Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors H Murray and M Jones.

Councillor J Jackson declared that she was a member of GMB.

In accordance with Procedure Rules Nos.11 and 35 a total period of 10 minutes is allocated for members of the public to address the Committee on any matter relevant to the work of the Committee.

Individual members of the public may speak for up to 5 minutes but the Chairman will decide how the period of time allocated for public speaking will be apportioned where there are a number of speakers.

Members of the public wishing to ask a question at the meeting should provide at least three clear working days’ notice in writing and should include the question with that notice. This will enable an informed answer to be given.  It is not required to give notice of the intention to make use of public speaking provision, however, as a matter of courtesy, a period of 24 hours notice is encouraged.

There were no members of the public present.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 24 October 2013

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 24 October 2013 be approved as a correct record.

To consider a report on Health and Safety matters within the Council

The Corporate Health and Safety Manager presented a report which provided a general update on Health and Safety matters.

Two Health and Safety briefings had been held in Macclesfield and Middlewich at which 110 school representatives had attended.  Due to the popularity of the briefings it was proposed that they would be repeated biannually from April 2014.

A procurement exercise had been undertaken to award a contract for delivery of a selection of health and safety training courses.  Sixty four submissions had been evaluated for running IOSH Managing Safely; First Aid at Work and manual handling courses and the contract was awarded by Live for Work.  Corporate Health and Safety Officers would continue to deliver CIEH accredited courses, PRIME briefings and other in-house sessions. 

In Quarter 3, 1481 accidents and 157 incidents reports had been entered onto PRIME, of which 17 were RIDDOR reportable to the Health and Safety Executive. 

RESOLVED:

That the Health and Safety Update Report be noted.

To consider a report on the progress with Human Resource and Organisational Development Issues

The Head of People and Organisational Development presented a report which provided a general update on Human Resource issues.

On 18 December 2013 the ‘Best of the Best’ celebratory event had taken place at which the outstanding efforts and achievement of all employees who had been nominated for an aspire4excellence award during 2013 were recognised.  The Employee of the Year award was presented to Michelle Blacoe from Children and Families and an additional eight winners were announced for the individual aspire value categories along with three team awards. 

A review of the approach to recognition had been commissioned by the Leader and Chief Executive to ensure the scheme reflected what mattered most as the Council continued to transform. 

The Employee Survey had been launched on 13 January 2014 and would run for 3 weeks.  The Survey was being run by Survey Solutions and had been emailed to all employees with an email address and posted to all without to their home address. 

The Survey results would be available in April and would include an overall measure of employee engagement alongside other indicators about change, communication, management and leadership.  The results would be benchmarked internally and externally, using public and private sector norm groups.

A series of staff roadshows entitled “one direction, many pathways” had commenced on 16 January and would run through to 13 February 2014.  The objectives were to keep staff informed on the direction of the Council, build confidence and commitment to the plans and engage staff on the review of core organisational values.

The final phase of the Senior Management Review was underway with consultation taking place with staff and Trade Union colleagues at service/tea, level.  It was anticipated that phase 3 would end no later than 31 March 2014.

RESOLVED:

That the HR Update report be noted.

To consider the Pay Policy Statement for 2014-15

The Committee considered a report on the Pay Policy Statement for 2014-15.

The Council was required under section 38 of the Localism Act 2011 to produce a Pay Policy Statement by 31 March on an annual basis.

The Pay Policy Statement for 2014-15 had been updated to reflect a number of changes – these being:

• the job titles of senior managers updated
• senior manager pay updated to reflect the move to spot salaries
• reference made to the changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme
• pay multiples updated
• confirms that recruitment and selection of Corporate Leadership Board members be undertaken by Staffing Committee

The Committee recommended the following changes:

• Section 8: Publication and Access to Information - the Council should publish the data relating to employees with a salary of £50,000 and above

• Section 12: Re-Employment/Re-Engagement of Former Employee – delete “truly” so that it read “…not be re-employed or re-engaged in any capacity, except in exception circumstances …”

RESOLVED:

That the Pay Policy Statement 2014-15, with the above amendments, be recommended to Council for approval.

To consider the Pre Budget Report for 2014-17

The Chairman has agreed that this item could be added as an item of urgent business as the Committee was being consulted as part of the budget consultation process which runs from 13 January to 21 February 2014 and the next meeting of Staffing Committee was not until after this period.

In accordance with Section 100B (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972, the Chairman agreed that this item be considered as an item of urgent business as the Committee was being consulted as part of the budget consultation process which ran from 13 January to 21 February 2014 and the next meeting of the Staffing Committee was not until after this period.

The Committee considered the 2014/15 pre-budget report.

The report highlighted the main proposals in the budget for 2014/15, which supported the Council’s priorities in the three year plan agreed by Council in February 2013. The report also set out the engagement plan for the current budget setting process. 

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the Pre-Budget Report be noted.