Issue - meetings
Members' Attendance and Time-sheets
Meeting: 17/07/2012 - Standards Advisory Committee (Item 6)
6 Members' Attendance and Time-sheets PDF 164 KB
Minutes:
Mr John Williams, Service Head, Democratic Services introduced the report.
Members highlighted their concerns as follows:
o In light of the preparation time that went into convening quasi-judicial committees such as the Planning and Licensing Committees, it was regrettable that Member attendance was so low and some Members requested the reasons for this. Where attendance at, or the take-up for membership on certain committees was exceptionally low, and this placed undue pressure on other Members who attended an inordinate number of meetings to meet the shortfall as a result, this should be urgently looked at. There was also a small invisible group of Members who failed to partake in training sessions which ought to be investigated;
o Attendance data could be made available to residents and also to the party leaders and chief whips to ensure transparency and compliance;
o Political party leaders had been approached in the past to make improvements to the system as regards Members being able to submit this information with ease, but nothing had come of it;
o More weight should be attached to what Members did on a day-to-day basis, for e.g. attendance at surgeries and actual meetings, casework undertaken etc, as this should give a more accurate picture of their activities. Members of the public ought to know that Members were accessible and accountable and it may be useful to have a fuller discussion possibly at the next meeting;
o The current system of recording Members’ attendance and timesheets had been in use for about 10 years and was in need of a review. Some Members also suggested the following possible courses of action to increase visibility of information and thereby ensure greater transparency and accountability of Members:
1. An electronic system allowing Members ‘sign’ online when they attended meetings;
2. Information should be publicised more and committees with a significant number of vacancies could be publicised. Information about Members who failed to train or attend meetings regularly should be placed in the public domain;
3. Copies of this report should be made available to Chairs, Chief Whips and the party leadership.
In response to queries by some Members, Mr Williams agreed to submit a report incorporating Members’ concerns. Furthermore, the following points were noted:
o He endeavoured to find out when Members would be able to submit their timesheets online;
o The manner in which the information was presented in the report could be better laid out, so it was more apparent which Members consistently failed to attend meetings or training sessions.
RESOLVED:
That subject to the aforementioned points, the report be noted.