Agenda item

To receive a report (copy enclosed) from the Monitoring Officer which sought the Committee’s views as to the most appropriate method of providing guidance to Elected Members in respect of their use of social media.

A copy of a report by the MO, which sought the Committees’ views as to the most appropriate method of providing guidance to Elected Members in respect of their use of social media, had been circulated with the papers for the meeting.  A copy of the draft Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA), Social Media: A Quick Guide for Councillors was circulated at the meeting.

The MO explained that the use of social media in all walks of life had become an accepted form of communication and engagement.  There had been an increasing desire amongst sections of society to access information and to communicate through the various forms of social media such as Twitter, Facebook etc.  Social media was a term which described easy ways to publish information on the internet and the term was generally used to describe how individuals, companies and other bodies share information and create discussions online.  The ease with which information could be distributed, and the increasing number of people utilising social media to access information, would mean that the way in which Councils and Councillors interact with the public would change.

He explained that although there were many benefits to the use of social media, there were potential pitfalls.  The guidance on the Code of Conduct made repeated reference to the use of social media reminding Members that the Code of Conduct applied to their activities online in the same way that it applies to other aspects of their role and many Authorities had issued guidance to Members about the use of social media.  These documents varied between being extensions to the Code of Conduct and Ombudsman’s advice to more holistic documents advising of the potential uses of social media whilst containing sections dedicated to the potential conduct issues.

There was a potential for increased engagement through social media if the Council adopts a policy of webcasting its meetings.  Evidence suggested that the use of webcasting would engage sections of the community who rely on receiving their information online and may wish to communicate with the Council and Councillors through social media.  Training had been provided to Elected Members on the use of social media and a copy of the training materials had been included in Appendix 1 to the report.  Guidance had been produced for Elected Members in 2010 regarding the use of social media and a copy the guidance had been included in Appendix 2 to the report.

The Chair highlighted the importance of ensuring that Councillors were made aware that information imparted through the social media would be in the public domain.  He suggested that training programmes include advice on the use of social media and be utilised to remind Councillors that the Code of Conduct also applied to activities online.  The MO explained that social media training had previously been provided and he agreed to liaise with Corporate Communications Team regarding the use of social media as a tool by Councillors.  The Committee were informed that Denbighshire did not at present have a prohibition on Councillors using social media during meetings.   Standing Orders only dealt with a prohibition on disrupting meetings and were silent as to social media.  The MO explained that in the event of the introduction of webcasting there may be a need to review the Council’s Stand Orders and possibly assess the provision of Member training to circumvent any potential problems. 

The Committee considered and confirmed the merits of introducing a protocol on the use of social media and following an in depth discussion, it was:-

RESOLVED – that the Monitoring Officer, in conjunction with the Corporate Communications Team, compiles a protocol document for consideration by the Standards Committee utilising the WLGA guidance circulated.

(G. Williams to Action)