Agenda and minutes

Lisa Quinn - Director of Finance and Business Services

Paul Bradshaw – Head of HR and Organisational Development

Melanie Henniker – HR Delivery manager

Mark Nedderman – Senior Scrutiny Officer

Councillor D Flude

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 6 March 2012 be confirmed as a corrected record and signed by the Chairman.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any personal and/or prejudicial interests and for members to declare the existence of a party whip in relation to any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

A total period of 15 minutes is allocated for members of the public to make a statement(s) on any matter that falls within the remit 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.

Note: In order for officers to undertake any background research, it would be helpful if members of the public contacted the Scrutiny officer listed at the foot of the agenda, at least one working day before the meeting to provide brief details of the matter to be covered. 

There were no members of the public present at the meeting who wished to address the committee.

To consider a report of the Borough Solicitor.

The Committee reviewed the work programme for 2012/13.

At the previous meeting of the Committee, Members had resolved to review the Council’s policy in respect of exemptions on Council tax for second and empty homes in anticipation of an expected change in legislation. It was suggested that this item should now be added to the Committee’s work programme

In connection with the item concerning Mayoralty/Civic arrangements, the Senior Scrutiny Officer reported that there were no outstanding matters to investigate in connection with this item.

RESOLVED

(a)               That the report be received;

(b)               That an item be added to the work programme to brief Members in June 2012 on the current arrangements which provide discounts in respect of Council Tax for empty properties and second homes in Cheshire East, with a view to the policy being reviewed.

(c)               That the item relating to the Mayoralty/Civic arrangements in Cheshire east be deleted from the work programme.

To note the current forward plan, identify any new items, and to determine whether any further examination of new issues is appropriate.

The Committee considered items listed in the current forward plan.

RESOLVED – That the Forward Plan be received.

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To consider a report of the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development.

            Councillor D Flude attended the meeting and addressed the Committee in respect of this matter.

            The Committee considered a report of the Head of HR and Organisation Development relating to sickness absence in Cheshire East.

            The Committee was informed that during 2009/10, the average number of days lost due to sickness was 7.05. This had risen to 8.19 days during 2010/11.

            By way of comparison, a North West Employers survey carried out in April 2011 had determined that the average sickness absence rate for Unitary Councils in the North West was 9.15 days. The Chartered Institute of Personnel in its report into Absence Management for 2011 confirmed that for employers in public services with 5000 or more staff, the average number of days lost was 9.6 days and for private sector services was 11.8 days.

            Over sixty percent of all working days lost due to sickness was categorised as long term sickness and accounted for approximately a quarter of all the employees absent.  (Long term sickness was defined by the Council as 15 working days or more).

There were a number of contributory factors that may be leading to an increase in sickness absence statistics, including better reporting arrangements which had provided better accuracy; stress related to Council restructures, the ongoing challenging financial situation leading to further reviews and uncertainty for staff, and the recent review of staff terms and conditions of employment.

A number of measures were in place to address sickness rates including strategic intervention in the Waste and Recycling Service, and in addition, the Health and Safety Team had been involved in reminding employees of preventative measures in relation to injuries.

            The Attendance Management Policy would be reviewed with a view to simplifying the process and ensuring that the trigger points were appropriate in the circumstances and to support managers in taking action on attendance at a timely and early stage. 

            The HR Delivery Team would continue to provide coaching and training for managers in attendance management, both through the Corporate Training Programme and also on a local one-to-one or team basis as required and considered effective. This training would focus on the proactive management of attendance with a view to retaining employees in work and to support them in returning to work as soon as practicably possible.

            Additional proactive measures included:

·        A number of Health and Wellbeing events being held in May.

·        Close working with the Occupational Health Service to identify pro-active health promotion strategies and activities that could be rolled out across the Council and sustained in the longer term.

·        The possible introduction of an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).  An EAP was a resource for employees to enable them to access support, usually in the form of counselling, to help them deal with difficult issues (whether work-related or in their personal life).

      The Committee was in favour of measures to provide support to staff during sickness absences, particularly those relating to alleviating the effects of stress, but felt that the target set for the average  ...  view the full minutes text for item 192.

The reports relating to the remaining items on the agenda have been withheld from public circulation and deposit pursuant to Section 100(B)(2) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that the matters may be determined with the press and public excluded.

The Committee may decide that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items pursuant to Section 100(A)4 of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 and public interest would not be served in publishing the information.

PART 2 – MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED WITHOUT THE PUBLIC AND PRESS PRESENT

That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item pursuant to Section 100(A)4 of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 4 Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 and public interest would not be served in publishing the information.

To consider a report of the Head of HR and Organisational Development.

The Committee considered a report of the head of HR and Organisational development relating to proposals to manage workforce change in connection with the Councils Voluntary redundancy Scheme.

The Committee was presented with 5 potential options which would be the subject of negotiation with trade unions.

RESOLVED –

(a)               That the report be received;

(b)               That Cabinet be informed that this committee recommends that that the Council should give further consideration to options 4 and a combination of options 5 and 3;

(c)               That whichever option is adopted, Cabinet be requested to consider ensuring that the new scheme should be in place for a period extending beyond 12 months in order to introduce stability into the system.