Bridgend Council’s Democratic Services Committee has published attendance figures for councillor training sessions (pdf).
Councils are legally required to provide training to elected members. Some training – particularly for newly-elected councillors – is mandatory.
This mandatory training is undertaken via online modules, but the report says only 10 councillors have completed these modules to date despite 28 starting them.
The report also reveals that of 13 general member training sessions (which had full attendance data) held during the 2023-24 term (pdf), none had an attendance rate above 50%. The general training sessions covered topics such as online safety, data protection, mental health and housing services.
Four sessions had attendance rates below 20% – with the joint-lowest attended sessions being on the “Wellbeing of Future Generations Act” and “Understanding Performance Data” (both 6 attendees, 12% attendance).
The most popular training session related to the Local Development Plan and “20 minute towns”, which just under half of councillors (23) attended.
