Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011

Supporting membership

4Remote attendance at meetings

(1)A reference in any enactment to a meeting of a local authority is not limited to a meeting of persons all of whom are present in the same place.

(2)For the purposes of any such enactment, a member of a local authority who is not present in the place where a meeting of that authority is held (a “member in remote attendance”) attends the meeting at any time if all of the conditions in subsection (3) are satisfied.

(3)Those conditions are that—

(a)the member in remote attendance is able at that time—

(i)to see and hear, and be seen and heard by, the members in actual attendance,

(ii)to see and hear, and be seen and heard by, any members of the public entitled to attend the meeting who are present in that place and who exercise a right to speak at the meeting, and

(iii)to be seen and heard by any other members of the public so entitled who are present in that place;

(b)the member in remote attendance is able at that time to hear, and be heard by, any other member in remote attendance in respect of whom the condition in paragraph (a) is satisfied at that time;

(c)use of facilities enabling the conditions in paragraphs (a) and (b) to be satisfied in respect of the member in remote attendance is not prohibited by the standing orders or any other rules of the authority governing the meeting.

(4)The standing orders of a local authority must secure that there is no quorum for a meeting of the local authority at any time when the number of members in remote attendance is equal to, or greater than, the number of members in actual attendance.

(5)A local authority may make other standing orders about remote attendance at meetings of a local authority.

(6)A local authority must have regard to guidance given by the Welsh Ministers in relation to meetings of the authority attended remotely in accordance with this section.

(7)This section applies in relation to a meeting of a committee or sub-committee of a local authority as it applies in relation to a meeting of a local authority.

(8)But a person who is a co-opted member of a committee or sub-committee may not be a member in remote attendance at a meeting by virtue of this section.

(9)For the purpose of this section—

(a)a reference to a person (A) seeing another person (B) is to be interpreted as a reference to A seeing B when B is speaking at the meeting;

(b)a reference to a person (C) being seen by another person (D) is to be interpreted as a reference to C being seen by D when C is speaking at the meeting.

(10)In this section—

• “co-opted member” (“aelod cyfetholedig”), in relation to a committee or sub-committee of a local authority, means a person who is a member of the committee or sub-committee, but not a member of the authority;

• “member in actual attendance” (“aelod sy'n mynychu'r fangre”), in relation to a meeting of a local authority, means a member of the authority who is attending the meeting at the place where the meeting is held.

5Annual reports by members of a local authority

(1)A local authority must make arrangements for—

(a)each person who is a member of the authority to make an annual report about the person’s activities as a member of the authority during the year to which the report relates,

(b)each person who is a member of the authority’s executive to make an annual report about the person’s activities as a member of the executive during the year to which the report relates, and

(c)the authority to publish all annual reports produced by its members and by the members of its executive.

(2)The arrangements may include conditions as to the content of a report that must be satisfied by the person making it.

(3)A local authority must publicise its arrangements.

(4)In exercising its functions under this section a local authority must have regard to guidance given by the Welsh Ministers.

6Timing of council meetings

(1)The Welsh Ministers may give guidance about the times at which meetings of a local authority are held.

(2)A local authority must have regard to guidance given under subsection (1).

(3)In subsection (1), “meetings of a local authority” means—

(a)meetings of the local authority;

(b)meetings of any committee or sub-committee of the authority.

7Training and development of members of a local authority

(1)A local authority must secure the provision of reasonable training and development opportunities for its members.

(2)A local authority must make available to each member of the authority an annual review of the member’s training and development needs.

(3)The review must include an opportunity for an interview with a person who is, in the opinion of the authority, suitably qualified to provide advice about the training and development needs of a member of a local authority.

(4)In exercising its functions under this section a local authority must have regard to guidance given by the Welsh Ministers.

(5)In the case of an authority which operates a leader and cabinet executive (Wales), a reference in this section to a member of a local authority does not include the executive leader.