Harrogate Borough Council
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Councillor (Member) Learning and Development
We provide the highest quality learning and
development opportunities for our council members. This helps them
in their work for the communities they represent.
Strategically developing our council members
It is our responsibility to provide training and development
strategies and policies. These will outline how we intend members
to achieve the skills they need to become effective
councillors.
The Member learning and development strategy will be designed
to:
- Set out a means of meeting the needs of individual members and the council as a whole.
- Help councillors to gain the skills and knowledge they require.
- Raise awareness amongst members of their responsibilities.
How we deliver learning and development
Harrogate Borough Council has 54 elected members. Those members represent an area of 505 square miles (Harrogate District). 75 per cent of those councillors have significant daytime commitments (such as full time employment). Therefore evening meetings are the best time to conduct Council business. About our council members (opens in new widow)
Harrogate Borough Council has 54 elected members. Those members represent an area of 505 square miles (Harrogate District). 75 per cent of those councillors have significant daytime commitments (such as full time employment). Therefore evening meetings are the best time to conduct Council business. About our council members (opens in new widow)
It's the same for learning and development although
opportunities are limited. It is important that we offer a range of
methods to meet learning needs, personal circumstances, backgrounds
and learning styles. We currently uses a mix of in house
events and external facilitators to deliver training events.
We describe the various Council Member roles and responsibilities (pdf,
65KB) that are part of a councillor's workload and are
useful in highlighting learning and develoment needs.
The Member Development Charter
To take learning and development further, we have signed up to
the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) Member Development Charter (opens in a new
window) to help develop local council member skills.
In 2000, the IDeA launched the Charter for Member Development
which seeks to:
- Raise the profile of members' development and training.
- Encourage local authorities to provide development and training for their elected members.
- Award authorities for best practice in member training and development initiatives.
Find out more about how the IDeA seeks to assist local
authorties by visiting IDeA's website (opens in a new
window).
Improvement and Involvement group
The Improvement and Involvement Member steering group works on
a range of issues affecting Member learning and development. It
also looks at improving Council meetings and the Council
constitution generally:
- Member learning and development events.
- Local Democracy Week.
- Member job profiles.
- Member personal development questionnaires
- Member Induction events and tours.
- Member IT support.
- Review meetings for newly elected Members.
Further information
Find out more about Council member learning and
development:
- Learning and Development Programme for 2008/09 (pdf, 68KB)
- Members induction pack "Being a Councillor in HBC" (Currently under development).
- Learning and development summary statement (pdf, 120KB)
- Post training evaluation reports (pdf, 31KB)
- Member personal development questionnaires (pdf, 48KB)
- Member learning and development survey (A link to the survey will follow in due course).
For more information, please contact:
Chris Houghton, Senior Member Services
Officer
Department of Resources
Council Offices, Crescent Gardens
Harrogate
HG1 2SG
Tel: 01423 556076
Email: membserv@harrogate.gov.uk