Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors D Marren, B Murphy and D Newton.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

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 15 January 2015.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 15 January 2015 be approved as a correct record.

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

The Committee received a report which provided a general update on health and safety matters.

The Corporate Health and Safety Manager reported that 21 corporate health and safety course had been delivered during quarter 4, which had been attended by 224 members of staff.

The Service had carried out a number of visits and inspections during Quarter 4, which included visits to primary and secondary schools and Local Exhaust Ventilation tests as well as inspections at Hollins View, Carter House, Macon House, Heatherbrae and Cheyne Hall.

The Corporate Health and Safety Services had submitted a RoSPA Award portfolio in February 2015 and had recently been informed that the Council had been awarded its third consecutive Gold Award.  The Committee congratulated the Service on their success.

The Quarter 4 accident and incident statistics showed a total of 629 accidents in the corporate core area, with 3 RIDDOR reportable accidents.  A breakdown of and commentary on the statistics for January, February and March 2015 was detailed in the report.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

To consider a report on HR and Organisational Development issues

The Organisational Development Manager presented a report which provided a general update on human resources and organisational development issues.

Work on developing the Workforce strategy and plans to achieve the proposed outcomes was underway with an initial consultation being held with a range of key stakeholders.  This had identified 6 interlocking themes – culture and values, organisational design, leadership and management, building capability and capacity, resourcing and talent, reward and recognition.  A further update would be given a the next meeting of the Committee.

The Department of Communities and Local Government had issued the Local Government Transparency Code 2014 last year.  The Code placed a requirement on all Councils to prepare and publish a range of factual data on which policy decisions were based and on which public services were assessed or generated in the course of public service delivery.  The HR element of the code, which were consistent with the Pay Policy Statement and with the Statement of Accounts.  Information would be shortly published on the Council’s website and included Organisation Chart, Senior Salaries, Pay Multiples and Trade Union Facility Time.

The Shared Parental Leave regulations had come into force on 1 December 2015 and applied to children born or placed for adoption on or after 5 April 2015.  A Shared Parental Leave Procedure had been developed, based on the regulation, ensuring that the Council met its statutory obligations.

The Council had made a commitment to adopt the Living Way for directly employed staff.  An implementation plan as currently under development to achieve the Council’s commitment and consultation with the Unions had started in March.

At the last meeting it was agreed to arrange a special meeting to discuss sickness absence.  After discussion with the Chairman, it was agreed to defer holding a meeting to enable a review of a full years data and that this form the basis of a report to the July committee.  It was noted that the average number of days lost per employee was 11.97 at the end of March 2015, which was slightly higher than in the previous year.

Two people had left the Council under voluntary redundancy terms in Quarter 4.  A total of thirty staff had left under voluntary redundancy in the 2014/15 financial year. 

With the introduction of the Care Act on 1 April 215, Workforce Development had implemented a training programme for all social care staff.  A staff launch event was held in January.  This was followed by the development of training manuals and additional learning material, which was rolled out through the delivery of over 30 separate training session for staff and providers to access.  A new e-learning package for the Care Act had also been launched. 

The Council had introduced Higher Apprenticeships in Finance and Social Media and proposed to introduce Higher Apprenticeships in Legal Service and HR.  With effect from 1 April 2015 all Apprentices would be in receipt of age appropriate minimum wage and it was hoped that this would attract high calibre young people  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

To consider a report advising on the Interim arrangements to cover the statutory responsibilities of the Director of Children’s Services.

The Committee received a report which detailed the interim arrangements to cover the statutory responsibilities for the Director of Children’s Services.

Tony Crane, Director of Children Services would be leaving the Council on 1 May 2015 and arrangements were in place to appoint a permanent replacement.  There would be a gap between his departure and the commencement of a replacement and it was therefore necessary to put in place interim arrangements.

The Chief Executive, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Safeguarding Children and Adults, had discussed the opportunity with Senior Managers within Children’s Services and had offered the role to Nigel Moorhouse, Head of Early Intervention and Prevention, on an acting basis from 1 May 2015 until the commencement of a permanent replacement.  The appointment would secure leadership continuity in respect of safeguarding children and young people and ensured that a focus was retained on the improvement agenda across the department. 

RESOLVED:

That the interim arrangements to cover the statutory responsibilities of the Director of Children’s Services be noted.