Agenda and minutes

Apologies from the meeting were received from Councillors S Rainford, R Bennett and J Schumann.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2021 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any pecuniary or non-pecuniary interest in respect of matters contained in the agenda.

There were no declarations of pecuniary and non-pecuniary interest.

There was no public participation.

Report of the Director of Resources enclosed

The Director of Resources submitted a report asking Members to agree and support the Council’s corporate Human Resource (HR) priorities for the next 12 months.

The three priorities were listed as:

·         Recruitment and Retention,

·         Health and Wellbeing; and

·         Training and Development.

Members were reminded that the ongoing impact of COVID-19 and the Council’s return to normal service delivery is likely to have an impact across all the three priorities.

In addition to the above, members were also recommended to establish a Working Group to work alongside the Chief Executive and the Head of HR to review the Council’s pay structure, address recruitment and retention difficulties and any possible link to the Council’s salary levels.

The Working Group would make recommendations and report back to this Committee

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

1.      Received the report.

2.      Agreed and confirmed their support that the 3 HR priorities for the Council for the next 12 months would be:

·      Recruitment and Retention,

·      Health and Wellbeing; and

·      Training and Development.

3.      Established a Working Group to work alongside the Chief Executive and the Head of HR, to review the Council’s pay structure and make recommendations to this Committee.  The Working Group would address recruitment and retention difficulties and any link to the Council’s salary levels.

4.      Agreed that the members of the Working Group would be Councillors: S Bibby, D Peat, S Atkinson, M Hindle, D O’Rourke and R Thompson.

Report of the Director of Resources enclosed

The Director of Resources presented a report that reviewed the Council’s management of Health, Safety and Welfare over the period April 2020 to March 2021.

The report noted that all Heads of Service had successfully completed the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health’s ‘Managing Safely’ training course and that this had provided an understanding of safety and health responsibilities in the Council.

Members were reminded that the Council’s Health and Safety Policy had been reviewed and updated in line with changes to legislation and guidance and that the Council’s Health and Safety Advisor had continued to provide information, advice, training and guidance to all sections of the Council.  

The report noted that during the 2020-2021 period there had been 32 accidents, 22 of which involved staff, 9 at the pool and 1 to a member of the public.  The most serious being a broken arm and a dislocated shoulder. 

Members were informed that with regard to mental health and wellbeing support, the Council signposted staff to support agencies and resources who are skilled at dealing with such matters. It was noted that the DWP’s ‘Able Futures’ scheme was a particularly useful resource.

Report of the Director of Resources enclosed

The Director of Resources submitted a report that provided members with an overview of the Council’s Job Evaluation Scheme.

Members were reminded that a Council wide job evaluation exercise had been carried out in November 2005, which had been followed by an appeals process which was completed in March 2008.

The report identified the factors that are used in the evaluation scheme, namely:

·         Supervision and management of people

·         Creativity and Innovation

·         Contacts and relationships

·         Decision making (discretion and consequences)

·         Resources

·         Work Environment (which includes work demands, physical demands, working conditions and work context)

·         Knowledge and skills

The report also set out the Council’s current job evaluation points scale and illustrated how this matched up to the pay scale.

None.

There were no reports from representatives on outside bodies.

Report of the Chief Executive enclosed.

The Chief Executive submitted a report for information on the outside bodies that come under the remit of this committee and the membership on those bodies.

That by virtue of the next items of business being exempt information under Category 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act the press and public be now excluded from the meeting.

Report of the Director of Resources enclosed

The Director of Resources submitted a report updating members on general staffing matters.

The report noted that:

·         All new vacancies go through consultation with UNISON and are approved by CMT.

·         Five new staff were appointed between 1 March 2021 and 24 May 2021.

·         There were currently 28 vacancies across all Council departments, of which 9 posts had been advertised and interviews had been scheduled for before the end of June three posts have been placed on hold and three posts were going through job evaluation prior to advertising Other vacancies were under review by Heads of Service.

The report also updated members on; new starters, internal movements, retirements, staff on fixed term contracts, staff training and employees on work experience.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

1.    Noted and approved the decisions taken by CMT and the Chairman as outlined in the report.

2.    That where appropriate the Council write letters of thanks to the staff who have left the Council.

Report of the Chief Executive enclosed.

The Chief Executive submitted a report seeking approval for proposed changes to the Council’s establishment in respect of planning and licensing enforcement.

Members were reminded that the Council has 1.5 FTE Enforcement Officers who deal with both planning and licensing enforcement.  This is made up of one full-time FTE and one part-time FTE.  The part-time officer left the Council at the end of May this year.

The report highlighted the increasing and unprecedented volume of planning and licensing enforcement work the Council is engaged in and as a consequence has struggled and will continue to struggle to maintain effective enforcement based on the current capacity of 1.5 FTE.

The report noted that:

·         The Ribble Valley currently has 316 licensed premises and that the routine inspection of these premises has not been carried out for some time.

·         In addition, 157 planning complaints were received in the first quarter of 2021. 

·         It is the Council’s duty as a planning authority to provide adequate resources to ensure that planning enforcement is carried out effectively.

·         The financial cost of increasing the hours of an Enforcement Officer from part-time to full-time will be £16,350 per annum (including on costs).

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

Approved a change to the Establishment to increase the post of Part Time Enforcement Officer (C94) to a full-time post with the title Enforcement Officer.

Report of the Director of Resources enclosed

The Director of Resources submitted the Annual Absence Management Review for 2020/2021.

Members were reminded that the report is brought to the Committee on an annual basis and provides information and analysis on sickness during the year.

The report noted that the Council’s Performance Plan has a target of 10 days absence per employee per year and that the Bradford Formula is used as atool to identify staff whose level of absence is a cause for concern.

The report provided a range of statistics and showed that:

·         The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic had increased the average number of days lost per employee from 11.15 days in 2019/20 to 21.28 days in 2020/21.

·         Non COVID-19 related absences amounted to 11.66 days lost per employee which represented a small increase from 11.15 days in 2019/20.

·         Excluding COVID-19 related absences, long term absences accounted for 43% of the total days lost.

·         Absence management remains a priority for the Council.

Report of the Director of Resources enclosed

The Director of Resources submitted a report updating members on the latest position in respect of the National Trade Union Pay Claim for 2021/2022.

Members were reminded that the last round of national pay negotiations was concluded in August 2020 and resulted in a 2.75% pay rise.

The report noted that:

·      The National Employers had met on 31 March 2021 to analyse feedback from consultations and agree a formal response to the unions.

·      The Council had received notification from the Employers on 14 May 2021 stating that they had responded to the unions’ claim – details of the response were set out in Appendix 1 of the Report.

·      The Council had set a budget for next year that allowed for a 2% pay increase and that each 1% increase in pay would cost the Council approximately £70,000 per annum.

·      The Director would report any further developments at the next meeting.