Agenda and minutes

Apologies from the meeting were received from Councillors: R. Bennett, A. Humphreys, D. Peat and R. Thompson.

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 October were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

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

There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary, other registrable or non-registrable interests.

There was no public participation.

Report of Director of Resources - enclosed

The Director of Resources submitted a report for members to consider as to whether to sign up to the Local Government Association’s (LGA’s) ‘Debate Not Hate’ campaign.

Members were reminded that according to the LGA's 2022 councillor census, seven in ten councillors reported experiencing abuse or intimidation in the last year. 

In addition, the LGA have stated that they are starting to build a picture of the level of abuse and intimidation councillors receive daily for simply carrying out the role in their community.

The Report noted that the ‘Debate Not Hate’ campaign aims to raise public awareness of the role of councillors in their communities, encourage healthy debate and improve the responses and support for local politicians facing abuse and intimidation and with local elections planned for May 2023, the campaign would be very timely.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

1.    Agree to support the LGA’s Debate Not Hate campaign.

2.    Agree to take the item to the next meeting of the Parish Council Liaison Committee (2February 2023)

The Director of Resources submitted a report asking members to review, approve and adopt the Council’s Pay Policy Statement for 2023/24 in accordance with the Localism Act 2011 and to recommend the Council’s Pay Policy Statement for 2023/24 be submitted to Full Council for approval.

Members were reminded that to ensure transparency as to how pay and remuneration was set by the Council, it was a legal requirement for public sector organisations to publish their Pay Policy Statement on an annual basis.

The Pay Policy Statement sets out the existing approach to the remuneration of all posts within the Council. It specifies certain mandatory requirements that must be detailed within the policy.

Members were informed that minor corrections would be made to the Statement before it is submitted for approval at the Council meeting on 7 March 2023

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

1.    Received the report.

2.      **Approved the Pay Policy Statement for 2023/24 for submission to Full Council at its meeting on 7 March 2023.**

Report of Director - enclosed

The Director of Resources submitted a report requesting members approve an update to the Council’s annual leave provision, in line with the Government’s Services Pay Agreement 2022/23.

Members were reminded that In November 2022, the National Joint Council (NJC) for Local Government services (Green Book) notified the Council of the settled pay agreement for 2022/23. This included changes to annual leave entitlement with effect from 1 April 2023.  Therefore, the minimum paid annual leave entitlement for the Council’s ‘Green Book’ employees would be 23 days with a further 3 days after 5 years of continuous service.

The report noted that:

·         The pay agreement for Chief officers and Chief Executives for 2022/23 does not include the extra days leave as allowances paid to Chief Officers are outside of the pay agreement and determined locally by NJC.

·         The NJC expect that the additional day’s leave would be applied to all NJC staff regardless of existing local arrangements.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

Approved the additional 1-day annual leave for all NJC staff with effect from 1 April 2023 as announced in the Local Government Services Pay Agreement for 2022/23.

Report of Director of Resources enclosed.

The Director of Resources submitted a report updating members on the Union Facilities Agreement over the last 12 months.

The Report noted that the data recorded and collated would enable the Council to publish the necessary information to meet the requirements of the Local Government Transparency Code.

The Director of Resources submitted a report updating Members on the proposed E-Recruitment system and onboarding plans for the Council.

Members were reminded that in March 2019 the Council approved a capital bid for a new e-recruitment system at a cost of £22,500 for implementation in the financial year 2023/24.

The report noted that when the initial quote for the recruitment system was received and subsequently approved, it did not provide a full ‘end-to-end’ process and that an updated quote had been obtained from the Council’s current software provider, in addition the original quote had also increased due to inflation.

The report also noted that Members would be provided with additional information once the final updates are available on Capital bids.

There were no minutes from Working Groups.

There were no reports from representatives on outside bodies.

RESOLVED: That by virtue of the next items of business being exempt information under Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public were excluded from the meeting.

Report of Director of Resources - enclosed

The Director of Resources submitted a report updating members on the introduction of an HR Data Retention Policy and sought approval for the necessary resources required to implement the policy.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

 1.  Approved the HR Data Retention Policy and Procedures, with the following implementation parameters:

a)    To apply with immediate effect to all Council employed staff who started their employment from 19 January 2023.

b)    To apply to all current Council employed staff and to staff previously employed by the Council (leavers), following the retention and disposal review of their personnel file.

2. Approved in principle the creation of one temporary FTE HR Assistant post for a period of six months and that this matter be referred to Policy and Finance Committee for a supplementary estimate of £17,000.

3. Agreed for Officers to provide a progress update to the next Personnel Committee meeting.

The Head of Cultural Services submitted a report requesting Members to authorise a payment of honoraria to the Engineering Assistant.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

Agreed to make an honorarium payment and to send a thank you letter to the Engineering Assistant; in recognition of the additional responsibilities, he has assumed over a prolonged period.

Report of Director of Resources enclosed.

The Director of Resources submitted a report updating members on general staffing matters that had taken place since the last meeting.

Amongst other information, the report noted that 12 new staff had been appointed in the period between 16 October 2022 and 15 January 2023 and that there had been 12 leavers in the same period.