Agenda item

Development of training action plan: Keith Barrand, General Secretary of the Cambridgeshire Association of Local Councils (CALC), and Simon Edwards, Resources, Staffing, Information & Customer Services Portfolio Holder, have been invited to attend the meeting.  For decision.

Proposal for Training of Parish Council Chairmen and Clerks

Proposal for Training of Parish Council Chairmen and Clerks

The Committee, at its 10 May 2006 meeting, had agreed that the Vice-Chairman, Deputy Monitoring Officer and General Secretary of the Cambridgeshire Association of Local Councils (CALC) liaise to prepare a report on delivery of focussed Code of Conduct training to parish council chairmen and clerks.  The Chairman noted the poor attendance at a previous training event and the Committee had felt that it would be more efficient to train chairmen and clerks at this stage and ask them to cascade the information back to other parish councillors.  Further training events for all parish councillors would be held once the new regulations and revised Code of Conduct had been published.  The ideal would be to visit each parish council, but current resources were felt inadequate for such a task, which is why it was felt a locally-focused training DVD sent to each parish council and meeting would be more cost effective.  The DVD would be considered further once the new regulations had been published.

It was hoped that the training sessions would be self-funding and CALC had recommended charging an attendance fee of £20 per person, noting that attendees likely would value training more highly if they had paid for it.  There was some concern expressed that the fee could deter smaller parish councils, but there could be significant financial implications for the District Council if no fee were charged.  The Resources, Staffing, Information & Customer Services Portfolio Holder explained that the annual member training budget for all topics was just £4,800, and asked that a reasonable figure be charged as the Council did not have the resources to offer free sessions.  Councillor A Riley emphasised the importance of training, the costs of which were far outstripped by those of a hearing.

The recent training needs survey completed by parish councils had revealed the existence of some parish councillors being resistant to take advice from a clerk rather than from a peer.  Councillor Dr SEK van de Ven suggested that parish councils be asked to nominate an attendee for training.  The Deputy Monitoring Officer was asked to consult with parish council chairmen and clerks offering a range of possible training times, including evening and Saturday sessions, and possible fees, from which the Council would try to arrange events which suited the majority of respondents.

Mr K Barrand reported that CALC had put Cambridgeshire forward to pilot a training programme and, to ensure a level of uniformity across Cambridgeshire, had selected the option to develop a model compact between County Associations of Local Councils and the standards committees of the principal authorities in the area.  The Standards Board for England (SBE) had made a joint funding bid with the National Association of Local Councils and the Society of Local Council Clerks to the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Local Government Association’s capacity building programme, but the outcome was not yet known.

The Deputy Monitoring Officer agreed to move the CALC presentation on the basics of the Code of Conduct and the Register of Interests to the start of the training programme.  The Democratic Services Officer was asked to draft a series of questions for parish and council members to take to all parish councils to gauge the level of interest of having Standards Committee members visit, with feedback to be reported at the next meeting.

The Standards Committee

Training of District Councillors

District councillor training was a critical priority and could reduce the significant time and financial investment being made on investigations and hearings.  The Scrutiny and Overview Committee, at its 20 July 2006 meeting, had recommended that Code of Conduct and ethical standards training be mandatory for all district councillors.  The Resources, Staffing, Information & Customer Services Portfolio Holder felt that the training should focus on the correct application of the complaints procedure and the inappropriateness of using it as a political tool.  He asked if the Committee would like to combine district and parish councillor training sessions, but Committee members felt that the two sessions should remain separate to reflect the different needs and areas of determination, although it was acknowledged a joint session could reduce costs and help attendees to understand what was required of each other.

The training budget would be reviewed in October 2006 as part of the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy, but the Resources, Staffing, Information & Customer Services Portfolio Holder cautioned that, despite cuts made as part of the previous year’s capping exercise, the Council was required to make further year-on-year savings.  He confirmed that he had responsibility for Standards Committee training as part of his portfolio.

The Chairman explained that the Standards Board for England held a small ring-fenced budget for training and it was felt that, given the number of cases within South Cambridgeshire and the devolution to local authorities responsibility for investigations, a strong case could be made for SBE funding.

The Deputy Monitoring Officer agreed to liaise with the Resources, Staffing, Information & Customer Services Portfolio Holder to consider the quotations received from external trainers, explaining that some district councillors had indicated that they would refuse to attend internal training sessions conducted by the Monitoring Officer or Deputy Monitoring Officer.  The Chairman asked the Committee to note that by adopting such a position such members might unnecessarily commit the Council to significant expenditure to provide external trainers.

Training of Standards Committee Members

Due to limited resources in the Council’s legal section, the Deputy Monitoring Officer explained that training might have to be delivered through an external trainer, although neighbouring authorities would be approached to attend joint sessions and help share the costs.  Internal training, if it could be offered, could be undertaken sooner and at no cost.  The Deputy Monitoring Officer agreed to meet with the Resources, Staffing, Information & Customer Services Portfolio Holder to discuss the best way forward.