Councillor M R Jones, Chair

Councillors J A Beech, D H D Charlesworth, R Jones, A C Johnson, D J Straine-Francis

and M J Weatherill

 

 

Mrs J Cross                           Executive Director (Treasury and Corporate Support)

Mrs C M Jones                      Democratic Services Officer

Mr J A Warburton                  Assistant Chief Executive Democratic Services and

Human Resources   

Ms R Welch                          Human Resources Manager

 

Apologies:     Councillors W T Beard, R E Dodd, Z S Krizanac and J Lewis

 

21        DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

 

No Member made any declaration of interest in any item of business on the agenda.

 

22        WHIPPING DECLARATIONS

 

In accordance with Paragraph 18 of the Performance and Overview Procedure Rules, Members were invited to declare in respect of items where the whip had been applied.  No such declarations were made.

 

23        RECORD OF MEETING

 

 

24        BOARD BUSINESS

 

 

The Committee considered the following Board reports which fell within the remit of the Committee and were to be considered in the open part of the Board meeting.  Comments were made as appropriate. 

 

 

25        PERFORMANCE MONITORING BVPIs and LPIs  

 

The Committee received service performance monitoring information on the agreed basket of key national performance indicators for the period April 2006 June 2006.   

 

26        SICKNESS ABSENCE

 

The Committee received sickness absence data for the period April-June 2006.

 

27        VACANCY MANAGEMENT MONITORING

 

The Committee considered the report of the Human Resources Manager which outlined the recent introduction of the protocol for dealing with vacant posts across the authority. 

 

The Panel (comprising Councillors Silvester and Hatfield) met every three weeks to discuss vacancies and were advised by the Assistant Chief Executive (Democratic Services and Human Resources) and the Human Resources manager. The system had been in operation for three months.  During that period, a total of 35 vacancies had arisen.  Of those, 34 had been agreed.

 

28        WEB-CASTING

 

The Assistant Chief Executive (Democratic Services and Human Resources) reported progress on the introduction of web-casting which was part of the Community Leadership Programme.

 

§                    A sum of £20,000 had been included in the budget for 2006-2007 for this purpose.

§                    Three cameras had now been installed in the Council Chamber and would be linked to the microphone system.

§                    The system would go live in approximately 2 months' time. 

§                    Staff who would operate the equipment were currently being trained.

§                    It was likely that a test-run would take place at the Council meeting on 20^th September 2006 when former Councillor Les Davies was to be admitted to the Roll of Honorary Aldermen.

§                    The contract allowed for web-casting of up to 5 hours a month (£18,000);  however, for a modest increase web-casting of up to 10 hours could be included, but this would depend on the success of the scheme.  This Committee would review progress after 12-months.

§                    A meeting with the Council Convenor and one or two other Members would be held once a month to reach agreement on the meetings which should be web-cast.  It was expected that Development Control Committee would be web-cast on each occasion as this attracted considerable public interest.

§                    Mobile equipment was also available so that off-site meetings/events could be web-cast.

§                    The images would be fed back to Public-I which would then compress and issue the data.  In response to a question, it was confirmed that Public-I would not editing the images.   Usage (ie "hits") would be monitored by Public-i.

§                    This Committee would review progress after 12-months.

§                    Software was available to enable Members using TCT to access the system;  this would be provided to Members, on request.

 

29        BOARD FORWARD PLAN (PROVISIONAL ITEMS)

 

The Committee was invited to consider the Board's Forward Plan for October, November 2006 (two meetings) and January 2007 (two meetings).      

 

30        RESPONSES FROM THE BOARD/COUNCIL

 

The Committee noted that there were no referrals from Board or Council on this occasion. 

 

31        EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC

 

 

32        BOARD AGENDA 6^TH SEPTEMBER 2006

 

The Committee was invited to comment on the following reports to be considered by the Board at its meeting on 6^th September 2006.

 

 

 

 

 

 

33        RE-ADMITTANCE OF PRESS AND PUBLIC

 

 

34        DATE OF NEXT MEETING

 

 

 

..........................................................Chair