Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor M Jones.

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 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.

No members of the public were present.

To approve the minutes of the meetings held on 15 October 2015 and 30 November 2015

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meetings held on 15 October 2015 and 30 November 2015 be confirmed as a correct record.

To receive an update on progress with Health and Safety, Human Resource and Organisational Development items 

The Committee considered a report on the progress with Health and Safety matters.

The report provided details of the number of health and safety courses undertaken, the inspections carried out and the accident and incident figures reported on PRIME in quarter 3.

The Committee considered a report on the progress with Human Resource and Organisational Development matters.

The report provided details on progress with the Council’s Workforce Strategy, Organisational Design, Leadership and Management training, the Corporate Training programme, staff recruitment and retention, reward and recognition, the Council’s sickness absence rate, and provision of Education HR Consultancy.

Plans were being developed to run a staff survey in June 2016.  The Committee asked to see the survey questions prior to them being finalised and also requested that the results, with  a question by question comparison, be shared with them.  It was noted that the ADSVs would also be carrying out staff surveys and it was agreed that result be compared with that of the Council’s survey.

It was noted that training sessions had been held on Child Sexual Abuse and Child Sexual Exploitation.  The Committee asked for the details of attendance at these training sessions, including how many had not yet attended the training.

Following the ruling in the Bear Scotland case, HR policies were being reviewed in relation to pay during holiday and sick leave.  The Committee requested that a report be brought outlining the holiday pay proposals, the cost implications of possible claims and risk to Council, and that management consider communications of the decision to staff..

Details of the April to September 2015 recorded absence information and actions being taken to manage attendance were detailed in Appendix 1 to the Report.  It was agreed that a small group of Staffing Committee members be established to explore how absence management could be improved. 

It was noted that in Quarter 3, 124 employees had left the Council and that not all of those who had left completed exit interviews. The Committee asked if the exit interview process could be reinvigorated.

Arising from the information and data presented in the report a number of actions were agreed by the Committee.

RESOLVED:

1          That the report be noted.

2          Details be provided of the five Academies who had not brought back Health and Safety services, and if known, the reasons for not doing so.

3          Clarification be provided on how the ASDVs are charged for support provided by the Health and Safety Team.

4          The staff survey questions be shared with the Staffing Committee prior to final agreement.  The results, with a question by question comparison, be shared with the Committee and the survey results be compared with the ADSVs results, if available.

5          Details be provided of how many staff and Elected Members have attended Child Sexual Abuses and Child Sexual Exploitation training.

6          Details be provided on the Cygnet Pathway pilot and how its success will be measured.

7          As a result of the Bear Scotland case, a report to be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

To consider a report which recommends that the current terms of voluntary redundancy be retained until 31 March 2017  and that a further review be carried out in October 2016, looking ahead to 2017/18

The Committee considered a report on the terms of Voluntary Redundancy and Voluntary Early Retirement.

The report recommended that the Council retained the current voluntary redundancy terms for the financial year 2016/17 and that the next review should take place in October 2016, looking ahead to 2017/18.

As the Government had announced potential legislation to introduce a cap on exit payments and the Public Sector Exit Payment Regulations were potentially coming into effect in April, it was proposed that the decision be deferred and a report be brought back to the 21 April Staffing Committee meeting to include the effects of the legislation on the Policy, comparison information on other local authority voluntary redundancy schemes and a timeframe for a review of the voluntary redundancy terms.

RESOLVED:

That the decision be deferred and a further report be brought to the 21 April 2016  meeting.

To consider a report on the Pay Policy Statement for 2016/17 and make a recommendation to Council for approval and publication

The Committee considered a report on the Draft Pay Policy Statement for 2016/17.

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.

It was noted that the Local Government Transparency Code 2015 had superseded the 2014 code.  Officers were requested to check if this had any impact on the Pay Policy Statement details.

Arising from the information and data presented in the report, the following actions were agreed, with reports back to the Staffing Committee:

• an overview of the Hay system and details of the Hay points and positioning for senior managers/chief officers be provided to the Staffing Committee
• the definition of Chief Officers to be consistent throughout all documents
• senior officers be asked if they would be willing to provide their names as part of the transparency data information
• identify the groups of staff who qualify for the reimbursement of professional fees
• consider whether reasons exist to harmonise terms and conditions of staff who have transferred into the Council
• details on the employment of employees under contract for service who form limited companies

The Committee recommended the following amendments to the Draft Pay Policy Statement:

·         Section 4 – Commitment to the Living Wage: first line add ‘2015’ after 1 November.

·         Section 5 – Recruitment of Chief Officers: third paragraph sixth line delete ‘secure the best candidate’ and insert ‘attract and retain the talent it needs’

·         Section 5 – Recruitment of Chief Officers: fifth paragraph fourth line insert an ‘s’ onto the end of ‘contract’

·         Annex 1 – add a link to the Open Data and Transparency webpage

RESOLVED: 

1          That the Pay Policy Statement 2016/17, with the amendments set out above, be recommended to Council for approval.

2          That  the information requested, as detailed in the agreed actions above, be provided to the Staffing Committee.

To consider a report on amendments to the Code of Conduct for Employees and make a recommendation to the Constitution Committee for the Constitution to be amended.

The Committee considered a report on proposed amendments to the Code of Conduct for Employees.

Following a recent Internal Audit inspection, amendments had been proposed to the Code of Conduct for Employees to strength the requirement to declare any interests.  The Internal Audit report recommended that:

1.    That each employee should be asked to complete a Declaration of Interests each year;

2.    That the process for compiling and maintaining these annual returns should be centralised, so that a full picture of the interests of all employees was easily available to Council Members and Officers.

RESOLVED:

That the Constitution Committee be recommended to approve the following changes to the Code of Conduct for Employees:

·         All employees are required to complete an annual declaration of interest return, to confirm that they have nothing to declare, and to then report issues as and when they occur;

·         In Adult’s and Children’s Social Care no gift should be accepted under any circumstances.

To consider a report on implementing the recent Constitution changes for the Staffing Committee

RESOLVED

That this matter be deferred in view of time constraints and considered at a special meeting of the Committee on a date to be determined.

To receive an oral report from Councillor David Brown and Councillor Barry Moran

RESOLVED

That this matter be deferred in view of time constraints and considered at a special meeting of the Committee on a date to be determined.