Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Mrs Banevicius.

There were no declarations of interests

The Minutes of the meeting held on the 1 February 2018, as printed and circulated were taken as read, approved and signed by the Chairman.

The Committee was informed of the Council’s duties under Section 38 of the Localism Act 2011 to prepare and publish a Pay Policy Statement for 2018/19.

Consideration was given to the updated Pay Policy Statement which set out the Council’s approach to setting the pay of its employees by identifying:

·         the methods by which salaries are determined;

·         the detail and level of remuneration of senior managers (i.e. ‘chief officers’, as defined by the relevant legislation);

·         the relationship between the remuneration of chief officers, those who are not chief officers and the lowest paid;

·         the most recent gender pay gap figures available.

It was suggested that, in future, benchmarking information be provided in connection with pay differentials. The Committee was advised that trend analysis demonstrated that the ratio between the lowest paid employee and the Chief Executive had reduced.

Members noted that market supplements were set by an independent market analyst who undertook benchmarking against other local authorities based on criteria set by the Employee Liaison Group.

Clarification was given on TUPE payments and it was noted that the large proportion of the workforce on grade D was influenced by the refuse collection service.

RECOMMENDED: (1) That the content of the updated Pay Policy Statement be approved.

                                 (2) That the Pay Policy Statement be recommended for approval by Council.

the Head of Corporate Services gave a presentation which outlined the key strands of the People Strategy and the individual components of each strand.

            The Strategy would set out how the Authority planned to attract, nurture, empower, retain and incentivise people, thereby ensuring a workforce that could successfully deliver the Council’s ambitions.

            These ambitions sought to build on the Council’s commercial skills, drive digital by default, introduce different means of service provision, continually improve efficiency and effectiveness of service, manage increasing demand and reducing income, create an agile workforce and support a reducing and ageing workforce.

            Consideration was given to each of the four key strands of the strategy set out below together with their individual components:

• Organising and empowering the workforce
• Engaging and looking after employees
• Motivating and rewarding employees
• Attracting talent and developing people

Members were advised that the Strategy would be developed by the People Strategy Working Group comprising a cross section of staff and union representatives. The Group would examine key areas and engage the wider workforce, with the aim of developing a strategy document by September 2018. Work would be undertaken to determine baseline metrics and delivery would be achieved via an action plan. Actions and metrics would then be monitored and reported annually.

In response to a question about opportunities for school leavers it was advised that the Council tried to accommodate placements from schools although there could be problems with capacity given the small size of many teams. Meanwhile, entry level positions were being looked at as part of the apprenticeship framework. It was agreed that maximising opportunities for young people was something that should be explored by the strategy focus groups.

Reference was made to the importance of the working environment and it was questioned whether it might be difficult to attract people from larger urban centres and the private sector given the condition and set-up of the Council offices. It was suggested that developing agile working may help address the issue.

The importance of collecting relevant baseline data in order to set appropriate targets was emphasised. It was noted that a staff survey was undertaken annually and this together with workforce profiling information and routine metrics would be fed into the process. This would help focus on areas where there may be issues.

The need to provide IT training for Members was mentioned during the discussion on skills profiling to ensure they were able to contribute to the overall culture of the organisation.

The shortage of resources was recognised as a potential problem but also, with the correct culture, as a potential driver for innovation. It was noted that ultimately it was important to focus on the services that the authority existed to deliver.

The Chairman thanked the Head of Corporate Services and Human Resources Manager for their work and noted that the development of the strategy would continue under the new Chairman and Vice-Chairman.

RESOLVED: (1) That the key strands and main components of the people strategy be noted.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Consideration was given to the revised Equality and Diversity Policy which incorporated the Council’s duties to staff under the Equality Act 2010 and employment regulations.

The Policy sought to oppose and avoid all forms of unlawful discrimination within the workforce and had been developed in consultation with Leadership Team and the Employee Liaison Group. The Policy formed part of the Council’s Equality Action Plan and fulfilled its statutory equality duty under the Equality Act.

It was noted that the Policy, which had been revised in line with the new policy template, clarified the Council’s responsibilities and set out links to other relevant policies. It was also closely aligned with the Equality Statement, the Council’s values and prevailing best practice.

The Committee noted that the gender pay gap had increased slightly following the outsourcing of the leisure centres but still remained well below the national average and in line with other local authorities.

During the discussion it was suggested that the option for undertaking job evaluation reviews for new posts should be highlighted in the People Strategy. With regard to monitoring equality and diversity it was advised that Equalities Impact Assessments played an important role alongside other monitoring mechanisms.

RESOLVED:            That the updated Equality and Diversity Policy be approved.