To approve and adopt the Council’s Member Development Strategy.  Herefordshire Council is committed to providing high quality development to its elected members.  This strategy will underpin this commitment to ensure that every Herefordshire councillor has access to the learning and development they need to perform effectively in their role on the council and in supporting their electorate, now and in the future.

The Member Development Strategy (Appendix A), for 2021-2023 is agreed and formally adopted.

1.         Do not adopt a member development strategy.  This is not recommended. Local councils are strongly encouraged, by the Local Government Association (LGA), to create and adopt member development strategies to facilitate continuing professional development of our local councillors. This strategy fulfils a commitment that Herefordshire Council would adopt such a strategy following the peer review conducted by the LGA.

2.         Continue with our programme of member briefings, induction, role specific and mandatory training, unguided by a member development strategy.  This is not recommended.  A review of the member development offer has informed our approach to learning content, induction, member development sessions, training delivery, personal development planning and learning administration. Our current package of training only partially addresses the skills and training our members require.  Putting in place a member development strategy provides a clear framework and commitment to investing in members’ ongoing professional development.