Councillors' development programme
In October 2008 Perth and Kinross Council agreed to adopt role
profiles and a competency framework for elected members, and also
to implement personal development plans (PDPs).
The Council's decision was in accordance with the
recommendations of the report by the Scottish Local Authorities
Remuneration Committee (SLARC) on the
Review of Remuneration Arrangements for Local Authority Councillors
[PDF: 191Kb] published in 2006
"We recommend that all councillors should have a role
description, participate in a training needs assessment, and have a
personal development plan in place once they are in receipt of the
new remuneration package, and that they should strive to find ways
of working more efficiently to avoid their role expanding
unnecessarily."
In a report published in 2008 on the
Review of Remuneration Arrangements for Local Authority Councillors
and Annual Review of Remuneration Levels [PDF: 218Kb], the
SLARC further recommended that all councillors should have a role
description, participate in training needs assessment, and have a
PDP in place by 31 March 2009.
The competency framework set out by SLARC reflects the elements
identified in the role profiles and is matched to the three
identified roles of Councillors; Councillors with significant
additional responsibilities; and Council leaders.
In order to develop each elected member's personal development
plan, staff from the Chief Executive's Service and from Corporate
Services, Learning and Development Team met with each elected
member on an individual basis over the period from November 2008 to
February 2009, to assist with this process.
The approach taken has been for each elected member to undertake
a self-assessment exercise against the SLARC competency
framework, taking into consideration their own unique combination
of; experience as an elected member, professional experience and
life skills. Any areas identified as opportunities for
further development were recorded in the individual personal
development plan.
The process of discussing with elected members their individual
support preferences is the first step towards delivering a more
informed and pertinent development programme.
The collated information emanating from all of these meetings
will inform the ongoing development programme offered to elected
members.
Through individual PDP meetings a wide range of development
preferences covering 31 subject areas have been identified by
elected members. The number of elected members requesting support
in particular subject areas varies from a single request up to as
many as 19 requests.
The subject areas attracting the most interest are outlined
below:
- Time management skills
- IT Skills - various aspects
- Media skills - various aspects
- Budgetary Awareness
A range of options will be considered when determining the most
appropriate approach to each of the subject areas listed
above. A mixture of internal and external provision will be
used as appropriate, and different styles of provision will be
considered.
The majority of development opportunities will be offered to all
elected members regardless of whether or not they identified it as
a personal aspiration. In subject areas where only one or two
elected members have requested support, consideration will be given
to meeting these needs on an individual basis outwith the main
development programme.
The development programme will be delivered in stages,
commencing with the most requested and quickly accessible subject
areas. Where suitable in-house provision already exists,
these courses will be tailored to suit the needs of elected
members.
A number of courses are scheduled to take place over the coming
months.
Parallel to the PDP development process a number of awareness
raising sessions on a range of topics have continued to be
delivered for members; such as:
- Equalities Awareness
- Child Protection
- Community planning
- Single Outcome Agreement
- Planning Reform
It is intended that these sessions will continue to be
programmed over the coming months.
