Agenda and minutes

None

Agreed:

The minutes of the 20 February 2020 were accepted as a true record.

The Head of Law and Regulation confirmed for the committee that there were two parts to this agenda item, which contained the Head of Democratic Services Report as well as the Annual Report of the Democratic Services Committee.

The Head of Law and Regulation referred members to the Annual Report of the Head of Democratic Services Committee, item 4a on the agenda. This report summarised the support provided to the committee and in an unprecedented year with the Covid 19 pandemic, it was an overview of the first part of the year and the restructure of Democratic Services.

Last year it was the intention to restructure the management within the Governance Team with more focus on the statutory role. The Covid Lockdown had affected this process and the previous post holder covered both Democratic Services and other functions related to PR, Communications and Events.  When the previous post holder left, it was felt that the post then needed to be focused more on the statutory role. This post was now merged with the Scrutiny & Governance manager’s role, which was also vacant. Therefore, a single Head of Democratic Services post was now available which just dealt with members support, governance and mayoralty. The other parts of the service were to be dealt with separately.

This post was advertised last year and there have been two Scrutiny Advisor post vacancies since then. However in March lockdown occurred, so there were no interviews in that period as the recruitment process was suspended.

Interviews were supposed to have taken place for the Democratic Services Manager post when the local lockdown came into effect so those interviews would now be held remotely and it was hoped that the post would be appointed in the next couple of weeks.

The Scrutiny Advisor posts would then be interviewed and the posts filled before the end of December 2020. In the interim there were arrangements made to cover. The Head of Law and Regulation had been covering the Democratic Services manager role, supported by the Governance Team in terms of Scrutiny meetings.

Meetings that were suspended in March 2020 due to the Covid 19 pandemic were now reinstated remotely and more support would be needed for members as those remote meetings become more defined.

The Head of Law and Regulation gave thanks to the Governance Team for their hard work over the last 9 months in establishing remote meetings in terms of member training, technology and getting procedures in place etc.

Questions:

·         Councillor C. Evans paid tribute to all the staff who had been working very hard in difficult times. He expressed concern about the manager’s post as the previous post holder left in 2018 and he felt like the section was too short staffed for too long. The Chief Executive Post interview was completed remotely in the summer and those remote interviews should be continued in the meantime. He also commented that there should be a sense of urgency in filling those vacant posts.

The Head of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The Head of Law & Regulation stated that this report was received at this time every year from the IRP and comments were invited by the 23 November 2021.

The cover report summarised the full IRP report, which was attached, in case the Democratic Services Committee wished to make any comments to the IRP .

Main Points:

-Members allowances have been uplifted again in line with inflation- a flat rate increase of all basic salaries of £150 for all members.

-All senior salaries are also to be uplifted and will go up by 1.06%, which was listed in the schedule.

-The allowances for co-opted members have also gone up by a similar percentage.

The only other difference was that there was a section of the report devoted to the reimbursement of costs of care for Members. It was retitled again this time to a Contribution towards Costs of Care and the cap was removed on what could be claimed, as it was recommended that Members should be fully reimbursed for costs claimed.

There was also a section as to how this should be publicised to Members.

Councillor Thomas stated that in relation to Determinations 34-39 omitting 38 where it stated Members may wish to agree proposals; Councillor Thomas stated that they were happy to agree these proposals. It was recognised that Members were following these recommendations already.

Agreed:

That the report be noted and approved by the Council’s Democratic Services Committee.

The Chair was due to meet with the IRP on the 27^th October 2020 and the Chair asked the Committee whether any Members had any issues that needed to be brought forward to the meeting.

Councillor T. Watkins asked whether the IRP had any concerns in their role and do they have any concerns or reservations as to whether Councils adhered to their recommendations.

The Head of Law & Regulation stated that there was no choice, we have to by law, adhere to the recommendations regarding allowances and that their role was legislative so we have to follow it.

·         Councillor T. Watkins questioned whether the IRP wanted to go further but didn’t have the authority to and whether the IRP had any concerns in not being able to go further and whether they had concerns about their own limitations.

The Chair stated that they would bring this to the Chair of IRP at their meeting.

The Head of Law & Regulation stated that before Covid the IRP used to meet with Councillors to make sure they had enough support to carry out their role, that the allowances were sufficient and there was enough IT support and provision etc.

The Chair stated that carers allowances was raised previously and the Head of Law & Regulation stated that this was the Equality agenda and was all about diversity and making sure certain Councillors weren’t disadvantaged due to caring responsibilities and commitments. In terms of remote meetings, Welsh Government were keen to continue these, as this could assist members who could not always travel in.

·         Councillor Hughes questioned as to what were the barriers in becoming a Councillor and what were the barriers to accessing the support. Could there be a more in depth look into barriers by the Committee.

It was discussed how there was a mix of Councillors in Newport but maybe there was not enough to bring in more members from ethnic backgrounds and Councillors with a disability.

The Chair also agreed to take this to the meeting with the IRP.

The Head of Law & Regulation asked whether any members of the Committee wanted to mention anything specific to go on the Forward work programme to be reviewed. 

Councillor Evans stated that there could be a look at inclusion of the people we represent and as ward meetings were suspended maybe remote surgeries could be held in future to connect with people.

Councillor Watkins requested feedback for the committee from the IRP at the next Democratic Services Committee.

18 February 2021 at 10am

18 February 2021 at 10am

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