Agenda item

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Internal Auditor which presented an audit on Councillors Induction and Development which was undertaken to obtain assurance over the processes in place for onboarding and ongoing support and training of Councillors, including the role of Group Leaders.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee review, discuss and comment on the issues raised within this report and the attached appendix.

In response to a request for Mental Health training or guidance to be provided, Mrs Scott advised that they would be happy to take that suggestion on board. She further advised that they were working with the Improvement Service to tailor their Political Skills Self Assessment which enabled elected members to reflect on their own development needs including a follow up conversation with People and Organisational Development.  The Political Skills Self Assessment was being tailored to the Councils development programme and would be rolled out to all elected members in due course.

In response to a question relating to training undertaken by elected members and what was deemed to be statutory or essential, Mrs Scott advised that statutory courses were deemed to be training required for the Council to undertake legislative duties for the organisation to remain compliant.  She further stated that quarterly meetings were held to look at the compliance rates for courses identified as statutory which allowed for a follow up communication with Group Leaders and the individual Councillors.  The Interim Chief Officer – Governance advised that for quasi-judicial committees, the training was not a statutory requirement, but rather classed as strongly recommended to undertake.  He stated that training for Planning was currently strongly recommended to undertake and that this would be essential in the future.

In response to a question relating to PVG assessments and whether the recommendation for elected members should be that they were strongly recommended to be a member of the Scheme, Mrs Strachan advised that the Disclosure Scotland Act 2007 stated that only Councillors that were members of certain Council committees, were eligible to be part of the Scheme due to the regulated work with either children or vulnerable adults.  The Chief Internal Auditor advised he was reassured by the work that had been undertaken in this area. 

In response to a question relating to whether there was a risk if substitutes were attending Committees on behalf of other Councillors, Mrs Strachan advised that the substitute role would not be considered as regular therefore there would be a lower risk.

In response to a question relating to whether all Councillors should have a PVG assessment due to them meeting with members of the public at surgeries and when attending meetings in their communities, Mrs Strachan advised that this would not constitute to be regulated work with vulnerable adults or children. 

In response to a question relating to whether the Conveners of Committees where the training was regarded as statutory but not completed could be notified so that they could ensure that the elected members were compliant, Mrs Scott advised that Group Leaders and Conveners would be advised accordingly.

In response to a request for clarification in relation to the definitions within the Scheme around what was considered to be regulated work, The Executive Director for Corporate Services advised that a briefing could be provided to all Elected Members in relation to the PVG Scheme which would include some of the examples raised during this meeting.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to note that a briefing on the PVG Scheme would be arranged and provided for all elected members ahead of the Council meeting in April; and

(ii)       to otherwise note the report and the attached internal audit report.