Local Government Councillor Development Network 1 st March 2010 ­ 10 am to 12 noon Minutes Attendees Council David Dalby Charnwood Borough Council Phil O’Brien City Council John Makinson­Sanders East Lindsey District Council Janet Dickinson High Peak Borough Council Rebecca Owen Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council Lisa Butterfill LGEM Moira Hunt LGEM Jan Mehmet Lincolnshire County Council Debbie Cook Lincolnshire County Council Sarah Evans Melton Borough Council Councillor Moore Melton Borough Council Councillor Chandler Melton Borough Council Sabrina Newton North West Leicestershire District Council Rachel Morris City Council Stephanie Cowell South Northants Council

Apologies Jacqui Mansell Ashfield District Council Liz Read Blaby District Council Sandeep Mander Blaby District Council Lorraine Bush Boston Borough Council Sue Rodden Broxtowe Borough Council Margaret Sellors Joe Birkin Derbyshire County Council Bill Cullen Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council Rebecca Wilkinson City Council Nicky Hitchcock Lincolnshire County Council Mark Pemberton Mansfield District Council Julie Grainger Mansfield District Council Frazer Powell North East Derbyshire District Council Marcella Heath North Kesteven District Council Mike Williamson Northampton Borough Council Fiona Beaumont Northamptonshire County Council Councillor Campbell Dave Ellis Nottinghamshire County Council Julie Brailsford Nottinghamshire County Council Geoff Pook County Council Neil Betteridge South Derbyshire District Council Amanda Dickinson South Holland District Council

1 1. Welcome and Introduction Jan Mehmet chaired the meeting on behalf of Jacqui Mansell. Everyone introduced themselves.

2. Notes of Last Meeting – 7 th October 2009 & Matters Arising The minutes were agreed as a true record. There were no matters arising.

Item 4 Feedback from Local Leadership Conference by Jacqui Mansell would be deferred.

3. East Midlands Community of Practice ­ Welna Bowden, I&DeA “Sharing support and documentation” Welna gave a presentation, please see attached. Some of the key points discussed are briefly outlined below:

• It is important for members of the network to make every effort and regularly contribute to the CoP to make it work effectively • It is free for Local Government to join the CoP. • There is an e­mail alerts section which notifies you as items are added and you can tailor this to your needs • There is a facility to upload documents that you require input or feedback on and for these to be updated by others – the feature is called WIKI • There is an on­line conference facility available • Documents posted onto the East Mids regional CoP can also be posted onto the regional CoP simultaneously to save double posting and vice versa

Suggestions were made regarding how useful it would be for Councillors to have access to the CoP and receive training sessions on how to use it.

If anyone in the region would like to become a facilitator, please contact Moira Hunt and training will be provided.

4. Exploring ideas of how we can deliver quality member learning and development in Lean Times Jan Mehmet facilitated the discussion with regard to the above and kindly produced a mind map of ideas and thoughts which are contained in the attached document.

5. Update on Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership (RIEP)Learning and Development Support for Councillors including free materials Lisa is waiting for an update from RIEP regarding the funded Member Development support that has been available and future opportunities and will update the network accordingly.

2 Please see the links below for a free download training resource for councillors on climate change.

http://www.climate­em.org.uk/resources/item/training­resource/

http://www.climate­em.org.uk/resources/item/success­stories­and­case­studies/

6. Any Other Business

E­Learning Modern Councillor Update In December 2009, Moira emailed this network to ascertain the level of demand for continuing to use the Modern Councillor E­learning package as the usage had been very low across the region when this support was funded. From the replies received the majority said that only if it was free would they consider using it again.

31 out of 46 authorities registered to use it and 15 actually accessed it. Last year 991 councillors registered as users but only 66 actually used it and 36 of these were from one authority. 2 authorities said they couldn’t get their members to use it.

Councillor Induction Support As the network previously identified councillor induction as an important topic, Lisa gave information on the on­line induction health check set up by the Leadership Centre for Local Government (LCLG) as part of their 21 st Councillor manifesto support.

This tool allows members to look at what an authority should be aiming for with regards to its member induction and to rate how well their own authority does this. The tool has been developed using best practice from the I&DeA and other local authorities who lead in this area.

In order to support your induction needs in the region, we are asking you to log on to the induction tool and complete the survey – should only take 5­10 minutes. The link to access the survey is below.

http://www.21stcenturycouncillor.com/tests

Bridget Harris from the LCLG will be attending our networking meeting in June to feedback on how many people have completed the survey and anonymised results.

Each authority can also receive individual feedback on their numbers and results if you require and LCLG are happy to discuss the results individually with each authority.

3 It was also suggested for Leicestershire County Council to attend the June meeting to discuss their induction pilot.

7. Date of Next Meeting The next Councillor Development Network meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 30 June 2010 at 10am, to be held at East Midlands Councils (formerly LGEM) offices, Melton Mowbray.

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