Agenda item

The Democratic and Electoral Services Manager presented the item to Committee. Under the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011, the Democratic Services Committee is required to keep under review the provision of staff, accommodation and other resources made available to the Head of Democratic Services, to ensure that adequate resources are provided for the responsibilities of the post.

The Committee is asked:

(i) To consider and comment upon the Annual Report.

(ii) To endorse the view of the Head of Law & Standards and Democratic Services Manager that the provision of staff, accommodation and other resources by the Council is adequate to discharge the statutory requirements in relation to decision making, democratic administration and scrutiny; and

(iii) To ask the Democratic Services Manager to keep under review the provision of staff, accommodation and other resources made available to members to ensure that statutory requirements and any changing needs of elected members are met, and to present a report to this Committee should any review be required.

The statutory functions of the Head of Democratic Services are set out in the Measure and relate to the provision of advice and support to non-executive members as part of the democratic process, and all councillors when carrying out their representational role. In effect this covers Committee services, scrutiny and governance, and general member support services.

Main Points:

·       The Democratic Services covers Community services, Scrutiny and Governance, and general member services.

·       The report considered the period 2021/22 and during the reporting period there were no changes to the provision of staff in terms of capacity and resource. However, there were changes to officers as there were a retirement of one of the Governance Support Officers and the Scrutiny Officer applied for another role, so that role was vacant. All posts have now been filled on a permanent basis and the team is currently at full capacity.

·       Following the retirement of the Elections Manager, responsibility for this area was transferred to sit under the Democratic Services Manager responsibilities in January 2022. The role became the Democratic and Electoral Services Manager, and the key objective at this time was to successfully deliver the local elections in May 2022, and subsequently to provide induction and support services to those members appointed.

·       There was a full complement of staff in the Democratic and Services Team in this period and there were changes but the provision of staff was adequate to discharge functions.

·       In accordance with the requirements of the Measure the staffing and resources available to discharge these democratic functions will need to be kept under regular review, to ensure that they remain adequate and effective. This will include reviewing the provision of staffing in Electoral Services in consideration of the changes to legislation under the Elections Act 2022 that start to impact operations in 2023.

·       Adopting Hybrid Meetings was a major legislative change and since May 2022 Members have been able to join meetings in person and from other locations; there was a tight turnaround between the Election and Council AGM so the team had to ensure that Members signed the Declaration and had the correct IT kit and access to be able to join Hybrid meetings.

·       The Constitution was also amended to reflect the arrangements developed to meet the requirements for Multi Location Meetings.

·       It has been a year of firsts for the team being involved in Mayor Making and the other first was the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 where the team facilitated the civic duties for this both during the period of mourning and to hear the decree announcing the new King.

·       During this period specialist training for the team has been provided by Public Governance Wales on democratic accountability, governance and scrutiny, and from the Association of Electoral Administrators on all aspects of Electoral Administration.

·       New starters received training as part of induction, with cross training and people moved into new roles.

·       There is an ongoing focus on learning and development, with training plans in place on an individual and team basis.

·       Any changes in statutory requirements and/or the needs of members will also need to be kept under review and will be reported to the Democratic Services Committee. Potential pressures could include:

- The impact of the Elections Act 2022

- Any changes to the demands and needs of elected members

- Any changes in statutory requirements, e.g., Welsh Language Standards; Wellbeing of Future Generations Act / PSB Scrutiny.

- Increased day to day demands       

-Any further demands from regulatory bodies

- The impact of the cost-of-living crisis on resource and demands

·       The Democratic and Electoral Services manager recognised the work of officers in the Democratic Services Team and recorded personal gratitude for their support.

Questions:

A Committee Member commented on the review of the Democratic Services provision and expressed their concern that the Electoral Manager post was incorporated into the Democratic Services team Manager responsibility and that it meant more pressure on the team and requested that Members be kept aware of this and of any changes. 

·       The Democratic and Electoral Services Manager stated that the change in terms of the electoral team being brought under Democratic Services happened in January last year. It was recognised that this was a change in workload but the annual activities and the local elections had been effective under this new structure.  

The Chair commented that the role of Elections Manager was important and wide reaching, and perhaps should have been replaced.

A Committee Member stated that in terms of public awareness, it can be an uphill struggle persuading people to register to vote and the Member asked whether the team would be able to make provision for the new requirements for Voter ID and other changes. 

·       The Democratic and Electoral Services Manager appreciated the concerns and explained that there was a planned programme from the Electoral Commission and there will be a local communication plan. They confirmed that communication in Wales had been held back, as voters were going to the polls next week in England only.

A Committee Member commended the Democratic Services team for how smoothly last year’s Election ran and asked how much support the Mayor would be given this year. 

The Chair commented that this was a very important question to ask and stated that they were the last Mayor that had support they considered to be proper. 

·       The Democratic and Electoral Services Manager confirmed that there would be no changes to mayoral support as the current arrangements would continue. They confirmed that whilst there is no longer a dedicated support to the mayor, an officer regularly checks the Mayoral diary on a day-to-day basis and the Democratic and Electoral Manager stated that they check in twice a week with the officer covering the Mayor’s office. Recruitment has been completed to provide back up to the chauffeur team to provide back up when needed.

A Committee Member requested updates on plans to engage with residents to encourage registrations to vote and also thanked the team for all their hard work and support in the last year.

A Committee Member commented on training and queried whether it was ongoing for Democratic Services in all roles.

·       The Democratic and Electoral Services Manager confirmed that training was ongoing for all Scrutiny Officers and Governance Support Officers in all roles, and there was a training plan in place to manage this.

A Committee Member stated the Democratic Services Team had to adjust to the new demand and this year was quite challenging with new Members starting so they expressed their thanks to the team for their hard work. 

Agreed:

The Committee noted and endorsed the Annual Report.