Agenda item

Hearing programme, and additional dates for evidence gathering

1.      The Democratic Services Officer advised that the programme of evidence-gathering interviews drawn up in advance of the Select Committee’s inaugural meeting was provisional, and participants had been advised of and had accepted appointments on this basis. Following this meeting, all participants would be advised that their interview times had been confirmed, unless the Committee chose to direct otherwise.

2.      Miss Grayell advised that the afternoon session previously set aside for identifying recommendations – 17 January – and the two unallocated afternoon sessions following it – 22 and 23 January – would be used to accommodate the additional evidence-gathering interviews which had become possible with the extension to the Committee’s timetable.  The timing and running order on these days would depend on witness availability and would be announced as soon as possible. Members were asked to continue to reserve all three dates until further notice.

Administrative and ‘Housekeeping’ Arrangements

3.      The Democratic Services Officer set out a number of suggested administrative arrangements for the timing of interview sessions and the handling of information.  These had been tried and tested by previous Select Committees and established as best practice:-

• evidence gathering sessions are half-days only, each half-day including 3 or 4 interviews, each of 45 minutes’ duration, with a 15-minute ‘buffer’ between; this allows limited scope for overrun without delaying the next interviewee.  Keeping to time is important.  A four-interview session will probably require a change of clerk part-way through.

• a ‘summing up’ session of 20 minutes’ duration is added to the end of each half-day, after the public part of the proceedings, to allow Members to summarise and note the main issues arising from the session.  This will be shown on the agenda and needs to be factored in to timings.

• all agendas, papers and briefings are circulated to Members by email (papers are published on Modern.Gov, which automatically generates an emailed notice), followed by paper copies. Members asked that anything over 10 pages in length be also sent as a paper version.

• summaries of evidence-gathering interviews are shared with Select Committee Members as soon as possible after each interview (the aim is to prepare these within 5 days of the interview), at the same time as they are sent to the interviewee to check and agree. Summaries remain in draft form until they have been cleared and agreed by the respective interviewees.  Interviewees are advised of this.

·     all participants are sent a ‘welcome’ email, which prepares each interviewee and tells them what to expect at the interview (for example, it’s open to the public), and will include a copy of the Terms of Reference and Scope and ‘housekeeping’ points such as a map and directions to the County Hall site. When they are sent their interview summary to check, they are told of the next steps. 

·     all evidence-gathering sessions are held in public but are not webcast. Later sessions – identifying Recommendations, discussing the report and sharing it with Cabinet Members – are not open to the public.  With the revised timetable, the report now becomes public when it is published on 19 March for full Council 0n 28 March.

4.         RESOLVED that the provisional programme of interviews, additional dates and the administrative arrangements set out above be noted and agreed.