Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor D Flude.

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

No declaration of interests were made.

In accordance with paragraph 2.32 of the Committee Procedural Rules and Appendix 7 of the Rules 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 body in question. 

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 meetings held on 25 April 2019 and 28 June 2019.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meetings held on 25 April 2019 and 28 June 2019 be confirmed as a correct record.

To brief the Committee on key Human Resource/Organisational Developmentand Health and Safetydevelopments.

The Committee considered a report which detailed key human resources, organisational development and health and safety developments.

The report provided details on the senior management recruitment campaign, review of HR Policies, Attendance Management, the Brighter Futures (Culture) Programme, Health and Safety data and HR performance data.

The Committee sought clarification on the recruitment process for the Chief Executive and were informed that all applications received had been considered at the long listing meeting.  The shortlisting meeting would be taking place next week to agree the applicants for final assessment and interviews by the Staffing Committee on 11 November 2019.  The Staffing Committee’s recommendation would be considered by Council in December. (Kath O’Dwyer, Acting Chief Executive, declared an interest and left the room during this discussion.)

Work on the HR Policy review was nearing completion with 11 further policies having been agreed with Corporate Leadership Team, the Trade Unions and approved by the Portfolio Holder since April.  The aim was to have all of the revised policies and procedures agreed and launched by the end of the year.  Work had been undertaken to develop Centranet pages to launch and support the policies and procedures.

The Committee asked about the completion of exit interviews and were informed that an electronic exit interview form had been created, which would be in addition to the interview.  The form would provide another opportunity for staff to share their views and experiences.  The Committee requested an update on the completion of exit interviews and the electronic form be brought to a future meeting.

It was reported that at present the Council had 143 apprentices, with 25 new starts this year and more apprentices expected to commence in the next few weeks.  The range of apprenticeships on offer had been widened but it was still proving difficult to encourage maintained schools to take on apprentices.  The Committee asked for feedback on the numbers of apprentices who go onto gain full time employment with the Council.

RESOLVED:  That

1          the report be noted;

2          an update on exit interviews be brought to a future meeting; and

3          details of the number of apprentices gaining full time employment with the Council to be brought to a future meeting.

To receive a summary of the results of The Big Conversation Staff Survey.

The Committee considered a report which provided a summary of the results of The Big Conversation Staff Survey.

The Council had commissioned Djs Employment Research to conduct an employee survey.  The survey had been conducted between 1 and 26 July 2019.  In total 2040 employees had completed the survey, which was a 55% response rate. 

Appendix 1 to the report set out in infographic form a summary of survey results, which highlighted strengths and the areas of concern.  The findings would be broken down into directorates and then service areas to enable action plans to be developed.  Progress against these actions would be measured through the Brighter Future (Culture) Programme.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted and the Committee monitor progress of the future actions plans.