Agenda item

To consider a report from the Democratic Services Manager Steve Price (copy attached), on the Working Group Recommendations – ‘How Meetings Are Held’.

 

The Lead Member for Corporate Strategy, Policy and Equalities introduced the report to Members (previously circulated).

 

The report was regarding the Council’s arrangements for holding its member-level meetings. The report included recommendations from the Working Group. The Lead Member thanked officers and the Working Group for their hard work on the report.

 

The Democratic Services Manager guided Members through the report.

 

Shortly before the last Council elections the previous Council administration took decisions on how Council meetings would be held. This was in response to changes during 2020 and 2021, a period of pandemic lockdowns which temporarily halted traditional face-to-face meetings, changes in the law governing certain Council and Committee meetings, and the technical advancements made during that period that has allowed business to be conducted using virtual or hybrid meetings.

 

In December 2021 full Council considered a report on “Proposals for Members to adopt New Ways of Working”. That report outlined the recommendations agreed at a member’s task and finish group and by the Democratic Services Committee that looked at the New Ways of Working agenda, primarily focusing on how members’ meetings should be conducted, and the ICT equipment required for members. The report and discussion at Council considered points in favour of virtual meetings, and points in favour of face-to-face meetings.

 

In favour of virtual meetings

 

·       Council had declared a Climate Change and Ecological Emergency. Virtual meetings did not have the carbon emissions generated from member and officer journeys to meeting venues.

·       Reduction in travel expenses.

·       Reduction in time spent travelling to meetings.

·       Virtual meetings could be more accessible (participants could attend from wherever they happen to be, and the time commitment was limited to the meeting time itself) and likely to promote participation in local democracy.

In favour of face-to-face meetings

·       Some members felt that face-to-face meetings enabled them to engage better in debate and to be able to interpret the atmosphere of a meeting, or the body language of participants.

·       Some members missed the social benefits of interacting directly with their peers in the same location.

·       Technical problems could affect the business being undertaken or the participation of those experiencing a technical problem.

Council acknowledged that it could not hold public meetings of its statutory Committees as face-to-face meetings. Recent changes in the law in Wales required local authorities to offer remote attendance for those meetings, thereby leaving the virtual or hybrid meeting options.

In addition to the main public Council and Committee meetings, Councillors participate in a range of internal meetings, for panels and groups established by the Council to consult and engage with members on specific topics. These meetings were not under the statutory requirements of the public committee and therefore the Council could choose whether they were held as face-to-face, virtual or hybrid meetings.

 

In 2023 the Council’s Group Leaders called for a new member working group to be formed to review the 2021 decisions by considering the legal framework and options available in order to present any recommendations to the Democratic Services Committee and full Council. The working group, chaired by Councillor Julie Matthews, decided to issue a survey (attached in appendix 1 and previously circulated) to councillors, lay members and the senior leadership team. The working group also considered good practice for hybrid and virtual meetings. In 2021 the Council adopted a hybrid committee meetings protocol designed to guide participants and clarify expectations. The protocol (attached in appendix 2) contained the amendments recommended by the working group.

 

The Democratic Services Manager guided members through the survey questions, results and analysis that were considered by the working group in February 2024. The survey responses indicated that extending the range of meetings held as hybrid meetings would be popular with many members. However, hybrid meetings would include at least some of the carbon travel expenses and time costs that the Council in 2021 were keen to reduce. The costs of hybrid meeting would also include the on-site attendance of support officers. The range and availability of suitable hybrid meeting rooms was also a relevant consideration.

 

The working group were keen to promote high standards of meeting behaviour and professionalism for the Council’s public hybrid meetings. The working group were satisfied the existing arrangements for holding internal member-level meetings virtually was largely appropriate. However, the survey results and the working group’s views supported allowing the individual Member Area Groups (MAGs) to decide how their meetings would be held.

 

There were four recommendations presented to the Democratic Services Committee.

 

The Chair thanked the Lead Member and the Democratic Services Manager for the report and comments were welcomed from Members.

Members commented on the benefits of hybrid meetings, they gave members more flexibility to attend meetings.

 

Members referred to recommendation 3 from the Working Group, which related to allowing MAGs to deciding whether their meetings were held virtually or face to face. Members felt that the individual MAGs should be able to decide but they should have due regard to the increased costs of travel (both in time and carbon emissions) and of officer time that holding a face-to-face or hybrid meeting entails. For example, some MAGs might want all their meetings held virtually and others may agree to have a face-to-face meeting once a year.

 

The Monitoring Officer highlighted an incident involving a councillor from another local authority who found themselves in trouble for voting during a meeting whilst they were driving. The Monitoring Officer suggested that the hybrid meetings protocol be amended to include the requirement for remote participants to attend meetings safely and to be safely parked up if attending from a vehicle.  

 

The committee agreed that where a meeting room was required to facilitate either a hybrid or face-to-face MAG meeting the clear expectation would be for the meeting room to be a free-to-use Council meeting room. The use of an external meeting room had to be justifiable in terms of the added benefits gained from using an external meeting room clearly outweighing any financial and administrative costs incurred. 

 

Following a discussion it was –

 

RESOLVED: that the Democratic Services Committee endorses the recommendations of the Working Group as follows –

 

(a)      That the Hybrid Meetings Protocol be amended as indicated in appendix 2 to the committee’s report to promote high standards of meeting behaviour and practices for both hybrid and virtual member-level meetings. In addition, the protocol be amended to include the requirement for remote participants to attend meetings safely and to be safely parked up if attending from a vehicle.

(b)      That internal member-level meetings (excluding the Member Area Groups) be held as virtual meetings unless there is an over-riding benefit to the Council from holding a meeting as a hybrid or face-to-face meeting.

(c)      That the individual Member Area Groups be allowed to decide whether their meetings be held as face-to-face, hybrid or virtual. In determining this the MAGs should have due regard to the added costs of carbon dioxide emissions, travel expenses and officer time associated with attending and supporting hybrid and face-to-face meetings.

(d)      That where a meeting room was required to facilitate either a hybrid or face-to-face MAG meeting the clear expectation would be for the meeting room to be a free-to-use Council meeting room. The use of an external meeting room had to be justifiable in terms of the added benefits gained from using an external meeting room clearly outweighing any financial and administrative costs incurred.