Agenda and minutes

Apologies from the meeting were received from Councillors S Fletcher and D O’Rourke.

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 October 2023 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.

Verbal presentation from Linda Boyer – Unison Branch Secretary

This item was deferred to a future meeting.

Report of the Director of Resources & Deputy Chief Executive enclosed.

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive submitted a report for Committee to review the Council’s Pay Policy Statement in accordance with the Localism Act 2011.

The Pay Policy set out the existing approach to remuneration off all posts within the Council, along with other details as required by the Localism Act 2011. The Council’s Pay Policy Statement, which was first published in in 2012, had been reviewed and updated and a full copy was included with the report.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

1.    Receive the report.

2.    Recommend the Pay Policy Statement for 2024/25 for approval by Full Council at its meeting on 5 March 2024.

Report of the Chief Executive enclosed.

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive submitted a report for Committee to approve an increase in the establishment of one fixed term post in Community Services, to help deliver the Together an Active Future (TaAF) project.

The Council had been part of the Sport England funded project since 2019, developed to increase activity levels in the Borough. The second phase (Accelerator) of the project had commenced and would end in 2025. It was proposed to add a fixed term post ending in December 2025 titled TaAF Work Stream Network Lead to the establishment. The post would contribute to the delivery of the project objectives, and was supported by both CMT in December 2023, and Community Committee at their meeting on 9 January 2024.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

Agree to the increase in the establishment by the addition of the full time TaAF Work Stream Network Lead post 37 hours per week on a fixed term contract until December 2025.

Report of the Director of Resources & Deputy Chief Executive enclosed.

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive submitted an information report to update Members on the operation of the Union Facilities Agreement over the last 12 months.

A record of time spent on union duties and for the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 was broken down as follows:

·         Time spent at Regional meetings, UNISON Conference  82hrs.

and training

·         Time spent dealing with Internal meetings* 23hrs. 33 mins

Total 105 hrs. 33 mins = approximately 14.5 days

(based on a standard day of 7hrs 24 mins)

For 2021/2022 (April 2021 to March 2022) the total number of hours was 125 hrs 11 mins

i.e. approximately 17 days (based on a standard day of 7hrs 24 mins).

* This includes regular monthly meetings with HR, CMT meetings, Job Evaluation work and accompanying staff at HR related meetings.

It was explained at the meeting that the Unison Branch Secretary had requested permission from the Council for two members of staff who acted as Unison Branch associates to attend one week of Union training, to facilitate succession planning within the Unison branch. Members were asked to consider the request and approve the required week off from their Council positions. Members supported the training and approved the request.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

Agree to allow two members of staff who act as Unison Branch associates to attend one week of Union training.

Report of the Director of Resources & Deputy Chief Executive enclosed.

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive submitted an information report to update Members on the project of HR Data Retention Policy approved by Committee on 18 January 2023.

All current employees now had digital personnel files that were categorized, dated, and could be re-cleansed in line with timeframes within the HR Data Retention Policy as needed. Personnel files for previous employees who were employed by the Council up to six years ago had been weeded and stored digitally should they be required for any employment claims. Files for previous employees over six years had been confidentially destroyed. In total around 4500 files had been cleansed.

The project had been a great success and had now concluded.

Report of the Chief Executive enclosed.

The Chief Executive submitted a report informing Committee about year-end reports for 2021/22 and 2022/23 that detail performance against the Council’s local performance indicators.

The report provided an overview of the Council’s performance up to 31 March 2023. Analysis showed that of the 23 Personnel key performance indicators (KPIs) that could be compared to target:

• 43.5% (10) of the KPIs met target (green) or were on track.

• 56.5% (13) provided data only.

Of the 23 Personnel Services KPIs where performance trend could be compared over the years:

• 31% (7) of the KPIs had improved

• 17% (4) of the KPIs stayed the same

• 52% (12) of the KPIs worsened

The full monitoring report along with narrative on performance and targets was included in the report.

Report of the Chief Executive enclosed.

The Chief Executive submitted an information report to note that the membership of the Working Group under the remit of the Committee for the remainder of the Municipal Year 2023/24 remained unchanged following changes to political groups.

Committee had approved the appointment of Members to the HR Working Group for 2023/24 on 7 June 2023. Following political group changes, the revised membership of the Personnel Committee based on the new political balance had been confirmed at the meeting of the Full Council 12 December 2023.

The HR Working Group had not been affected and the membership therefore remained unchanged as follows:

Councillors R Elms, S Farmer, D O’Rourke, K Barnsley, and D Birtwhistle.

None.

There were no minutes from working groups.

None.

There were no reports from representatives on outside bodies.

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

Report of the Chief Executive enclosed.

The Chief Executive submitted a report that Committee consider payments of honoraria to members of staff who had covered the duties of more senior posts.

The factors and financial implications to be considered when assessing the applications were set out in the report.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

Approve the honoraria payments to the members of staff as set out in the report.

Report of the Director of Resources & Deputy Chief Executive enclosed.

The Director of Resources & Deputy Chief Executive submitted a report informing members of general staffing matters since the last Committee meeting. The report included information on appointments and resignations, internal movements, establishment changes, training, and retirements.

The report noted that 7 new staff had been appointed between 16 October 2023 and 15 December 2023 and that there had been 4 leavers in the same period. The report noted that there had been 1 work experience placement in the reporting period. Letters of thanks were to be sent to the staff who had left the Council, where appropriate.

An additional note was circulated at the meeting in regard to the Environmental Health Services department. Following the retirement of the Part Time Emergency Planning Officer in January, some of the duties of the role had been passed to the Councils Corporate Health & Safety Officer. However, the Environmental Health Department required resources in order to undertake responsibilities in private water supply testing. It was therefore proposed that a new part-time post of Environmental Technical Officer (Emergency Planning/Private Water Supplies) was added to the establishment, contracted to 18.5 hours per week. This would encompass both emergency planning and private water supply duties, therefore, the part time emergency planning officer would be removed from the establishment. The cost implications were noted in the report for consideration by Committee.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

Agree to the change in the establishment by removal of the part time emergency planning officer and replacement with a new part-time post of Environmental Technical Officer (Emergency Planning/Private Water Supplies) 18.5 hours per week.

Report of the Chief Executive enclosed

The Chief Executive submitted a report for Committee to consider an application for

flexible retirement from the Chief Executive, which required approval of both

Personnel and Policy and Finance Committee.

The report reminded Committee of the eligibility criteria under the Local Government

Pension Scheme and detailed the Council’s Early Retirement Policy.

The Chief Executive had submitted his notice to retire from his fulltime position on 5

April 2024. The Chief Executive’s request was that he be granted flexible retirement

to allow him to continue with a reduced working week of 2.5 days until January 2025.

The report also presented Committee with the options which required consideration

given that the other half of the post would effectively become vacant, and the

potential financial implications of the various options.

The report noted that agreeing to the flexible retirement request would retain the

knowledge and expertise of the Chief Executive and permit the Council 12 months to

carefully consider the recruitment and replacement. The Chief Executive presented

the report then left the meeting.

Committee supported the flexible retirement request, and the proposed option for the

Deputy Chief Executive to be asked to Act Up, subject to approval by Policy and

Finance Committee.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

1.     Approve the flexible retirement request with effect from 6 April 2024;

2.     Approve that the Director of Resource and Deputy Chief Executive is asked to

Act Up and temporarily undertake the extra duties of CEO, 2½ days per

week, alongside her existing role; and

3.     Refer the matter to Policy and Finance Committee.