Minutes:
The Chair explained that the Local Government & Elections Act was top of the agenda for preparation between now and next May 2022 and asked whether any of the Community Councils were familiar with the legislation.
The Graig representative Nathan Tarr asked as to whether boundary changes would be affecting the Community Councils.
The Chair confirmed that the Council had undertaken an electoral review from the Boundary Commission, but the order had not been made yet by Welsh Government. This would change some of the Ward boundaries for the next council election, Rogerstone and Graig were affected but there were not too many other boundary changes.
The Graig representative asked as to whether Rogerstone would have more Councillors and the Chair confirmed that Rogerstone would have 4 Councillors due to an increased population but split into 3 different wards.
The Graig representative felt that it was a good move as Graig seemed quite isolated geographically. The Chair confirmed that there were still 2 Councillors for the Graig ward so no loss of representation there. The electoral review of the city council was completed by the Boundary Commission last year and the new ministers in the Senedd would need to make the new orders prior to May 2022.
It was accepted that as Newport was a growing city there was a need to increase the number of Councillors for 50 to 51. However, the Chair confirmed that the Boundary commission changes did not make a huge difference to Community Councils, as they did not change existing community boundaries, although Afan Village would move from the Graig ward into Rogerstone, which would mean slight changes to the ward representation within Rogerstone community council.
The Chair stated that eligible Community Councils could apply to Welsh Government for a General Power of Competence and this may get a mixed response, but the power was there if they wanted to use it.
The Chair stated that for Community Councils the most important points to note were:
· Access to meetings- the requirements for remote meetings would continue. The obligations on community councils were not as onerous as City Council as the Council had to broadcast committee meetings live. For Community Councils it was just a requirement for members to dial in and be heard. There was a diversity agenda by Welsh Government, so if it was difficult for councillors to travel to meetings, then they could dial in.
· reasonable access was required for public participation in meetings. We were still awaiting guidance on this, but it will be flexible.
The Llanwern representative stated that their community council could not meet up aside from social distancing rules, as remote access could not be given as the Community Council did not have the IT infrastructure to provide this.
The Chair confirmed that the need for remote attendance was for Community Councillors etc and that was due to social distancing but when this did not apply anymore it would be sufficient for the public to attend physically then.
The Wentlooge representative stated that he thought smaller Councils would struggle with remote access due to no internet access in village halls.
The Chair stated that the City Councils had more onerous rules but with Community Councils etc they could dial in on a mobile phone and this would be sufficient as long as they were heard. Some Community Councils could have some other way of participation where the rule stated that people must hear and be heard e.g., having someone on speaker phone would suffice. The Chair referred to the previous point by the Llanwern representative about the public participation in meetings, the public could come into the face-to-face meeting.
The Chair advised the representatives to check the guidance carefully when it was published, however Community Councils did not have to have broadband or costly technology.
The Graig representative referred to remote meetings and enquired as to when the pandemic was over would remote meetings or combined hybrid meetings continue.
The Chair confirmed remote meetings would continue for the time being, while hybrid technology was being developed, as the legislation required it. Newport City Council would have to continue as there were more onerous duties on us. It was all about keeping people safe and all Newport City Council committees were being held remotely so every single member dialled in remotely and the Government brought in temporary regulations to allow this to happen.
In England the legislation was different as their emergency powers for remote meetings ended in May as they only had 12 months power to bring in these measures.
In Wales, although the Coronavirus legislation expired in May, this legislation was replaced by the Local Government & Elections (Wales) Act 2021 which continued the legality of remote meetings in Wales.
The Chair explained that in future Councillors would be given a choice as to whether they can come in for the meetings or dial in and the technology was being developed now to enable this. This meant that there would be screens in the council chamber as well as microphones etc which was a high cost, but we must broadcast our meetings. Community councils do not have to do this.
The Graig representative referred to the legislation that was published last week and asked about the number of people that could meet could not be more than 6 people indoors.
The Chair stated that that was relating to Covid restrictions and it was up to Community Councils as to whether they could meet safely while social distancing and the 6 people indoors referred to a household bubble. In relation to organised events this referred to 15-30 people, but this depended on whether the room was big enough for people to socially distance.
The Graig representative stated that a trial meeting was held in Graig hall as it was a large area and 90% of people present had masks on and everyone voted to go back to zoom meetings as they couldn’t hear the meeting.
The Chair agreed that it was the same with the Civic Centre as capacity for most rooms was limited, room to manoeuvre was important as it was not 100% sure that safety could be maintained there, so no face-to-face meetings were being held. If the risk assessment stated that it could be done safely it was recommended to not hold meetings face to face for now.
The Wentlooge representative explained that two Councillors were anti- vax so it was a difficult situation and asked as to whether they could be told that they cannot attend meetings or must attend remotely.
The Chair advised that it was a common problem as there was no legal power of compulsion for people to have the vaccination. However, Councillors have a legal requirement to attend meetings so remote meetings were advisable. If there was agreement for those Councillors to dial in remotely then this was different. However, if they were not and they felt discriminated against, then remote meetings were the safer option for everyone.
The Chair stated that there would be a requirement from next April for:
- Community Councils to produce a published Annual Report. It was uncertain as to the content yet, but the Annual report would ensure transparency at the end of the financial year and it was compulsory from next April 2022.
The Wentlooge representatives confirmed that this was already completed for Wentlooge as part of their budgeting where priorities were highlighted.
- Training plans must be published. Plans for training Councillors and Staff to be published 3 months after every election.
The Wentlooge representative asked whether courses were to become compulsory.
The Chair explained that Welsh Government had thought about this idea but shied away from this so training plans were a softer way of doing this. However, it was discussed that Community Councils could make their training compulsory so they could have their own internal rules.
The Wentlooge representative stated that the Code of Conduct, basic planning, Finance, and Law should be key as to what Councillors can and cannot do.
The Chair stated that as part of a training plan the Community Councils themselves could make this compulsory, but training could come as a cost.
The Wentlooge representative agreed that there was a lot of funding available from Welsh Government by One Voice Wales for training and have accessed some free training this year.
The Graig representative added that maybe it might be worth having a common training programme that all community councillors could foster.
The Chair stated that it was difficult to say as Community Councillors all have different training needs. There was certain training that was compulsory.
The Code of Conduct was currently being reviewed and Welsh Government have commissioned Mr Richard Penn who works for the Remuneration Panel to undertake a review of the Code of Conduct and the ethical framework e.g., role of the Ombudsman etc as the Members code of conduct had not been reviewed since 2006. Training on that revised code would be compulsory.
Newport City Council was planning a series of induction training sessions for the new intake of Members next May which would be on the Code of conduct. Between now and next May discussions could be had with Community Councils for any new or existing Councillors to have refresher training.
The Graig representative stated that he received training on the Code of Conduct in 2017 and had found it useful.
The Chair advised that there probably would not be too many changes, and Equalities duties would be added to as this was a priority for Welsh Government, and they may also look at the role of the Ombudsman in dealing with Complaints and the register of Members interest e.g., declaration of property. In Newport we redact members home addresses for security reasons.
The Chair reiterated that the Community Councils had been sent guidance by the Ombudsman that was issued previously on the Code of Conduct which was much better with real case examples.
It was discussed that training was now being posted online which was good to do in your own time, but Code of Conduct training was done better face to face.
The Graig representative enquired as to whether there would be any adaptions for individuals with additional needs for the training.
The Chair confirmed that there would be adaptions made and that we would need to be informed of any adaptions needed as equalities needed to be made a priority.
Agreed:
For the Governance Support Officer to circulate any new guidance to all Community Councils.