Agenda item

The Corporate Director to submit a report at the request of Full Council, which requests the Committee consider whether to provide refreshments before evening meetings and if so, the budget implications of doing so and refer its recommendations back to Full Council.

The Corporate Director

(a)       submitted a report at the request of Full Council (copies of which had previously been circulated to Members) requesting this Committee consider whether to provide refreshments before evening meetings and if so, the budget implications of doing so and refer its recommendations back to Full Council;

(b)       highlighted that a previous report on this issue, at Appendix A of this report, had been considered by this Committee on 6 June 2017;

(c)        advised that for comparison purposes, other Leicestershire Councils had been contacted to find out what refreshments they provided for Member meetings.  This information was detailed in Appendix B of the report;

(d)       stated that following the last meeting of this Committee, all Members had been given the opportunity to provide comments and answer some specific questions, designed to help assess the value in providing a timeslot for informal Member/Officer discussion with or without catering.  Seven Members responded and this was detailed at Appendix C of the report.

Members requested their appreciation be expressed the Senior Democracy Officer for her work on this issue.

A Member commented that they were concerned for those Officers, who had worked long hours and had to attend meetings without having eaten.  They noted that a Member who travelled a great distance in order to attend meetings had advised that they were happy to have biscuits and a hot drink made available to them.

A Member advised that they were concerned about the opportunity for Officers to meet with Members for refreshments prior to the meetings, as suggested at the last meeting of this Committee and detailed at 3.4 of the report.  He further commented that this may become a chore for Officers, who may be busy with other matters.

A Member stated that there would be no requirement for Officers to attend early for refreshments with Members.

Another Member commented that inaccuracies when calculating catering numbers would result in a large amount of wastage and this had been experienced previously.  They noted that some Members found it difficult to eat before attending meetings and advised that they too would look forward to refreshments when, in the past they had attending meetings straight from work.  However, they advised that it was difficult to understand why someone was unable to get a sandwich on their way to the meeting.  He stated that he was unable to support the provision of refreshments before meetings and suggested that improved vending options would be a more favourable solution.

The Corporate Director confirmed that the vending machines option had been considered previously and proved too expensive to implement.

A Member suggested an alternative arrangement, such as the provision of unperishable items (flapjacks, raisons etc) and other Members agreed this would be a good solution.

A Member further suggested this could include healthy, long-life snacks and be trialled for six months, to assess its suitability.

The Corporate Director advised that arrangements could be put in place to facilitate this.  The items would be ‘ordered in’, as it would not be practical for staff to have to leave the office to purchase the items.

There being no further comments or questions from Members, it was

RESOLVED that Full Council be asked to approve a trial for 6 months, based on an enhanced offer of non perishable snacks including healthy choices, catering for a variety of dietary needs, to be provided before all Full Council and Committee meetings, Extraordinary Council, ad hoc meetings, Task Groups and Working Groups.