At a meeting of the Cornwall Council, Councillor Rob Nolan was elected Chairman, Councillor John Thomas MBE was elected Vice-Chairman, and Councillor Leigh Frost was elected Leader of the Council. Councillors approved the appointment of committees, the allocation of seats, a programme of ordinary meetings, and a recommendation from the Standards Committee regarding mandatory member training. The Leader of the Council, Councillor Leigh Frost, announced that he would confirm his appointments to the Cabinet and allocation of portfolios within the required constitutional timescales.

Mandatory Member Training

The council voted to amend the Code of Conduct for Members to include mandatory training requirements. This means that councillors will be required to complete certain training modules as part of the Member Development Strategy.

The updated code states:

2.XX Subject to paragraph 2.XY of this Code, you will be in breach of this Code if:

(a) You have failed to complete one or more modules of mandatory training, as required by the Member Development Strategy; and

(b) That failure is for a period of at least one calendar month from when the mandatory training was required to be completed.

Exemptions to this rule will be made in certain circumstances, such as illness or family emergencies, if the Monitoring Officer is informed in writing.

Councillor Dulcie Tudor proposed an amendment to refer the matter back to the Standards Committee for further consideration, arguing that some elements of the training should be voluntary. Councillor Tudor's amendment was seconded by Councillor Jim McKenna.

During the debate on the amendment, Councillor Tudor said that some Members felt that certain elements of the training should be voluntary rather than mandatory; and that Members were entitled to their personal views in respect of the training topics that they wished to undertake.

Other councillors argued that members should be held to the same mandatory training expectations as other individuals in the workplace, and that undertaking training demonstrated open-mindedness and a willingness to learn. It was also suggested that a failure to undertake training, such as that relating to the Public Sector Equality duty, could make decisions unsafe.

The amendment was lost, and the original motion to approve the recommendations of the Constitution and Governance Committee and the Standards Committee was carried.

Allocation of Seats

The council approved the allocation of seats to political groups on its committees. This allocation is based on the political balance rules outlined in the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. The Allocation of Seats - Appendix 1 document shows the distribution of seats across various committees, including the Cornwall Harbours Board, Appeals Committee, Chief Officers Employment Committee, Cornwall Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (CIFCA), Standards Committee, Audit Committee, Constitution & Governance, Pensions, Miscellaneous Licensing, Licensing Act, Strategic Planning, Central Sub Planning, East Sub Planning, West Sub Planning, Health & Adult Social Care OSC, Together for Families OSC, Corp. Finance & Performance OSC, Sust. Growth and Place OSC, Community Wellbeing OSC, and Budget Dev. OSC.

Appointment of Committees

The council agreed to establish several committees to handle various responsibilities. These committees include the Appeals Committee, Audit Committee, Budget Development Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Central Sub-Area Planning Committee, Chief Officers Employment Committee, Community Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Constitution and Governance Committee, Cornwall Harbours Board, Cornwall Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority, Corporate Finance and Performance Overview and Scrutiny Committee, East Sub-Area Planning Committee, Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Health and Wellbeing Board, Licensing Act Committee, Miscellaneous Licensing Committee, Mount Edgcumbe Joint Committee (jointly with Plymouth City Council), Pensions Committee, Standards Committee, Strategic Planning Committee, Sustainable Growth and Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee (jointly with Plymouth City Council), Together for Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and West Sub-Area Planning Committee.

During the discussion, the Leader, Councillor Leigh Frost, agreed to consider the reinstatement of the Informal Investment Panel.

Other Business

• Councillor Rob Nolan was elected Chairman of the Council.
• Councillor John Thomas MBE was elected Vice-Chairman of the Council.
• Councillor Leigh Frost was elected Leader of the Council.
• The Leader, Councillor Leigh Frost, announced that he would confirm his appointments to the Cabinet and allocation of portfolios within the required constitutional timescales.
• The programme of ordinary meetings was approved.
• The Leader, Councillor Leigh Frost, confirmed he would make his report on the State of Cornwall in the National Context at the next ordinary meeting.
• The minutes of the meeting held on 15 April 2025 were approved.