220
Councillor Pearson introduced the item by saying that he felt it was important to have an early review of the digital meetings process to give all Councillors the opportunity to have an input into the process, and to give the opportunity to address and correct any issues that had arisen.
Hayley McGrath, Corporate Governance Manager, attended to assist the Committee and presented the report. The Committee heard that prior to Covid-19 there had been no digital conferencing facilities for meetings, and that a lot of work had been undertaken in a very short period of time to enable people to partake in online meetings. A lot of positive comments had been received supporting the online meetings process, and the Committee were provided with statistics detailing the number of times meetings had been viewed online, by members of the public, Councillors and Officers. By way of comparison, the Committee heard that there had been a significant increase in the number of views of online meetings in June and July 2020, when compared to the number of people who had listened to the live audio streams of meetings broadcast in June and July 2019. Hayley confirmed that there had been no negative comments received from members of the public in relation to the live meetings, but that some issues had been raised by Members and Officers in relation to etiquette. The Committee heard that the next step on the evaluation process was to obtain feedback from Councillors and Officers by way of a consultation, which would be reported back to this Committee in the future.
Councillor McCarthy was encouraged by the sheer volume of people that had engaged with the videos via YouTube, and expressed his gratitude for the work that had gone into making the meetings available and providing the necessary training.
Councillor Dundas commented that although in the future he considered it would be necessary to re-introduce some element of physical meetings, it was important not to lose what had been gained from remote meetings. He commented on the time saved in travelling back and forth to the Town Hall, together with the environmental impact that this also had in terms of fuel consumption. He firmly supported the implementation of a hybrid system of meetings, to allow for short meetings to be held online, and for visiting Councillors and other guests to access the meeting remotely to save both waiting and journey times. He also considered that the greater flexibility offered by remote meetings would be an important factor in encouraging people to be Councillors who would otherwise not have been able to attend meetings due to work or childcare commitments, and remarked on the fact that since the introduction of remote meetings there had been noticeable fewer substitutions as Councillors were able to attend meetings more readily.
Councillor Barlow commented that he had found virtual briefings outside of formal Committee Meetings very useful, and even if the Council returned to having physical meetings, he would support using virtual meetings for briefings wherever possible. He further commented that there was a different experience for those Councillors who chaired meetings, and requested that this be taken into account during the review.
Councillor Willetts confirmed that he had canvassed the Conservative Group prior to the meeting and made the point that no account appeared to have been taken of the value of Members time, in the same way that Officer time was costed out when considering the savings offered by remote meetings. He also raised the issue of training for Councillors and felt that some Members had not yet been adequately trained in managing the situation of a large virtual Council meeting of fifty one people under formal conditions. He suggested that Members be advised on the use of the mute/unmute button and also to ensure that their computer equipment was updated in god time before attending a virtual meeting, and that the training that was provided be evaluated to ensure that it was valuable for Members of all ability. With regard to voting at meetings, Councillor Willetts queried whether or not the voting procedure at Council meetings needed to proceed to a named vote, or whether Members could be invited to indicate whether or not they wished to vote or the matter could be dealt with by assent. He also raised the issue of Members needing access to two screens to allow them to observe the meetings while still being able to reference potentially complicated reports and supporting paperwork. Councillor Willetts supported the use of hybrid meetings in the future, but did accept that this was dependent on future changes to the legislation from central government.
Councillor Wood praised the convenience of the remote meetings, and the training and support that had been offered to Members, although she conceded that it was a slight drawback not being able to speak to people face to face.
Councillor Goacher supported the convenience aspect of remote working, as he was able to attend the meeting whilst on holiday, and supported the use of hybrid meetings in the future.
Councillor Pearson expressed his thanks to all the Officers involved in setting up the remote meetings process in such a short period of time. He noted and supported the intention to involve both Councillors and Officers in the forthcoming consultation, and requested that members of the public also be included in this process. Councillor Pearson enquired whether it was possible to have an electronic voting system to allow Members to press a button on their computer to indicate how they wished to vote on an issue, although he accepted that there would be times when a named vote would be necessary. He supported the previous comments of the Committee on the issue of training for Councillors and requested that the offer of training and support be extended for Councillors who may have varying ability with using the software. In the light of comments made during the meeting, Councillor Pearson requested that thought be given to the issue to the provision of computer equipment to allow Members to access meetings more efficiently, saying that although there would be an initial cost to this, this cost may be outweighed by the ensuring that all Members and Officers attending meetings, had the appropriate equipment to do so.
RESOLVED that the summary of virtual meetings undertaken by Colchester Borough Council since June 2020 be noted, together with the future review of digital meetings.