| Time: | 3.00pm | Place: | Committee Room 1, Council Offices, Gernon Road, Letchworth Garden City |
| PRESENT: | Councillor Tricia Cowley(Chairman), Councillor Judi Billing, Councillor Tom Brindley, Councillor Mrs L.A. Needham, Jacqui Hamilton(Unison), Mrs D Levett(Unison), Chris Carter(Staff Consultation Forum), C Corr(Staff Consultation Forum), Councillor Paul Clark(Substitute). |
| IN ATTENDANCE: | Corporate Human Resources Manager Human Resources Development Manager Human Resources Adviser Employee Relations Officer and Committee and Member Services Officer |
| ALSO PRESENT: |
| Item | Description/Resolution | Status | Action | |
| PART I | ||||
| 34 |
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Lawrence Oliver, for whom Cllr Paul Clark substituted and from Cllr Judi Billing. |
Noted | ||
| 35 |
MINUTES Minutes It was agreed that the Minutes of the JSCC meeting held on 19 December 2012 be confirmed as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chairman. This was subject to the amendment in the last paragraph of the 7 November 2012 Minutes of the Staff Consultation Forum, that the decision to invite to future Santa's Tea Parties the children and grandchildren of District Councillors, as well as staff members' children, was made by the Joint Staff Consultative Committee at this meeting of 19 December, and not by the SCF in November. |
Agreed | ||
| 36 |
NOTIFICATION OF OTHER BUSINESS No other business was put forward for discussion at this Meeting. |
Noted | ||
| 37 |
CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS The Chairman welcomed all Members and officers to this meeting of the Joint Staff Consultative Committee. With the Chairman's permission, Cllr Needham introduced Stephen Boakes, a student from Hitchin Boys School who is interested in studying Politics, and possibly becoming an MP when he leaves school. Stephen was shadowing her for a week's Work Experience. The Committee were advised that tabled at this meeting were the Draft Minutes of the Meeting of the Staff Consultation Forum dated 6 March 2013. These would be approved by the SCF on 3 April 2013. The Chairman then read out the following statement: ‘Members are reminded that any declarations of interest in respect of any business set out in the agenda, should be declared as either a Disclosable Pecuniary interest, Other Pecuniary interest or Non-Pecuniary interest, and are required to notify the Chairman of the nature of any interest declared at the commencement of the relevant item on the agenda. Members declaring a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest must withdraw from the meeting for the duration of the item. Members declaring either an Other Pecuniary interest, or a Non-Pecuniary interest which requires they leave the room under paragraph 16.3 of the Code of Conduct, can speak on the item, but must leave the room before the debate and vote.' |
Noted | ||
| 38 |
STAFF CONSULTATION FORUM SCF Minutes 9.1.13 SCF Minutes 6.2.13 SCF Minutes 6.3.13 The Corporate Human Resources Manager (CHRM) referred the JSCC to the Minutes of the meetings of the Staff Consultation Forum (SCF) held on 9 January, 6 February and the Draft Minutes of 6 March 2013, for details of the meetings, actions taken and the items carried forward. She provided a summary of the main points from each meeting as follows: 9 January 2013 The CHRM touched on the MSU Restructure and the Parks and Countryside Restructure, both of which were part of the Corporate Business Planning proposals. The Management Support Unit and Parks and Countryside Development Managers had attended this meeting of the SCF to present these and to offer clarification. The CHRM then gave an overview of other services, including Savings Proposals/Restructures, and it was confirmed that there was a risk of redundancy in the following areas: Human Resources, IT, the Management Support Unit and Parks and Countryside. Under Matters Arising from Previous Minutes, responses were given to questions asked at the SCF meeting of 5 December 2012. The Strategic Director of Customer Services advised those present that the Waste Management and Recycling Department were currently working on a redesign of the NHDC‘s recycling service and further changes were expected. The CHRM then advised that under the heading of NHDC Update, the SDCS had comprehensively updated the SCF on the current financial position as at 9 January and that these figures would be published that week in the local press. Finally, it had been decided to progress a reward scheme for Council employees. 6 February 2013 Under the heading of Green Issues, the SCF was reminded that 4 to 8 March was Climate Week, and a book swap event would be held on Friday 8 March from 10am to 2pm. Good quality books should be donated and books could be taken in return from those donated by other members of staff Home Working/Office Accommodation brought up the problem of chairs missing from hot-desks and also the fact that when staff tried to contact Property Services for replacement chairs, it took some time for them to respond. It was suggested that some of the chairs were moved for meetings and not replaced. One Member present requested that Councillors were included when staff were text messaged regarding IT or Property issues. The CHRM then advised the Committee of the statutory days for the leave year running from 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014. Under the heading of Employee Enquiries, many of the questions could be answered by Property Services, and the CHRM advised that the SCF agreed to invite somebody from Property Services to attend the meeting of the SCF on 6 March to reply to the queries. 6 March 2013 (Draft) The SCF went through the Draft Minutes of the meeting of the Staff Consultation Forum on 6 March, stressing that: - The top two storeys of the multi storey car park would not be gritted and open to staff for use in severe weather for Health and Safety reasons, as some staff had injured themselves during bad weather in the past. Use of these two decks would leave the Council open to risk of being sued. - In addition, Hillshott car park could not be used by staff in the winter months as while the Memorial Park was not being used by children, shoppers were able to use it to leave their vehicles and walk into Letchworth town centre. - The setting up of a Quiet Room on the 4th floor to be used by pregnant women and breast-feeding mothers was also driven by religious observance and it could be used by a prayer room. Comments on the décor were that it was stark and required a change of atmosphere with the addition of cushions and perhaps a table lamp. Mention was made of the trialling of energy-saving lights in the Customer Service Centre and the Committee Rooms and corridors/stairs of the 1st floor. Feedback was expected from staff on the lights. The CHRM notified the Committee that it had been agreed to remove the standing item of Home Working/Office Accommodation from the SCF agenda. It would be revisited in May 2013. It was confirmed that the Pay Policy adopted in 2012 would be reviewed on an annual basis. Finally, mention was made of the charity screening at the Broadway Cinema of "Hot Fuzz", an earlier film directed by Edgar Wright and starring Simon Pegg. This was as a "thank you" to the Council and residents of Letchworth for the impact on the town of the filming of "World's End" during October and November 2012. The proceeds of the £5 tickets would be split between Comic Relief and a local charity or community project, which had yet to be confirmed. It was agreed: That the information provided in the three sets of Minutes of the Staff Consultation Forum be noted. |
Noted | ||
| 39 |
PEOPLE STRATEGY UPDATE Report The Corporate Human Resources Manager (CHRM) presented the Committee with the last quarterly update on the progress made to the People Strategy 2012-2013 Report, which also incorporated the Council's Workforce Development Plan. The People Strategy 2013-2014 Report would be introduced at the next meeting of the JSCC in June 2013. She advised that there had been an intensive workload for the Corporate Business Planning staffing changes to be implemented and went through the recent project progress since December 2012. A number of apprentices and interns were now in place and advertising had commenced for 2 x IT apprentices and 2 x Museum intern posts. Advertising for an intern for Environmental Health was about to begin. The process for these was: advertising, shortlisting, interviewing and collecting references, after which the final choices would be made. Interns and apprentices would be in place for 12 months. The Committee were advised that CRB checks had now changed to the Disclosure and Barring Service and Policy (DBS) and quite a lot of work was involved in making this change. It was essentially the same check, but some definitions had changed. The 2006 regulations had changed with the application of the Protection of Freedom Act. Learning and Development were organising a range of workshops and trainings to support the forthcoming changes to IT, and would include workshops, e-learning, open learning resources, briefings and drop-ins. The Council's existing Learning Management System also needed to be upgraded, but this had been put "on hold" for the time being. Members' discussion brought up the following points: Members had different training needs from staff, but it was not financially viable to have some workshops solely for Members, due to the low numbers likely to take them up. It was not practical to set up trainings, only for nobody, or very few Members, to turn up The CHRM went through the Appendices, stressing the satisfactorily low absence figures, both short-term and long-term and she stated that the figures for March could be the best so far. Long-term sick absence had been very low this year. She confirmed that home-working was well used and had played a significant part in the excellent figures. There had been a number of months with no long-term sick absences at all. When it was suggested that staff may not take time off because of the fear of it affecting their jobs, she confirmed that an Absence Policy was in place and managers had been told to look at a staff member's absence rate as a whole. She offered to produce an update/discussion topic after the next Senior Management Team meeting. The Chairman commented that she believed that all staff should have an appraisal, and she wondered if one or two staff could slip through without them. The Human Resources Development Manager advised that there was good liaison with managers - it was down to them to ensure that all officers had their appraisals. Heads of Services then collated them all to see if there were any potential issues. She also confirmed that staff leavers and people on long term sickness would not be counted in the appraisal figures recorded, and that Heads of Service were advised regarding any appraisals that were not done, so they could manage this in their service area. It was agreed: That the Committee note the progress against the People Strategy and HR People Strategy Work Plan for 2012/2013. REASON FOR DECISION: The People Strategy supports the achievement of the Authority's key priorities. |
Noted | ||
| 40 |
PAY AND PENSIONS UPDATE Update Councillor Tom Brindley declared an Other Pecuniary Interest in this item, as he is a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme. He said that he would remain in the room, as this was an update and not a debate. The Corporate Human Resources Manager (CHRM) presented an update on the National Pay Bargaining and Local Government Pension Scheme and went through the report. She pointed out that talks had taken place for quite a long time and that the LG employers had asked the Trade Union to consider a 1.0% rise from April 2013 on all pay points, dependant on some changes to terms and conditions as Option 1 and that Option 2 was a 1.0% rise on the lowest pay points (from 4 to 10) of the national Pay Scale and 0.6% for those above that. The clear message had been relayed that Councils could not afford a pay rise. The last pay increase had been in 2009/2010 and for senior managers, in 2008/9. On the subject of the proposed new Single Tier State pension, it was pointed out that although some employees may benefit from increased future pension benefits, their net pay may also go down. The Single Tier State Pension would end the current contracting out of National Insurance arrangements in 2016. |
Noted | ||
| 41 |
EQUALITIES AND RETENTION UPDATE Update As there was considerable crossover for both the Equalities and Retention Update and the Summary of Equal Pay Review, the CHRM suggested that they be taken together. She started with the subject of Turnover from the Equalities and Retention Update and informed the Committee that the annual turnover for 1 January to 31 December 2012 was 14.35%, which was higher than in recent years. From the Analysis of Leavers it had been discovered that several full-time male staff were leaving. From the Outcomes section of the Summary of Equal Pay Review, it was noted that there was no discrimination against women on the basis of gender and that 2.7% of the workforce were aged under 26 and 3.3% were aged over 65. The workforce was now ageing and there had been recent changes to the Flexible Working Policy. The Working Beyond Age 65 Policy had been replaced with a new Retirement Policy. The Committee discussed the two reports and commented that the situation looked well-balanced and no equal pay claims had been received recently. It was hoped that this was because the status quo had been satisfactorily maintained. Evaluation was the same scheme used across all the grades. The CHRM concluded by saying there had been a significant increase in the numbers of staff providing more detailed equality data. The team had assured staff that that the data was treated with the utmost confidentiality and would note a person's file if they declined to provide details, so that they would not be contacted again. |
Noted | ||
| 42 |
SUMMARY OF EQUAL PAY REVIEW Summary This item on the Agenda was combined with the previous Update. |
Noted | ||
| 43 |
UPDATE FROM LAST STRATEGIC DISCUSSION - SHARED INTERNAL AUDIT SERVICE Update The Corporate Human Resources Manager (CHRM) advised that this update had been prepared by the Head of Finance, Performance and Asset Management in response to the Committee's request at the December Meeting for a short review to be brought back to this meeting on whether the Shared Internal Audit Service (SIAS) had proved successful; were users happy with it; and had staff perceived a difference? The Committee had examined the update and agreed that they were satisfied with the information provided. |
Noted | ||
| 44 |
STRATEGIC HR FORUM DISCUSSION PAPER FROM HOUSING AND LITTER TO FACEBOOK AND TWITTER DISCUSSION PAPER The Corporate Human Resources Manager introduced the discussion topic on how social media had moved on and what role it now played in Council business. The Discussion Paper provided information on: the average age of computer users in the UK; the number of adults in the UK with a vote (48 million); that 18% of pensioners were signed up to one social networking site; that 32% of adults used the internet to obtain information from public authorities and that the LGA report into the part played by social media in the last General Election showed that the general public expected their elected representatives to use social media to interact with them. The Committee were informed that North Herts District Council had 2,800 followers on Twitter, and the number was rising as they had been using Twitter for a while. The matter to be decided was social media's place in local government - it was pointed out that the Police have their own websites. The Committee discussed the subject and comments raised included: texting and Twitter should not be used during meetings - mobile telephones, i-Pads etc should be turned off during meetings as a matter of respect; did NHDC webcast meetings? East Herts webcasted all meetings (no, but NHDC was beginning to use social media). The Chairman asked what benefit social media would be to the Council, and was given one good example of the use of twitter - to tweet advertising for apprentices. The Committee were also informed that the NHDC Communications Department constantly used Twitter, and a Member enquired whether there was a policy for officers using Twitter? The CHRM revealed that there was a Social Media Policy, but Councillors should not use it unless they were sharing information. A Member of the Committee stated that names were not to be revealed on Twitter, and the Chairman declared that as a result of the Leveson Inquiry, untruths should not be tweeted. Once a statement, opinion etc has been tweeted, it was out of the person's control, so information tweeted must not be used inappropriately. It was agreed: That the discussion paper on From Housing and Litter to Facebook and Twitter be noted. |
Noted | ||
| 45 |
SUGGESTED DISCUSSION TOPICS List of topics The Committee discussed the list of Suggested Discussion Topics presented by the Corporate Human Resources Manager and the subject chosen for the next meeting was Employment Law Update. |
Agreed | ||