Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies were received from Councillors J Jackson and 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.

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 meeting held on 14 January 2016

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meetings held on 14 January 2016 be confirmed as a correct record.

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

The Committee considered a report on the proposals for the implementation of changes made to the Constitution in relation to Staffing Committee.

Changes to the Constitution in October 2015 gave Staffing Committee the responsibility to approve all human resources policies including pay and grading structures (except those that must be approved in law by the Council and the implementation of national terms and conditions which would be undertaken by the Chief Executive/Head of Paid Service), employees terms and conditions of employment, including changes to these terms and conditions and to approve policies on how the Council exercised its functions under the Local Government Pension Scheme and any other relevant pension scheme.

It was proposed that a delegation be given to the Head of Strategic HR, in consultation with the Chairman of Staffing Committee or Vice-Chairman in their absence to:

·         make and approve all HR procedures and guidance (except where a procedural matter directly affects members of Staffing Committee) that are designed to clarify or give effect to approved policy.

·         Make and approve minor and consequential amendments to HR policy e.g. to clarify an issue, reinforce a point or take into account knock on effects of other policy changes

·         Make and approve legislative changes to HR Policy, reporting all such changes to Staffing Committee.

The exception to these delegations being HR policy and procedure determined as requiring Staffing Committee approval. The Committee agreed a list of HR policies which would come to the Staffing Committee for approval.

The Grievance Procedure was reviewed by the Committee and the following changes were suggested:

Consideration to be given to:

·         Purpose

·         Objectives

·         Sub Committee v Working Group

·         Membership

·         Scope of work

·         Policy/procedure documents

·         Resources, physical and financial

·         Governance arrangements

·         Risks/Issues/Dependencies/Assumptions

·         Timescale for reporting

resulting in: Terms of Reference

Consideration was given to the establishment of a new Staffing Sub Committee or working group, whose purpose would be to provide assurance that the wellbeing of Staff and Members of Cheshire East Council was aligned to best practice and organisational values.

It was proposed that a working group be established to review existing HR policies which impact upon reassurance to ensure that they operate cohesively and are updated in line with legislative changes.  Feedback would  be sought from staff and Members in respect of agreed policies and procedure.  The membership be made up of an Independent Chair, a Trade Union representative and six Elected Members on a 3:1:1:1 basis.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)       a working group be established on a 3:1:1:1 basis with the membership as follows:

            Conservative– Cllr B Moran, Cllr JP Findlow and Cllr D Marren

Labour– Cllr J Jackson

Independent  – Cllr A Stott

Liberal Democrat – Cllr R Fletcher

Independent Chair

Trade Union representative – Unison representative Craig Nicholson

(2)       The Head of Strategic HR, in conjunction with the Chairman of Staffing Committee, appoint an Independent Chair.

(3)       The Head of Strategic HR to prepare the Terms of Reference for the Working Group.

(4)       The Head of Strategic HR to liaise with North West Employers to identify an independent reviewer and brief accordingly.

(5)       The Head of Strategic HR arrange the first meeting of the Working Group.