Agenda item

The Committee received a report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer, which provided an update on activity since the last meeting, in respect of complaints received by Durham County Council against Councillors (for copy see file of minutes).

Councillor E Bell asked what action was being taken to reduce the number of complaints relating to social media.  The Governance Solicitor acknowledged that monitoring of trends shows there continues to be a high number of social media related complaints.  The Committee noted that, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, work began on the development of a social media toolkit and this piece of work, which had been delayed due to the disruption to work patterns during the pandemic, has resumed.  The intention is to present the toolkit to the Standards Committee and other relevant committees, prior to circulating the toolkit to all members, including members of parish and town councils.  In addition, a training session is being planned to be held in the new year.

Resolved:

That the contents of the report be noted.