Members’ Attendance at Council and Committee Meetings
Report by:
Senior Democratic Services Officer
Ward Implications:
Borough-wide
1
Summary
1.1
The Overview and Scrutiny Committee has requested details of Members’ attendance at Council and Committee meetings for consideration, which is outlined in this report and the attached appendix.
2
Recommendations
2.1
To decide whether any conclusions can be drawn from the figures; and
2.2
To consider whether any recommendations for actions should be made.
3
Report
3.1
The Overview and Scrutiny Committee, at its August meeting, requested a report on the level of Member attendance at full Council and Committee meetings over the past 15 months. Tables showing the attendance records of Members during the 2006/07 municipal year, and the attendance records of Members to date during 2007/08 is attached as Appendix 1. In addition, tables showing the percentage of Members eligible who actually attended each meeting are also attached, as Appendix 2.
3.2
Members will notice that meetings listed as “Special”, ie that have been arranged at comparatively short notice rather than being listed in the original calendar of meetings agreed by Council at its Annual Meeting, are generally less well-attended. A conclusion may be that Members commit the original dates to their diaries and make other arrangements avoiding these dates, but that rearranged or additional meetings are more likely to clash with existing appointments leading to a poorer attendance level. Members may wish to recommend that officers timetable their work to meet the published calendar, and that rearranged or additional meetings are kept to a minimum. Members may also wish to recommend that any meeting which is rearranged cannot be moved to a date which is already booked for another Council or Committee meeting, thereby preventing the current problem of “knock-on”, where a number of meeting dates are all changed due to the rearrangement of one meeting.
3.3
Members may also note that attendance at Overview and Scrutiny Committee meetings is considerably lower than that at all other Committee meetings. This is despite the fact that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee sets its own agenda, and that all members of that Committee are able to suggest items for inclusion on the Committee’s work programme. Overview and Scrutiny members may wish to consider how they can encourage other members of their Committee to participate more in the work of the Committee.
4
Implications
4.1
Comments from the Council’s Section 151 Officer
No comments received prior to distribution of agenda.
