Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 10 July 2012 are correctly recorded and that they be signed by the Chairman.

(1)       The Committee agreed by 5 votes to 1 that the Members of the Independent Remuneration Panel would be remunerated at £100 for each Panel session that they attended, and that this figure would be reviewed after 12 months.

(2)       The recommendations of contained in the report, as amended, were then put to the vote and carried by 5 votes to 1.

(3)       RESOLVED that:-

(a)               the advertisements and recruitment process set out in the report be agreed for the Independent Person to support the new standards regime and for the three Members of the Independent Remuneration Panel;

(b)               the remuneration for the three Members of the Independent Remuneration Panel be set at £100 per Member per Panel session with a review after 12 months; and

(c)                the Director of Governance and Law be authorised in conjunction with the three Group Leaders to nominate three Honorary Alderman to serve on the Appointments Panel to recommend to the County Council on 13 September 2012 the appointment of the Independent Person to support the new standards regime and the Members to serve on the new Independent Remuneration Panel.

(1)       The Chairman declared this item to be Urgent on the grounds that work needed to be undertaken very quickly if the County Council were to be in a position to have the changed ICT provision in place after the elections in May 2013.

(2)       Mr M J Harrison informed the Committee of work undertaken by a Members’ ICT Focus Group to ascertain the range of equipment that Members were using and the extent to which certain pieces of IT equipment were being used by them and handed round a document that detailed the conclusions and recommendations of the Focus Group.  This data was intended to inform consideration of the supply of IT equipment for the intake of Members in May 2013.

(3)       The Committee asked the Head of Democratic Services to investigate the benefit to the County Council of the Democratic Services Team having a 3G phone which could be used at meetings away from County Hall – for use by Members wishing to connect a personally-owned mobile device to the internet.

(4)       The Committee clarified that a major aim of the review was to enable Members to access Committee papers electronically without the need for paper copies.

(5)       RESOLVED that:-

(a)               the report on the proposed ICT support for Members following the County Council elections in May 2013 be endorsed;

(b)               the Head of Democratic Services and the Director of Information and Communication Technology be given delegated authority, in consultation with the Deputy Leader and the Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement, to develop a draft budget for Members’ ICT costs in 2013/14 for inclusion in the budget process; 

(c)               a major aim of this review of Members’ ICT is to enable Members over a period of time to be able to access committee papers electronically in all venues when formal KCC meetings take place without the need for paper copies;

(d)               Members’ personal views continue to be expressed purely through a private medium (such as websites and blogs) rather than through a page linked to the relevant Member’s profile on the KCC website; and

(e)               all Members be offered the facility for their personal profile pages to notify the public of their private sites and that this notification be accompanied by a disclaimer from the County Council to the effect that the views expressed on that site are the Member’s own and do not necessarily represent those of the County Council.

RESOLVED that Mr Doug Kimber be appointed as the County Council’s representative on the Sheppey Academy Board of Trustees.