Issue - meetings
COVID-19 RECOVERY PLAN
Meeting: 02/10/2020 - Democratic Services Committee (Item 5)
5 COVID-19 RECOVERY PLAN FOR DEMOCRATIC SERVICES PDF 135 KB
To receive a report on the Covid-19 Recovery Plan for Democratic Services (copy enclosed).
Decision:
Agreement on
the recommendation was by consensus. No formal vote was taken. Committee
members indicated they were in favour of the recommendation. The Committee:
RESOLVED:- Subject to the above observations, to support the recovery plan for democratic arrangements, as outlined in Appendix 1 to the report.
Minutes:
The Lead Member for Corporate Services and Strategic
Direction introduced the report (previously circulated) and gave a brief
background to the work that had taken place during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was
highlighted that all involved had worked extremely hard to maintain services
where possible. Clarification was provided on the decisions that had been made
using the emergency powers. The Leader had the power to make a decision that
would otherwise have been made at a Cabinet meeting. This delegated decision
process had only been adopted twice to do this and Cabinet members had seen the
reports prior to a decision being made.
The Head of Legal,
HR and Democratic Services explained to date the only method for holding
meetings with a simultaneous translation service was through the platform Zoom.
It was confirmed work into implementing Zoom for public meetings was on going.
Members were informed on the technical issues that had occurred to update the Council
Chamber to enable hybrid meetings, and for those meetings to be webcast. It was
confirmed that a number of meetings had resumed with the full schedule of
meetings being held from September 2020.
Members thanked the
Lead Member and officers for the information provided, during the discussion
the following points were raised:
- Prior to the Covid -19 pandemic the law
stated that hybrid meetings allowed 70% of members to attend remotely as
long as 30% of members attended the meeting room and that all could be
seen and heard. It was reported that the Welsh Government had always been
keen for local Councils to hold remote meetings. Those regulations had
been relaxed during the pandemic stating Local Authorities could hold
completely remote meetings. Further regulations and guidance was expected.
- Members felt that the communication
with the group leaders during the pandemic had worked well. With group
leaders passing on information and comments to members at weekly group
meetings, for any feedback to Cabinet.
- The questionnaire asking for feedback
on remote meetings had closed, the Democratic Service’s Manager (DSM)
stated he would see if it was possible to re-open the questionnaire for
those who had not completed it. The working group would examine the feedback
from the member questionnaire.
- The Council had agreed to hold Zoom
meetings for public meetings that required simultaneous translation only,
once able to do so. It was witnessed that other Authorities had held Zoom
meetings with few problems. The DSM confirmed the intention to publically
broadcast and translate meetings to Welsh remained a priority.
- The DSM stated he would email the
complete membership of the working group membership to members.
Nominations had been sought from groups through the group leaders.
- Remote working would have a benefit to
the carbon emissions and footprint for Denbighshire.
Members thanked
officers for the detailed response to questions and concerns. It was,
RESOLVED, that
members note the recovery plan and the democratic arrangements as set out in
the report.