Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllr Boden, Cllr Kearon and Cllr Williams.

To receive Declarations of Interest from Members on items included in this agenda

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider the minutes of the previous meeting held on 25 September 2012.

The chair drew members’ attention to item 6 in the minutes which related to the Paperless member. It was stated that any decision regarding this would be a joint decision by the Panel and that this would only be considered should the process be cost effective and at the very least cost neutral to the Council. Once information was received regarding costings, the matter could be further discussed by the Panel and if viable be referred to Full Council for consideration.

Officers would investigate the progress of the prompt sheet regarding the consultation process.

The Chair confirmed that improvements had been made regarding the Members website.

Resolved:     That the minutes of the meeting held on 25^th September 2012 be agreed as a correct record.

To discuss the courier service. The Council’s Customer Support Manager will be in attendance to answer queries. 

A briefing note was distributed to Members regarding the courier post.

The Courier post had been introduced in 2009 in response to the previous adhoc, in house arrangement of delivering post by hand to Councillors together with the daily cost of sending mail items via royal Mail. Much of the Councillor mail was heavy due to the quantity of reports and appendices which were attached to agendas and this became very expensive to post by Royal Mail. The Courier post had proved to be a more cost efficient and accountable way of delivering mail to Councillor’s home addresses. It was introduced when Councillors did not have email facilities.

The Courier post was currently scheduled to be delivered each Friday to Councillor’s home addresses. On average, 55 large envelopes were delivered by Courier each week at £2 per envelope costing £110 per week or approx. £6K per annum, but costs could be as high as £7K per annum.

It was stated that legal clarification was being sought regarding the issuing of agendas and summons to Councillors to attend Full Council meetings, Scrutiny Committee meetings and other member meetings. The Panel agreed that subject to legal clarification it would recommend that the courier service be disbanded and new ways of distributing Members mail be considered.

Members considered issues such as accessing their mail in the evenings and having the pigeon holes relocated to the Members room or in the Party rooms. It was agreed that Officers look into costs for this.

Resolved:     (a)       That legal clarification be sought regarding the issuing of agendas.

(b)               That Officers obtain costs for moving members’ mail to the members room or to the party rooms.

(c)               That the Chair meeting with the Customer Support Manager in the New Year to discuss the way forward.

(d)               That the Char approach Group Leaders regarding the future distribution of Member post.

To receive an update from the ICT Operations and Development Manager.

The Panel received an update form the ICT Operations and Development Manager. Feedback was provided regarding the ICT questionnaires that had been sent out to all Members. There had been 37 responses to date, 80% of Members stated that they used emails, over 60% had their own equipment and over 75% had their own broadband. Further details regarding the questionnaire results would be distributed at the next meeting.

Officers were aware that there had been issues relating to the resetting of member passwords and options were being looked into in order to resolve this. Officers would also look into password settings as concerns were raised regarding the rejection of passwords that were similar to those previously used.

The current RSA tokens were currently being replaced for a new 4 digit pin authentication system which was already being used by many officers. A new system to enable members to print on any council printer from email was also being introduced, the technology needed to do this would I the future be built into ID cards.

The protective marking scheme was currently installed on all computers and would soon be compulsory, training for this would be provided and details put on the members website.

Resolved:     (a)       That a copy of the presentation be distributed to members of the panel.

(b)               That a full breakdown of the questionnaire results be provided for the next meeting.

(c)               That the ICT Operations and Development Manager be thanked for his hard work.

To receive an update from the Council’s Head of Communications regarding the media training that took place on 29 October 2012 and to consider whether there is a need for another session to be conducted.

The Chair confirmed that the media training had been very well received will approximately 20 members attending including some from Kidsgrove Town Council. Members were impressed with the format of the training and thought the interactive elements were excellent. It was agreed that more media training would be held on February 2013 and that this would include elements on staged interviews.

Resolved:     That more media training be organised for the New Year, possibly in February.

Officers confirmed that LAPs training was currently scheduled for January 2013, details would be confirmed in the New Year. Officers would also look into arranging separate training on the Localism Act.

Resolved:     (a)       That details be circulated regarding the LAP training.

(b)       That Officers investigate organising training for the Localism Act.

To consider what constitutes being a Member of the Council.

Resolved:     The current specification document would be distributed to Members of the Paul before the next meeting.