| Time: | 3.00 pm | Place: | Committee Room 1, Council Offices, Gernon Road, Letchworth Garden City |
| PRESENT: | Councillor Tricia Cowley(Chairman), Councillor Judi Billing, Councillor Mrs L.A. Needham, Mr B Leverett(Unison), Mrs D Levett(Unison), C Corr(Staff Consultation Forum), Councillor Lawrence Oliver(Substitute). |
| IN ATTENDANCE: | John Robinson, Strategic Director of Customer Services Kerry Shorrocks, Corporate Human Resources Manager Liz Goddard, Human Resources Development Manager Christina Corr, Employee Relations Officer Susanne Gow,Committee and Member Services Officer. |
| ALSO PRESENT: | Dee Levett, UNISON Branch Chairman Bob Leverett, UNISON Branch Secretary. |
| Item | Description/Resolution | Status | Action | |
| PART I | ||||
| 1 |
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Lee Downie and T.W. Hone, for whom Councillor Lawrence Oliver acted as substitute. |
Noted | ||
| 2 |
MINUTES Minutes It was agreed that the Minutes of the JSCC meeting held on 24 March 2010 be confirmed as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chairman. |
Agreed | ||
| 3 |
NOTIFICATION OF OTHER BUSINESS No other items were presented for consideration by the Committee. |
Noted | ||
| 4 |
CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS Members were reminded that declarations of interest in respect of any business set out in the agenda and the nature of the interest, should be declared as either a prejudicial or personal interest at the commencement of the relevant item on the agenda. Members declaring a prejudicial interest should leave the room and not seek to influence the decision during that particular item.` |
Noted | ||
| 5 |
STAFF CONSULTATION FORUM SCF Minutes 7.4.10 SCF Minutes 5.5.10 Draft SCF Minutes 2.6.10 The Corporate Human Resources Manager (CHRM) referred the JSCC to the Minutes for the meetings of the Staff Consultation Forum (SCF) held on 7 April, 5 May and the Draft Minutes of 2 June 2010 for details of the meetings, actions taken and items carried forward. She provided a summary of the main points held at each meeting. A number of questions had been posed and matters clarified by Andy Bateman (Document Centre) at the meeting on 7 April, about the Multifunctional Devices (MFDs), especially the one currently used by Legal Services on the Ground Floor. The Give and Take event on 31 March had proved to be a very successful event, raising £116.11 for the SCBU at Lister Hospital in Stevenage. Saving Suggestions would become a standard item on the Agenda of all SCF Meetings from now on. Cllr Billing enquired whether utility bills would rise for Home Workers. Discussion followed on printing and how this should be minimised. At the SCF Meeting on 5 May 2010 under the section on Green Issues, it was revealed that Recycling Champions were needed for all floors at DCO. In answer to the question of who had taken over on the dissolution of Green Group, the Committee was informed that the Green Group was a voluntary endeavour and that its work had been absorbed by SCF following some problems. Moving on to the Draft Minutes of the SCF Meeting on 2 June, the Committee were informed that Jim Turner and Jack Patel had attended the Meeting to inform those present about heating and other facilities problems. The Leader enquired whether a bid had been put in, as if it was astronomical it would not be successful. The Chairman recalled that there was a budget item some time ago and it was then that the heating problem should have been brought up. However, the Committee were informed that these details were not discussed at the SCF. Discussion ensued, covering: the amount of the bid and the work to be done to install heating controls. It was questioned whether attention was being paid to control of the heating as well as installation of heat; Office accommodation sessions consisted of several addresses on the project as well as staff consultation; Scanning and indexing - consultation with staff had been held and potential that the service may be outsourced; The benefit of free car parking during working hours; Smoking breaks were discussed and the comment made that many smokers do their best thinking while smoking; monitoring the time taken would not be practical; the SDCS commented that the management team's view was that the general assumption was, as for toilet and coffee breaks for example, that employees were trusted not to abuse arrangements; The full staff survey report was available; The absence figures were satisfactory in 2009/10 and had first achieved, then exceeded targets. It was agreed: That the information provided in the three sets of Minutes of the Staff Consultation Forum be noted. |
Noted | ||
| 6 |
PEOPLE STRATEGY 2008-2011 Report The Corporate Human Resources Manager (CHRM) presented the report, and remarked that they were into the last year of the current People Strategy. This will be refreshed at the end of the current Financial Year, although things were changing and having an impact. Online recruitment was doing well with internal applicants, but external applicants were unable to apply due to a small formatting problem. Efforts were underway to find a solution to this. Some of the positive outcomes included: Absence rates were down to 8.68 days per person, despite outbreaks of swine flu and the icy weather causing accidents resulting in cases of long term sick leave; Turnover for 2009/10 was 10.2%; An Agency Framework Agreement was now in place; The New Members' Welcome Evening and Planning workshops had taken place and were well attended. The Committee enquired how often the Equal Pay Review was held and were informed that it is done biennially. Turnover had declined in 2008/2009 and had since risen slightly. The Committee discussion commented on appraisals and absence rates. It was agreed: That the Committee note the progress made against the implementation of the updated People Strategy actions 2008-2011. |
Noted | ||
| 7 |
HR EQUALITIES AND RETENTION UPDATE Report The report was presented by the Corporate Human Resources Manager (CHRM), who explained that it is brought to the Joint Staff Consultative Committee twice a year. She took the Committee through the Retention Update and explained that there needs to be further analysis of resignations received. They are currently recorded by age range, pay grade and gender. The CHRM then moved on to discuss the Equalities Performance and stated that there is a good number of staff who are of an ethnic minority, are disabled and 65% of NHDC workers are women. It is difficult to state the percentage of staff who are disabled as this covers a very broad range and is self-determined: respondents may either choose not to declare, or consider that they are not disabled. Finally, the CHRM covered the Equal Pay Audit 2009/2010, including gender and full-time and part-time working, together with disabled staff, ethnic minority and religion and sexuality. It was agreed: That the Human Resources Equalities and Retention Update be noted. |
Noted | ||
| 8 |
LOCAL GOVERNMENT ANNUAL PAY NEGOTIATIONS 2010/2011 Report The Corporate Human Resources Manager (CHRM) presented her report, which was a standing item on the JSCC Agenda. She stated that there had been no movement on pay, despite the efforts of UNISON to bring the employers to arbitration. |
Noted | ||
| 9 |
DISCUSSION - MEMBER DEVELOPMENT/DELIVERING MORE FOR LESS LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT Discussion Paper Declaration of interest: Councillor Judi Billing declared a personal interest, due to her profession role delivering Members' Personal Development. The Human Resources Development Manager (HRDM) introduced the paper on Member Development, stating that a lot of Member Development has been provided over the past few years. However, response has been varied and sometimes poor. The HRDM explained that one of the key outcomes from the Peer Review was the action to arrange personal development plans for all Members. A questionnaire has now been sent to all Members for this purpose. An updated programme of essential information has been outlined, based on consultation with Members. The Chairman's suggestion that Members be assessed was discussed. Cllr Billing suggested that the training budget was best used by Members attending a Local Government Information Unit conference or seminar. In addition, she was not aware of any Local Authorities who used up all their Members Development budgets. There should be a contingency in the budget for needs not currently known. The HRDM informed the Meeting that corporate training budgets had been reduced by approximately 50% over the past five years. The Chairman then proposed that each Member be made aware of the sum of money available for their own development (per head). This would be very useful for when they came across a seminar or course they considered to be useful and interesting. The HRDM stated that the questionnaire had tried to take into account Members' varied backgrounds and experience and included a question on whether experienced Members would be prepared to mentor new and less experienced colleagues. After some discussion as to whether the training was beneficial, the suggestion was made that training be carried out in the appropriate Groups, as Members have different learning styles. Some Councillors were keen to learn and improve their knowledge and others required extensive training, as for planning. The Committee was advised that there is a Members' Charter, but it requires significant resource to attain it and it is therefore not proposed for NHDC. There is also a Members' Network Group, which the HRDM has attended on a couple of occasions. Details of meetings were forwarded to Members in case they would also like to attend. The discussion came to an end with the comment that it would be good for Members to put on record the conferences they had attended which they had considered worthwhile, and those attended which were not. The Human Resources Development Manager (HRDM) then continued by introducing the subject of Providing More for Less Learning and Development. She went through the paper, giving examples of the implications on general learning and member development and then outlining some of the key learning and development activities, with examples of how NHDC have provided more for less in this area. She explained that the vision is to provide a range of learning solutions that are appropriate for different learning styles. For example, e-learning is now being used more extensively for legislative and IT training. This is available via the Learning Management System, which is accessed from the home page of the NHDC Intranet. An increasing number of workshops were now provided in-house by internal facilitators and examples of flexible learning included bite-size sessions, one-to-ones and managers coaching staff. She revealed that a large number of staff were able to learn quickly, but this system was not appropriate for everybody. The HRDM then covered the ongoing challenges and risks. Expanding on the breadth of subject areas for which training can be provided in-house, would in many cases require considerable time and money invested into subject training. There was also usually a requirement for extensive experience, research and monitoring in order to maintain the knowledge required to provide a credible and reasonable quality workshop. Capacity issues were also likely to increase with further staff cuts. Further cuts to learning and development budgets would lead to: reduced or no succession planning/career planning; capacity to meet central government targets (e.g. Skills Pledge); unmet CPD, regulatory and legislative requirements; the provision of skills for new ways of working (including multiskilling); support for restructure and change; and the reduced benefits of Investing in People, such as wastage, productivity and customer service. Discussion ensued and it was revealed that officers belonging to professional bodies had to demonstrate that they were ‘up to standard'. It was agreed that the benefits of learning and development led, in the end, to customer satisfaction. It was agreed: That the discussion paper on Member Development and Delivering More for Less Learning and Development be noted. |
Agreed | ||
| 10 |
SUGGESTED DISCUSSION TOPICS List of topics General consensus of opinion was that subjects which had been discussed in the past should be removed from the list of suggested discussion topics. Further items suggested for addition to the list were: General Employment Law Update Horizon Scanning (Strategic Director of Customer Services to inform). |
Agreed | ||