With the elections of May 5 2011 now complete, Member Development Officers need to look at the most efficient and cost effective way to train these newly elected councillors. Modern Councillor is the online learning and support destination for councillors, people considering standing for election, or indeed anyone with a passion for local democracy. MDO Support Webinar Join us for our [...]

Modern Councillor is brought to you by  Learning Pool , the online learning community for the public sector. A great advantage of this is that we are able to share with Modern Councillor subscribers resources created by our customers around local democracy.  Learning Pool customer, LB Waltham Forest, has created an  online training course to support polling station staff and has [...]

On Thursday 5 May 2011, there will be a referendum on the voting system we use to elect MPs to the House of Commons. Learning Pool has created a free and comprehensive e-learning module all about the Alternative Vote in time for the referendum. A referendum asks us to vote yes or no to a proposal.  For this referendum, [...]

With the elections on May 5 just around the corner for both English and Scottish councils, join Dave Briggs on this free webinar to learn more about Learning Pool’s relaunched Modern Councillor service and how the online learning and community it provides can help support councillor training.   Dave is Learning Pool’s Community Evangelist, and is an expert in the [...]

Cllr Ayas Fallon-Khan shares how Brighton & Hove City Council have used Social Media to create a two-way conversation between council representatives and residents, make better use of staff resources and to help save costs. He also highlights the healthy debate which can come from openly engaging with the public using Social Media but how [...]

London borough councils Harrow and Brent partnered to assess their councillors’ development needs using the Political Skills Framework (PSF) using a suite of e-learning modules created by Learning Pool’s Authoring Tool. This is the first time this type of project has been undertaken by two councils working in partnership and using a nationally recognised framework. [...]

Social media is changing the world in which we work, socialise and govern. From Twitter to eBay, Facebook to YouTube, new tools are emerging every year that place the connecting power of the internet in the hands of every one of us. In this context, the expectations on councils to engage, work openly, be accountable [...]

NALC and CCN (County Council’s Network) have just released a new publication entitled Working Together for Communities . The publication highlights examples of joined up working between the tiers of local government. It emphasises the importance of collaboration if local councils are to meet the current economic, social, environmental, and political challenges. Councillor Michael Chater , Chairman of NALC describes below the [...]

21st Century Councillor recently published a report along with  TweetyHall, Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) and  Local Government Chronicle (LGC) looking at the lessons learnt from the 2010 general election  about the use of social media by politicians, parties and citizen activism. The report includes information on how social media can be used to improve local politics, gives [...]

The recent GovCamp York/Humber saw the first session held at the GovCamp events aimed specifically at elected members and their use of Social Media. Ken Eastwood , Assistant Director, Barnsley MBC, describes the reasons behind the session- “In thinking about the LocalGovCamp movement it struck me as really important to engage with elected members, in particular over [...]

Cllr Imran Lokhon has been an elected member with South Oxfordshire District Council since the age of 21. Learning Pool caught-up with  Imran, to find out- Why he stood for election at such a young age How he finds being a councillor What he thinks should be done to encourage younger generations to become involved with local democracy [...]

As many of you know, Learning Pool’s main office is located in Derry, Northern Ireland. We were delighted recently with the appointment of Councillor Colum Eastwood as the city’s Mayor. Derry has always been known for being one of the oldest remaining walled cities in Europe and Mayor Eastwood is now helping the city to [...]