Panels that they are a Member of, in line with the current legislation. The Committee also heard that all Members would be offered one-to-one Modern.Gov training sessions on their iPad or laptop, to enable them to use the variety of functions available.

Members discussed a number of matters, including:

·  Whether the ambition of the council should be to circulate committee agenda packs to electronically; whilst being supportive of this as a direction of travel Members were cautious about setting a specific time frame for this.

·  The significant scope for reducing distribution of paper agenda packs for Full Council meetings. Members were informed of the trial of paper free agenda packs being undertaken by Scrutiny Board Strategy and Resources and Scrutiny Board Children and Families.

·  The limitations with ICT equipment available to Members to access the some document types within agenda packs, particularly in relation to Plans Panels and large scale maps. Members asked for further consideration of this to be progressed via the Member ICT Working group.

·  The limitations of existing electronic means of accessing Agenda Packs for confidential or exempt items.

RESOLVED –

a)  To support the long-term ambition to move to the paper free distribution of Committee agendas.

b)  That discussions take place with the Group Offices to agree a way forward for circulation of agenda packs to those Members who are not Members of Committees, Boards and Panels.

c)  That all Members be contacted to seek confirmation of their wishes in respect of receiving electronic agenda packs for Full Council meetings.

d)  That all Members be provided with training opportunities to enable the transition to an electronic method of access agenda packs should that be their preference.

e)  That a report be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee, outlining progress in relation to the above arrangements, along with further detail of paper-free approaches taken by other Core Cities.

f)  That an update be provided to a future meeting of the Committee from the outcomes of the Scrutiny ‘Task and Finish’ group in relation to IT support for Members.

To consider the report of the City Solicitor providing an update on the current position regarding Member appointments to outside bodies, and requesting determination of remaining vacancies.

The City Solicitor submitted a report which provided an update on the current position regarding member appointments to outside bodies; sought to determine the outstanding appointments on the University Court and Leeds Playhouse and provided an opportunity to confirm Member nominations to remaining vacancies or alter existing appointments.

The following were in attendance:

-  Kevin Tomkinson, Principal Governance Officer

-  Helen Gray, Senior Governance and Scrutiny Support Officer

Following a brief discussion by Members on the item it was 

RESOLVED:

a)  That the place on the University Court be allocated to the Conservative Group and that Councillor Cohen be that groups appointment;

b)  That the place on the Leeds Playhouse continue to be allocated to the Liberal Democrat Group and that be allocated as a ‘whips nominee’;

c)  That the change of appointments since the last meeting of the Committee as detailed under paragraph 3.4 of the submitted report be noted.

d)  That it be noted that the following organisations no longer require elected member representation and that they would be removed from the appointments schedule;

• Re’new
• Leeds Minster Council
• Climate Change Partnership
• Locality Boards - East North East/South East & West North West
• Harrison & Potter Trust
• Green Leeds

e)  That officers review those organisations listed on the appointments schedule as set out in Appendix 1 of the submitted report and provide group whips with a briefing note setting out those organisations that are external to the Council in order that a future meeting of Member Management Committee can determine which organisations should have Members appointed to them via this Committee in accordance with the Appointments to Outside Bodies Procedure Rules. 

To consider the report of the Director of Resources and Housing seeking support from Committee Members to endorse the e-Learning Information Governance training course.

The Director of Resources and Housing submitted a report that sought support from Committee members to endorse the e-Learning Information Governance training course.

The following were in attendance:

-  Louise Whitworth, Head of Information Management & Governance

-  Carol Dunn, Principal Information Governance Officer

The Head of Information Management & Governance introduced the report, informing Members that Corporate Governance Committee had recommended that Information Governance training for Members be mandatory as it is for all employees of the Council. Members heard that initial classroom training sessions were provided, and to support further member engagement a new online training course had been developed.

RESOLVED –

a)  That completion of the e-Learning Information Governance training course be mandatory for all Elected Members.

b)  That a list of Members who have already completed the training be circulated to the relevant group whips.

Friday, 1^st March 2018 at 10:30am

Friday, 1^st March 2018 at 10:30am