Agenda item

The Minutes from 22 October were accepted as a true record subject to the following:

Item 4 Annual Report of the Democratic Services Committee

The initial for Councillor M Evans and C Evans being excluded. In addition, Councillor M Evans asked that the sentence be changed to ‘He’ commented instead of ‘they’.

Councillor K Thomas made reference to the role we make and wanted the sentence removed on page 6, second para.  To clarify, Councillor K Thomas asked why council business was being conducted differently not why councillors were not doing their role.

Matters Arising

Item 4 Annual Report of the Democratic Services Committee

The Committee queried paragraph 2, page 4 and whether the positions had been filled.  The Democratic Services Manager and one Scrutiny Advisor post was being re-advertised.  The closing date was at the end of February 2021 and shortlisting would take place in due course.

Item 6 Any Issues for Discussion with the IRP

The Committee as that regarding page 8, the Head of Law and Regulation feedback that a more in depth look at barriers for people becoming a councillor was addressed.  It was advised that it would be noted to feed back to the IRP however this was not minuted for action by the Democratic Services Committee.

The Chair raised this point and the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) had listened to this point on a statutory basis and the Welsh Model was envied by England and Scotland who were using the Model as an exemplar.

The Chair mentioned that the issue loomed large on a recent Zoom meeting and the IRP were hoping to mentor those councillors and that some councils mentored candidates.

Councillor Hughes suggested that some of the older councillors should be mentors and that newer councillors should be buddied up with new councillors.

Councillor Whitcutt agreed with the above point which he considered should fit into the New Wales Local Government Act and that this should be feed into the discussion as well as being a separate discussion.

Councillor K Thomas considered that this would be addressed in the guidance of the new Act and councillors would give thought to this at induction.

Councillor Hourahine, met with Democratic Services Officers at the Welsh Government regarding feedback on Councillor training, which they said was quite good, however Councillors never received overall feedback on this.

Councillors J Hughes suggested there was scope to look into this and it was right that the Council include this as part of the democratic process to attract the right calibre of candidates particularly in such a diverse city.

The Head of Law and Regulation advised that the existing legislation in the Wales Measure (2011), provisions were in place to encourage more people to come forward.  Part of this discussion was informing people what it was to be a councillor and the responsibilities.  The political groups and parties also had a responsibility to attract the right calibre of candidates.

Councillor C Evans agreed with the Head of Law and Regulation and said that the issue came with the two party system and it was sensible to look at things as they stood.  It was suggested that an audit of position of where the council was to see how diverse they were and where parties would like to be by next election.  Agreement between the main parties regarding a set criteria for selection could be based on attracting diverse groups, including ethnicity, age, sexual orientation disability and silent disability.

Councillor Whitcutt suggested it was a societal issue in all areas and what was needed was a joined up approach, such as involving a Cabinet Member for Equalities.  There was a need to make sure that we can draw on a valuable resource as a society and that it was nothing to do with background but some issues could place social barriers.

Councillor K Thomas observed that there was a visible shortfall to only have 30% of elected members that are female and that age was also an issue.  This could only be addressed by each political group canvassing according to their policies.  It needed to be highlighted and the voters could decide if they were reflecting their views.  An audit was not really a solution and instead should be the responsibility of each political group who needed to get serious on how to address this.

Councillor C Evans suggested that parties or the council should agree on a way to attract the right people via fast tracking groups such as youth council. A roadmap in place could look at the current situation/trends and where we wanted to be as a council from a non-political perspective.

Councillor Hourahine suggested this should be added to a future agenda as an item for further discussion.