Agenda and draft minutes

RESOLVED that Mr D Brazier be elected Chairman for the meeting.

(1)       Mr Wickenden and Mr King introduced a report which updated the Select Committee on the general progress that had been made in this area since the Select Committee had submitted their report to the County Council. . 

(2)       Mr Wickenden explained that this area of work was cross cutting and there was no project lead for it.  The progress report had been co-ordinated in Democratic Services.  It was important that a project lead was identified to progress the area of work.   He explained that the minutes from this meeting would be submitted to the Corporate Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 1 July 2010. The update would form part of the report to County Council in July 2010 on the progress with recommendations from all Select Committees. 

(3)       The Committee discussed the progress made on each of the 17 recommendations.  Mr King, Mr Bowles and Mr Wickenden answered specific questions on the action taken to date and action proposed:-

Recommendation 1  

(4)       Mr Wickenden stated that a meeting of the Member Information Member and Officer Group was being held on 15 June 2010 which would contribute to some of the strands of this recommendation. A key issue was way in which the culture of the organisation needed to develop, and proposals such as Member and Officer shadowing opportunities could assist with this.

(5)       Members discussed the speed at which new methods of communication being developed and the importance of remembering that social communication tools such as twitter and facebook may have a very short lifespan.  Technology whilst being an important communication tool would not solve all of Members information and communication needs.  

(6)       Mr King stated that the County Council could not ignore any means of communication that the public wanted to use. 

(7)       Members referred to the different ways in which “Local Boards” engage with young people in their area.

Recommendation 2

(8)       Mr King stated that there was likely to be a change in the way in which consultation was viewed by the new government.  He referred to the Draft Community Engagement Strategy which was due to be considered at Corporate Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 1 July 2010 this would include a coherent criteria for consultation across the authority.    A new model report was due to be considered by Chief Officers Group in the next few weeks.

(9)       In relation to participation techniques, different methods were currently being explored through the various models of community engagement being piloted across the County. Member would be consulted on a number of matters after the summer recess including participation techniques, the work of Overview and Scrutiny and Member use of Gateways.   The development of the Scrutiny role of Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committees and the making of recommendations that may be referred to Cabinet was one of a range of initiatives currently being developed. 

 Recommendation 3

(10)  Members discussed the training that they had attended.  There was a view that some training was presented at a superficial level  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.