Agenda item

Helen Jenkins, Principal Adviser – Leadership, introduced item six, alongside Lead Member Cllr Judi Billing.  The report provided members with a brief update of the LGA’s Political Leadership and managerial leadership offers for 2019/20.

The update focused on an overview of this year’s first quarter, which included  450 councillors booked on training programmes; an update on the suppliers for 2019/20; the application process of the next generation programmes; and grant funding for disabled councillors. 

In the discussion that followed, the following points were raised by members:

-       Discussions over the increasing number of safeguarding risks for councillors Access to the programmes was discussed, such as clashes with the courses and child care, or members not being available over weekends.  Members went on to discuss modern ways of accessing courses – such as skype, podcasts & e-learning tools. 

o   Helen fed-back that most programmes have a weekday option, as well as more interactive e-learning tools which are currently being developed.  Cllr Billing also remarked that courses attended online take out the human interaction aspect, which she commented as vital within development of leadership skills.

-       Climate change, digital development, the commercialisation of councils and the role of effective backbenchers/the opposition were suggested by members as four possible new areas to look at. 

Decisions

1.    Improvement and Innovation Board members noted the progress so far in 2019/20.

2.    Members commented and highlighted possible areas of development on the Highlighting Political Leadership or managerial leadership work.