Agenda item

            The Committee considered the following report:

“1.0      Purpose of Report or Summary of main Issues

1.1       The purpose of this report is to present and seek approval of the proposed changes to the current approach to elected member development.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       The committee is requested to:

·        Approve the implementation of the proposed changes as set out below at 3.4.

3.0       Main report

3.1       The current approach to elected member development was developed by a ‘task and finish’ Elected Member Development Working Group and was agreed by the SP&R committee on 24 March 2017.

3.2       At its meeting on 22 September 2023, the committee agreed that the current approach should be reviewed via engagement with party group leaders. The Corporate HR team carried out a desk top review of the framework documents and presented the following proposed changes to Party Group Leaders Consultative Forum for further engagement and consideration within their parties. 

3.3       In addition, all members were invited to attend a briefing on the changes on 24 April 2024.

3.4       Summary of proposed changes

            The proposed changes to the Member Development process are summarised as follows:-

1.      A new Elected Member Development Strategic Framework document bringing together all the processes involved.

2.      Reformatted Members Role Profiles (content remains unchanged)

3.      Reformatted Members Knowledge & Skills Framework now including a contents page and two new additional political skills to align with LGA/NILGA frameworks: Digital Technology and Resilience & Wellbeing

4.      The revised Personal Development Planning (PDP) process proposes that carrying out a self-assessment against the Knowledge and Skills Framework and Role Profiles becomes a recommended element of the process, rather than mandatory element.

·        All members will now automatically be invited to a PDP meeting with Corporate HR to help encourage take up of the PDP process, with review meetings also scheduled on a regular basis once the PDP has been completed.  Assistance from an external facilitator remains optional.

5.      New PDP Template

·        Personal reflection section has been removed.

·        Now includes a summary of learning and development received to date (Corporate HR will pre-populate with any previous BCC learning and development activity)

·        Self-assessment is aligned directly to Knowledge & Skills Framework, descriptors have been removed to shorten document (asking members to refer to full Framework and Role Profiles for full descriptor detail.)

6.      Change to the Personal Member Development Budget

·        Annual amount  for the PDP budget to remain at £730 however going forward members will be able to  access the full four  years of PDP budget (£2920) at any time over the four year Council term - or part thereof.  Members should note that if a member leaves the council and has used all or part of their 4 year budget, any co-opted member will only have access to the remaining allocation of the leaving member.

·        It is proposed that degree type qualifications now be included as an option given that the full four-year budget allocation can be used at any time during the council term.

3.5       Further detail on the proposed changes is attached at Appendix 1.

            Feedback from members on proposed changes

3.6       Members who provided feedback had no further comments or amendments and were happy with the proposals. The change to the budgeting process was particularly welcomed.  Members also commented that these should be widely circulated to all Members to make them aware so that budgets could be used for development.

3.7       Financial and Resource Implications

            To enable the full four-year Member Development PDP budgets of £2920 to be used at any time during the full council term, Corporate Finance will transfer any  annual underspend to a specific reserve for the duration of the Council term. Members should note that budget allocations for 2023/24 not already used have  been transferred, allowing members to avail of the full four budget now until the end of the council term. 

3.8       Equality or Good Relations Implications/

            Rural Needs Assessment

            There are no equality, good relations or rural needs implications to this report.”

            The Committee approved the implementation of the proposed changes.