Lancaster City Council wins awards for commitment to Member development
Lancaster City Council has received two awards in recognition of the quality of training it provides to its councillors.
Lancaster City Council has received two awards in recognition of the quality of training it provides to its councillors.
The council picked up the Charter Award and the Municipal Journal prize for the best submission at the North West Charter Awards Ceremony – where local authorities receive recognition for their commitment to the development of their elected members.
Since the May elections in 2007 the council has stepped up its training for councillors to help them carry out their important role in the community.
This has included:
* Approximately 150 training/awareness events have been held as part of the Development Programme. The majority have been delivered ‘in-house’ by council staff.
* Councillors have the facility to borrow publications, books and cd-roms from a Members Library and have a Member and/or Officer mentor/buddy when they are first elected to provide help and support.
* Personalised one to one IT training including using email, internet, web pages and Microsoft Word and IT drop-in workshops.
* A dedicated area on the council’s intranet containing useful documents, links and ward information. E-newsletters are produced for councillors advising them of the support available.
* Councillors are developing the use of their own web pages to communicate with their communities - 18 are up and running to date.
Councillor Rob Smith, Chairman of the Council Business Committee, said: “Over the past few years, Lancaster City Council has truly taken on board a commitment to member development.
“The road we have travelled to get to this stage has been valuable in terms of the new skills we have all developed and the support we now receive to help us serve our communities as councillors and we are all delighted to have this recognised by achieving this award.”
Date Updated: 19/03/09