The Member Development Sub-Committee meeting on December 10th 2024 was to consider a number of items relating to the induction and training of Councillors. The Sub-Committee was scheduled to review a provisional timetable of induction events for the new intake of Councillors in 2025. The Sub-Committee was also to discuss whether to introduce a formal system of Personal Development Planning for Councillors.

Provisional timetable for Member Induction 2025

The Sub-Committee was scheduled to review a provisional timetable for the induction of new Councillors following the local elections in 2025.

The provisional timetable included a week of induction sessions starting on May 5th 2025, with further training sessions scheduled for May 20th, May 27th, June 2nd, the week commencing June 2nd, June 3rd, June 5th, June 6th, June 9th, the week commencing June 9th, June 18th, June 19th, June 25th and July 3rd.

As well as these introductory sessions, the induction program will include the provision of training videos covering an introduction to individual committees, decision making and finance. Information packs containing committee overviews and committee procedures were to be shared with prospective members before the election.

Personal Development Planning (PDP)

The Sub-Committee was scheduled to discuss the introduction of Personal Development Planning (PDP) for Councillors.

The report prepared for the meeting suggests that PDP can be beneficial to both the individual, organisational development planning and succession planning , allowing Councillors with different levels of experience to develop throughout their time on the Council. The report acknowledges that attempts at this process have been made before without a viable level of engagement .

The Sub-Committee was asked to consider the Local Leadership Framework for Councillors that was published by the Local Government Association (LGA)¹. This framework is intended to assist Councillors in identifying their strengths and weaknesses, and in planning their development in the role. The framework suggests that Councillors may want to develop in any of the following areas:

• Network-building
• Political skills
• Resident engagement
• Communicating with the community
• Influencing
• Challenging
• Bringing people together
• Having difficult conversations

The report also asked the Sub-Committee to consider how the PDP process should be managed, suggesting that this could be done by Councillors themselves, by a mentor, by Group Leaders, or by Council officers. The Sub-Committee was also asked to consider the cost implications of the different options for managing the process.