Agenda, decisions and minutes

1.1.  Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Anna Lynch.  It was noted that Feryal Ertan attended the meeting remotely.

Members are invited to consider the guidance which accompanies this

agenda and make declarations as appropriate.

2.1.  There were no declarations of interest.

Members to consider the minutes of the previous meeting held on 12 July 2022

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 12 July 2022 were agreed as a true and accurate record of the proceedings.

That a dispensation be granted to Councillor Mete Coban in respect of his appointment to the board of London Energy Limited under section 33 Localism Act 2011, such dispensation to last until the earliest of the following (a) Councillor Coban ceasing to be an elected member of Hackney Council, or (b) Councillor Coban’s appointment to LEL coming to an end.

4.1   The report was introduced by the Director of Legal, Democratic and Electoral Services who outlined the proposed dispensation for Councillor Mete Coban on the basis of his appointment to the board of London Energy Limited.

4.2  The Chair noted that this matter had previously been raised at the Committee and the Director has now come forward with the proposal regarding the dispensation as outlined in the report.

RESOLVED:

That a dispensation was granted to Councillor Mete Coban in respect of his appointment to the board of London Energy Limited under section 33 Localism Act 2011, such dispensation to last until the earliest of the following (a) Councillor Coban ceasing to be an elected member of Hackney Council, or (b)Councillor Coban’s appointment to LEL coming to an end.

The Committee noted the changes which the Monitoring Officer intends to make to section 11 of the Code of Conduct as regards to mandatory training.

5.1.  The report was introduced by the Head of Legal and Governance.  The report advised the Committee of the outcome of the review undertaken by the monitoring Officer with regards to mandatory training introduced by the Councillor Code of Conduct adopted by Full Council in January 2022, which became effective following elections in May 2022.  The report also advised the committee of proposed changes to the mandatory training that the Monitoring Officer intends to make. The committee noted the following:

·  The importance of putting the appropriate infrastructure in place to support members in meeting their responsibilities regarding standards and conduct which was previously raised at committee - part of this approach included mandatory training;

·  It had now approached one year since the new code of conduct was implemented and it was considered an opportune moment to review mandatory training elements;

·  The report set out the review of mandatory training undertaken by the Monitoring Officer, part of which included the review of forms members returned;

·  Training was scheduled throughout the year and members had an option to view recordings after the training session;

·  Information was captured only for members who returned the forms  therefore there was caution about the data and forms as it only captured information from members who had self-certified;

·  Some data was more accurate as it was correlated with other data captured, for example, Planning captured separate information of members training attendance;

·  The training timetable was considered ambitious given the complexity of the municipal calendar and officers considered they would be realistic about what could be scheduled each year;

·  Prioritising social media training was highlighted and to make the training available as flexible as possible for members to attend;

·  Discussions with the Head of Member Services had been ongoing to consider more Innovative approaches to training;

·  Mandatory training may be for specific councillors who sat on specific committees.

ACTION: Head of Legal and Governance

The Head of Legal and Governance had the following actions:

1.  To request Member Services capture and maintain a record of attendees to all mandatory training where possible and to confirm that all members are sent the links to recordings after training has taken place.

2.  To request Member Services email members to highlight the importance of completing self-certification forms following attendance at training.

3.  To consider ways of using ICT to support members to self-certificate their attendance at training.

RESOLVED:

The Committee noted the changes which the Monitoring Officer intends to make to section 11 of the Code of Conduct as regards to mandatory training.

6.1  There was no urgent business.

END OF MEETING

Contact:

Natalie Kokayi

Governance Officer

natalie.kokayi@hackney,gov.uk