Agenda item

To receive the Minutes of the meetings of the Staff Consultation Forums held on 4 October 2017, 1 November 2017 and (if available) the Draft Minutes of the meeting held on 6 December 2017.

IT WAS AGREED:

 

(1)       That the Minutes pf the Staff Consultation Forum held on 4 October 2017, 1 November 2017 and draft Minutes for 6 December 2017 be noted;

 

(2)       That the Corporate Human Resources Manager be requested to undertake a risk assessment regarding the safety of staff that chose to smoke when working in the evenings.

 

REASON FOR DECISION: To enable the Joint Staff Consultative Committee to consider any issues addressed by the Staff Consultation Forum.

The Corporate Human Resources Manager drew attention to the Minutes of the meetings of the Staff Consultation Forum (SCF) held on 4 October 2017, 1 November 2017 and the Draft Minutes of 6 December 2017 as follows:

 

Minutes – 4 October 2017

Workshop

This meeting included refresher training regarding the role of the Staff Consultation Forum Representative

 

There had been some discussion regarding the merit of an SCF email address, which would be investigated.

 

The SCF page on the intranet was the 10th most popular page for the period 1 April 2017 – 30 September 2017 with 1,198 page views.

 

NHDC Update

An assessment day for the Deputy Chief Executive role had been held on Friday 6 October 2017 and it had since been confirmed that Anthony Roche would take on this role.

 

The Flu Vaccination programme for staff was currently underway.

 

Members asked about take up of the flu vaccination offer

 

The Corporate Human Resources Manager advised that over 100 staff had taken up the offer so far.

 

The review of National Pay Scales would not be completed within the original timescales

 

Office Accommodation

Communications regarding the office accommodation project had been excellent.

 

Property Services were discussing with Heads of Service regarding desk, chair, equipment and storage needs

 

Careline had raised some concerns regarding safety when working at night regarding parking, as the multi storey car park would be closed.

 

Members queried whether any thought had been given to standing desks

 

The Corporate Human Resources Manager advised that some standing desks would be available.

 

Minutes – 1 November 2017

NHDC Update

The Corporate Business Planning Process was underway with efficiency and growth proposals being discussed at informal workshops during the week ending Friday 3 November 2017.

 

Work on the North Herts Leisure Centre was now completed and the official re-opening took place on 7 October 2017.

 

A simultaneous meeting of NHDC Cabinet and EHDC Executive was held on 16 October 2017 regarding the new waste contract bids. The successful bidder would be announced at the end of the stand still period.

 

I.T. Projects Update

I.T. were working on a lot of different projects, with HR being involved in several of them. IT projects including:

 

·                New Buntingford Depot Waste Client Team – broadband and mobile technology;

·                Uniform – moving the Planning, Building Control, Land Charges and GIS systems to a new provider;

·                Work to fit out the new DCO with monitors, screens etc;

·                AV equipment for the new Council Chamber – this will be started after the move back to DCO;

·                Data protection – changes required following a review of the Data Protection Act;

·                Penetration System Test – this went well, although there was some work to be done to strengthen firewalls;

·                Passwords – Staff have been given guidance on how to make paswords stronger.

 

Proposed Restructure for Museum and Hitchin Town Hall

Both group and individual consultations were taking place regarding the proposed restructure. The consultation period regarding this proposal ran from 3 October 2017 to 9 November 2017.

 

Staff had raised a large number of concerns regarding the proposed restructure.

 

A Member asked whether an update regarding this proposed restructure was available as it would seem that the whole of the Museum Service was at risk of not meeting its obligations.

 

The Corporate Human Resources Manager advised that the comments received during the consultation would be considered and that a decision had not yet been made.

 

Human Resources were closely involved and would follow due process with the outcome being shared initially with staff and then more generally.

 

Possible Relocation of Careline

It was planned that Careline relocate to DCO in April/May 2018. There were some concerns raised by staff regarding parking, smoking areas and tea/coffee making facilities

 

SCF Email Address

A dedicated email address for SCF would be introduced and a rota drawn up to ensure that it is monitored.

 

Employee Queries

Queries were raised regarding the restructure and job interview within the waste team. The Head of Service would be contacting the team in the next few days to discuss the restructure.

 

Draft Minutes – 6 December 2017

NHDC Update

The Local Government Employers had made a pay offer of 2% for 18/19 and a further 2% for 19/20. There will be bigger increases amounting to 9 percent for lower grades to take into account the rising rate of the National Living Wage.

 

This offer was tied in with the review of national pay scales which would result in a number of pay scales being removed

 

Office Accommodation

A spreadsheet indicating where departments were likely to be based in the DCO had been circulated and protocols regarding hot-desking and eating at desks were being developed.

 

Drop in sessions to answer any office accommodation queries would-be held on 15 and 19 December 2017.

 

An SCF Representative advised that, due to the temporary move to Town Lodge and the relocation back to DCO, they no longer represented a logical group of people and asked how this would be resolved.

 

The Corporate Legal Manager advised that this should be addressed at the next SCF meeting.

 

Smoking in the Workplace

Concerns had been raised regarding those working for Careline overnight and it was agreed that smokers should remain within line of sight of the building.

 

There was a discussion regarding the current policy regarding smoking in the workplace and the issues faced by staff who worked in the evenings, particularly regarding safety. Members were concerned that the safety of staff working in the evenings was considered. They did not believe that there should be a zero tolerance regarding smoking, but that a sensible and safe solution was found. It was suggested that a risk assessment be undertaken regarding this issue.

 

Final IIP Report

Publication of the report had been delayed due to concerns about the quality of the report provided. IIP have agreed to prepare a more detailed report at no extra cost.

 

Waste Management Restructure

A Unison Representative queried whether the restructure of the waste management team had been completed.

 

The Corporate Legal Manager advised that the restructure had been completed and all staff informed of the outcome.

 

IT WAS AGREED:

 

(1)       That the Minutes pf the Staff Consultation Forum held on 4 October 2017, 1 November 2017 and draft Minutes for 6 December 2017 be noted;

 

(2)       That the Corporate Human Resources Manager be requested to undertake a risk assessment regarding the safety of staff that chose to smoke when working in the evenings.

 

REASON FOR DECISION: To enable the Joint Staff Consultative Committee to consider any issues addressed by the Staff Consultation Forum.