Plans to publish reasons for councillor absences

RHONDDA Cynon Taf council plans to include reasons for councillor absence from meetings under new plans.

A report to be considered by the democratic services suggested recording reasons why councillors miss meetings.

Currently the system only records the fact that a councillor is absent but does not say why.

There are concerns that the current system does not include information about whether apologies are provided due to attendance at another council engagement, attendance at meetings of outside bodies or the recording of apologies when councillors have been invited to a meeting but are not members of that specific committee.

It is proposed to have four different categories of apologies for absence recorded which will include:

Council duties – attendance at another council meeting, representing the council at a specific event, Mayoral duties or cabinet member duties

Business duties – school governor duties, community council duties, or outside bodies

Carer responsibilities – including caring for both younger and older generations and family members. Sickness Member attendances are publicly available on the council website and can be accessed under each councillors’ profile.

They show the number of meetings held, the number of meetings attended and whether apologies were provided for non attendance.

The report says that the current system of recorded will need to be changed if councillors want to take forward the recording of the apologies.

Members will need to allow for the current system of recording to be amended to reflect the changes.

Due to the changes needed to accommodate this way forward, time will need to be given to ensure the system can publish the data as required.