Meeting documents

42/20 - APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND NOTIFICATION OF SUBSTITUTES: Notification had been received that Councillor Sam Gibbs was to act as substitute for Councillor Norman Waller.
                                                                                                                       (5.36 pm)

Members to advise of any declarations of interest.

43/20 - DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

(5.36 pm)

of the meeting of the Committee held on 28 January 2021.

44/20 – MINUTES: The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 28 January 2021 were approved unanimously as a correct record.

(5.37 pm)

To determine whether to exclude the press and public during the consideration of any exempt information items.

45/20 – EXEMPT INFORMATION: There was no exempt information.

(5.38 pm)

To consider any questions under Standing Order 27.

46/20 – PUBLIC ARRANGEMENTS – QUESTIONS: There were no public questions to consider under Standing Order 27.

(5.38 pm)

The Head of Legal and Governance to submit a written report.

MATTERS TO BE REFERRED TO COUNCIL FOR CONSIDERATION

47/20 – NOTICE OF MOTION - REMOTE MEETINGS: The following Notice of Motion, proposed by Councillor Chris Aldred and seconded by Councillor Philip Broadbank, was referred by Council on 3 March 2021 in accordance with Standing Order 10(6)(e):-

"That this Council, due to the interest shown in the Live Streaming of its Meetings during the current Pandemic, asks the Overview & Scrutiny Commission to set up a Cross Party Working Group, to look at (1) improving the Presentation of and Public Access to Meetings as currently broadcast on the HBC You Tube Channel & (2) fully investigate Costings and Systems for the Streaming of Council meetings when they return to taking place physically - aiming for the Working Group to produce a report back to Full Council at the Annual Meeting of the Council in May."

The Chair invited Councillor Aldred to speak to his Notice of Motion. Councillor Aldred considered that due to the level of interest shown in viewing remote meeting streams there was cause to continue streaming meetings once meetings returned to the Civic Centre. He went on to give the Committee examples of several Committees that had received significant viewership in the two weeks after the meeting had been held and while the streams were held on YouTube. It was not clear at this point whether the Government would be extending the remote meetings provisions after 7 May 2021, or whether meetings would need to be held in person after that date. It was therefore not clear whether meetings would be returning to in-person meetings at the Civic Centre. For this reason he had proposed that a Cross Party Working Group was formed to look fully at investigating the costings and systems needed for the live streaming and recording of Council meetings when they returned to in-person meetings. Councillor Broadbank concurred with what Councillor Aldred had said and added that the streaming of meetings had expanded the reach of Council meetings to those who had never been to a meeting before, he also considered that the practice of streaming meetings was now common place across many district and other Councils.

Members went on to fully discuss the future live streaming of meetings and there was agreement that the live streaming of future meetings should be investigated. It was proposed and seconded that the Committee did not support the recommendations as drafted but that the Member ICT Working Group be appointed to conduct the cross party review and report back to Full Council.

RECOMMENDED (UNANIMOUSLY):

That General Purposes Committee did not support the notice of motion as drafted but instead unanimously voted for option 4 in paragraph 5.16 of the report:

"that the Member ICT Working Group consider undertaking a review of technical aspects of remote meetings and costings and report back their proposals to the General Purpose Committee"

(5.38 pm to 5.52 pm)

The Democratic Services Officer to submit a written report.

48/20 – MEMBER LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY - YEAR 4: The Democratic Services Officer submitted a written report which provided a summary of Year 3 of the Member Learning and Development Strategy and sought to gain approval for Year 4 of the Strategy. The attendance figures for Year 3 were attached to the report at Appendix 1 and the proposed schedule for Year 4 was attached to the report at Appendix 2.

The Democratic Services Officer gave a summary of the report and appendices and explained that the three additional recommendations that proposed holding future meeting remotely, recording future meetings and holding a Chair’s training session in March/April.

The DSO then responded to questions and explained that whether officers prepared detailed reports prior to Member briefings was outside of the purview of this report but it would be up to Members as to whether this issue was reported back on to a future GP Committee.

It was proposed and seconded that an additional recommendation be added that the DSO consulted senior officers on the issue of preparing pre-briefing reports and report the findings back to this Committee. On a vote being held three Members voted for the amendment and three voted against therefore the motion fell. The Members proceeded to vote on the original five recommendations.

RECOMMENDED:

That     (1) the attendance figures for Year three of the Member Learning and Development Strategy be noted.

(2) the Member Learning and Development Programme for 2021/22, Year four of the Member Learning and Development Strategy, be approved.

(3) future Member briefing and training sessions continue to be held remotely.

(4) remote briefing and training sessions be recorded; and

(5) a Chair training session to be held in March/April be approved. Such training should be mandatory,

(Seven Members voted for the motion and there were two abstentions)

(5.52 pm to 6.18 pm)

The Head of Legal and Governance to submit a written report.

GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE

HELD ON 18 MARCH 2021

(FROM 5.30 PM – 6.37 PM)

PRESENT: Councillor Samantha Mearns in the Chair. Councillors Philip Broadbank, Nick Brown, Ed Darling, Sam Gibbs, Tim Myatt, Pauline McHardy, Alex Raubitschek, Matt Scott.

Late Arrivals:           None

Early Departures:   None

MATTERS DEALT WITH UNDER DELEGATED POWERS

49/20 – OMBUDSMAN COMPLAINTS AND INVESTIGATIONS 2020/21: The Head of Legal and Governance submitted a written report which summarised the complaints made against Harrogate Borough Council to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and the Housing Ombudsman for the financial year 2019/20 and the outcome of any investigation. Appendix 1 to the report listed the complaints received by the ombudsman and notified to the council from 1 April 2020 up to the date of writing the report.

RESOLVED (UNANIMOUSLY):

That Members note the complaints made and the outcome of the investigations.

(6.18 pm – 6.20 pm)

(D)

The Head of Legal and Governance to submit a written report.

50/20 – STANDARDS COMPLAINTS AND INVESTIGATIONS 2020/21: The Head of Legal and Governance submitted a written report which summarised the complaints made to the Monitoring Officer during 2020/21 concerning alleged breaches of the Members’ Code of Conduct and the outcomes of any standards investigations. Appendix 1 to the report listed the complaints received and their outcomes up to the date of writing the report. Of the nine complaints received five related to Harrogate Borough Councillors with the other four being complaints against Parish Councillors.

RESOLVED (UNANIMOUSLY)

That Members note the complaints made and their outcome.

(6.20 pm – 6.23 pm)

(D)

To note the resignation of Councillor Zoe Metcalfe with effect from 18 March 2021 from the Harrogate and District Council for Voluntary Service and appoint a replacement representative. (Conservative Group nomination: Councillor Sam Gibbs; Liberal Democrat Group nomination: Councillor Chris Aldred).

51/20 – APPOINTMENT TO OUTSIDE BODY: The Democratic Services Officer advised the Committee that as of 18 March 2021 Councillor Zoe Metcalfe had resigned as representative to the Harrogate and District Council for Voluntary Service. The Committee were being asked to appoint a representative and the appointments were dealt with as follows:

Councillor Sam Gibbs and Councillor Chris Aldred both spoke as to the prospective nomination to the post listed below before Member proceeded to vote on the nomination.

On a vote being taken, six members voted for Councillor Gibbs and two Members voted for Councillor Aldred. Councillor Gibbs was therefore appointed as the Council’s representative.

(6.23 pm – 6.36 pm)

(D)