The Democratic Services Committee of Torfaen Council met on 11 September 2025 to discuss hybrid meeting guidance and the results of a member satisfaction survey. The committee agreed to note the feedback from the member satisfaction survey and the content of the draft action plan. They also considered the Hybrid Multi Location Meetings Policy and suggested changes to improve governance and standards at meetings.

Hybrid Meetings Guidance

The committee considered the Hybrid Meetings Guidance report, which reminded members of the Hybrid (Multi – Location) Meeting Policy and Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) guidance. The Hybrid Meeting Policy is designed to provide a guide to virtual formal committee meetings involving members, officers and the public. The policy was added as Appendix 23 to The Constitution on 28 June 2022.

The committee discussed member attendance, the use of cameras, and the recording of members joining late or leaving early in the minutes.

The committee agreed that:

• The six-month rule regarding member attendance should be clarified in the guidance.
• To improve transparency, minutes should record members joining late or leaving early.
• Members could join meetings with their camera off for reasons such as illness, with the chair's agreement, trusting that they were observing and participating.

The committee made the following decisions:

(i) Noted the content of the report and in particular the expectations set out in the Hybrid Meeting Policy that members must remain in view of the camera at all times and that a professional appearance must be upheld at all times.

(ii) Considered the Hybrid Multi Location Meetings Policy and suggested the changes set out above which members felt would improve governance of meetings and expectations around standards at meetings.

Member Satisfaction Survey Results

The committee reviewed the results of the recent member satisfaction survey. The Director Corporate Services & Head of Democratic Services, Jason Lewis, outlined the report which updated members on the results of the recent members satisfaction survey.

The committee was disappointed with the 45% response rate and discussed ways to improve it, such as seeking encouragement from group leaders. Officers would consider surveying members in September rather than during the summer recess.

The committee agreed to:

(i) Note the feedback from the member satisfaction survey (Appendix A)

(ii) Note the content of the Draft Action Plan attached as Appendix B.

The Appendix A - Survey Responses Report included the following comments from councillors:

• A councillor suggested a small supply of stationery and tea and coffee should be available in the members room.
• A councillor said that Democratic Services colleagues are always very helpful and supportive.
• A councillor suggested IT equipment should be available in the Civic Centre for use if members' IT is out of use.
• A councillor said that firewalls and restrictions do not seem appropriate for members when they prevent moving information into social media channels easily.
• A councillor said that the Members Missive doesn't look the best when viewed on a mobile phone.
• A councillor said that the team are friendly and excellent and quick to respond to emails.
• A councillor said that sometimes working rotas get confusing and it is not clear who is responsible for specific tasks on what days.
• A councillor said that they had issues with their Ipad and needed more support with mobiles, and on occasion had to wait almost a week for support, which is not good.
• A councillor said that the batteries on their laptop are frustrating and need changing.
• A councillor said that they don't have or require a Council mobile and don't use a tablet.
• A councillor said that the apps that are pre installed on the mobiles are too heavy for the budget type tech and they had too many issues which led to them abandoning theirs.
• A councillor said that they need updates on Teams and Co Pilot.
• A councillor said that they don't feel the need to use the Councillor Hub that often to carry out their role.
• A councillor said that they only rarely access the Councillor Hub as they have a reasonable awareness of the workings of the council from having worked in local government and they find it best and easiest to speak to individuals to learn more.
• A councillor said that the flow diagram of strategic policies in the Councillor Hub should allow you to click on the box to open the policy.
• A councillor said that the Councillor Hub should not automatically go to the hwb.
• A councillor said that some of the power points for training sessions don't contain enough information to be useful outside of the seminar where someone is explaining them.
• A councillor said that sometimes the council are looking at things internally and they need to look more at best practice and outside the box.
• A councillor said that Democratic Services have taken over members services and Members Services have become minimalised.
• A councillor said that Members are not always informed or updated and are left to read things online first.
• A councillor said that if attendance is good, pre agenda meetings work well, however some Members are not participating and this can affect the meeting especially if those not in attendance at pre- agenda duplicate questions prepared previously.
• A councillor said that those questions formulated within pre agenda should be only asked by the councillor who originally asked them, as it's unfair to share questions out as it allows those councillors not engaged, to look good on webmaster.
• A councillor said that the visioning session is useful however it feels prescriptive.
• A councillor said that there are constraints that have to be taken into account so As possible should be added to the original statement.
• A councillor said that the recommendations from scrutiny can be ignored which makes scrutiny ineffective.
• A councillor said that the recommendations from scrutiny are sometimes soft and need to expressed in stronger terms.
• A councillor said that the recommendations sometimes request a role for the scrutiny committee in operational matters.

WLGA is the Welsh Local Government Association.

Public Services Ombudsman for Wales is the independent body that investigates complaints about public services in Wales.

The Constitution is a document that sets out how a council operates, how decisions are made, and the procedures that are followed to ensure that these processes are efficient, transparent and accountable to local people.

The Equality Act 2010 is a law that protects people from discrimination.

The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 is a law that requires public bodies in Wales to think about the long-term impact of their decisions.

The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that concerns local government in England and Wales.

The Local Government Act 2000 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that concerns local government in England and Wales.

The Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 is an Act of Senedd Cymru that reformed local government in Wales.