Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors R Bailey, D Brown, J Jackson, D Marren, D Newton and 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 declarations were made.

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 21 April 2016 and 26 May 2016

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meetings held on 21 April 2016 and 26 May 2016 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 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 report on PRIME for April and May 2016. 

It was noted that the tendering process had been completed for the supplier of an Occupational Health Service to Cheshire East Council and Cheshire West and Chester Council.  The new contact would commence in September 2016. 

The Committee considered a report on 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.

Work was in progress to finalise the Council’s People Plan 2016/17.  The Plan supported the delivery of key organisational strategic priorities and set out a detailed programme of work to enable HR to support the key priority areas within the Council.  Following approval of the Plan, the Staffing Committee would receive updates on the Plan and the objectives.  It was agreed that a draft of the Plan with details of the underpinning objectives and lead HR staff would be shared with Staffing Committee members.

The Council had realigned service function into three new directorates: People, Places and Corporate Services.  Details of the key changes following the realignment of functions were reported to the Committee.

The HR Policy work programme was underway and covered three main areas of work – Legislative Change, Strategic Review and Policy Review.   Any amendments to HR policy as a result of the work would be brought to the Staffing Committee for approval.

The Staffing Committee had set up a number of Working Group and it was agreed that an update on their work would be brought to the next Staffing Committee meeting.

RESOLVED:  That

1          the report be noted;

2          the draft People Plan 2016/17 be circulated to Staffing Committee members for comment.

To consider a report seeking approval for proposed changes to the Pensions Discretions Policy

The Committee considered a report on proposed changes to the current Pension Discretion Policy. 

The Local Government Pensions Regulations 2012 required the Council to formulate, publish and keep under review a policy statement regarding the exercise of discretions under the Local Government Pension Scheme in respect of five key discretions.

A Member and Officer Working Group had been established with the purpose of working collectively through the options and issues around the pensions discretions and had put forward proposed changes.  Appendix 1 to the report provided a summary of these changes.

The Trade Unions had been fully consulted on the proposed changes and had provided constructive feedback.  The Trade Unions had expressed some disappointment on the proposal not to contribute to the APC scheme under the APCs arrangement, and not to waiver some or all of the actuarial reduction relating to flexible retirement.

The revised Pension Discretion Policy had to be published for employee access and the revisions to the Scheme sent to the Pension Fund administrators within one month of its adoption.  The Policy had to be published for 30 days before being actioned.

RESOLVED:

That the revised Pension Discretions Policy, as set out in Appendix 2 to the Report, be approved.

To consider establishing a series of informal meetings for all Staffing Committee members to provide feedback in respect of draft changes in policies and procedures.  To receive a verbal report from the Chairman

The Chairman led a discussion on the review of HR policies and procedures that were in the pipeline.

Staffing Committee was responsible for approving all human resources policies. A programme for the review of HR policies, procedure and supporting documents had been drawn up. The review would ensure that all policies were presented in a common format and were up to date and accurate.

To enable the Committee to have an early involvement in this process, it was proposed that a series of informal private meetings would be set up to allow for discussion on proposed changes to the policies and procedures to take place before they were brought to the Committee for approval.

RESOLVED:

That series of informal meetings be set up to engage, consult and take feedback from Staffing Committee members on changes to HR policies and procedures.