Agenda and minutes

To report that at its Annual Meeting on 14 May 2013, the Council

(1)          appointed the following councillors to serve on this Committee for the ensuing year

Conservative (5)                   Lib. Dem. (3)                         UKIP (1)

            Cllr A Bucknell                     Cllr J Hubbard                      Cllr D Pollitt

            Cllr M Hewitt                         Cllr J Jenkins

            Cllr J Scott                             Cllr G King

            Cllr J Smale             

            Cllr S Wheeler

            Substitutes

            Cllr P Hutton                         Cllr D Allen

            Cllr P Evans                          Cllr R Brown

            Cllr A Trotman                      Cllr M Packard

                                                            Cllr I Thorn   

(2)          and named Cllr Allison Bucknell as Chairman and Cllr John Smale as Vice-Chairman of the Committee.

Resolved:

To note that at its Annual Meeting on 14 May 2013, the Council

(1)          appointed the following councillors to serve on this Committee for the ensuing year

Conservative (5)                 Lib. Dem. (3)                         UKIP (1)

            Cllr A Bucknell                    Cllr J Hubbard                     Cllr D Pollitt

            Cllr M Hewitt                        Cllr J Jenkins

            Cllr J Scott                           Cllr G King

            Cllr J Smale             

            Cllr S Wheeler

            Substitutes

            Cllr P Hutton                        Cllr D Allen

            Cllr P Evans                         Cllr R Brown

            Cllr A Trotman                     Cllr M Packard

                                                            Cllr I Thorn  

(2)          and named Cllr Allison Bucknell as Chairman and Cllr John Smale as Vice-Chairman of the Committee.

An apology for absence was received from Cllr Jane Scott.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 9 January 2013.        (Copy attached)

Resolved:

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Committee meeting held on 9 January 2013.

Arising therefrom

Minute No. 2 – Update on Equality and Diversity – Dedicated Personal Care Room

The Chairman referred to a verbal update made at the previous meeting that a dedicated Personal Care Room had been made available to both visitors and staff by Facilities Management on the ground floor of New County Hall.  However, the room had remained locked and the Committee had requested that access should be checked out and the outcome reported back to the following meeting.

It was reported that the room was kept locked owing to the amount of expensive equipment the room contained but a radar key was available from Main Reception if required.  Members requested that a notice be fixed to the door of the Personal Care Room stating this and also to all other dedicated Personal Care Rooms stating where a radar key could be obtained.   

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

There were no Chairman’s Announcements.

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public.

Statements

If you would like to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this agenda, please register to do so at least 10 minutes prior to the meeting. Up to 3 speakers are permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes each on any agenda item. Please contact the officer named on the front of the agenda for any further clarification.

Questions

To receive any questions from members of the public or members of the Council received in accordance with the constitution. Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the officer named on the front of the agenda (acting on behalf of the Director of Resources) no later than 5pm on Wednesday 15 May 2013. Please contact the officer named on the front of this agenda for further advice. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Committee members prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website.

There were no members of the public present or councillors’ questions.

The Committee is asked to:

(i)         agree the size, and

(ii)        appoint the members and substitute members (up to three for each Party Political Group) to each of the following Sub-Committees:

(a)       Senior Officers’ Employment Sub-Committee – previous members being Cllr Mike Hewitt, Cllr Jon Hubbard & Cllr John Noeken.

(Substitute Members: Cllr Rod Eaton, Cllr David Jenkins, Cllr Bill Moss, & Cllr Jane Scott.)

(b)       Appeals Sub-Committee – previous members being Cllr Rod Eaton, Cllr David Jenkins & Cllr John Noeken.

(Substitute Members: Cllr Allison Bucknell, Cllr Mike Hewitt, Cllr John Hubbard & Cllr John Smale.) 

(c)        Grievance Appeals Sub-Committee – previous members being Cllr Allison Bucknell, Cllr Mike Hewitt & Cllr Francis Morland.

(Substitute Members: Cllr Ernie Clarke, Cllr Rod Eaton, Cllr George Jeans, Cllr Bill Moss, Cllr Christopher Newbury  & Cllr Jonathon Seed.   

Under Paragraph 2.4.1 of Part 3 of the Council’s Constitution, it is a requirement that at least one member of the Senior Officers’ Employment Sub-Committee should be a member of the Cabinet when it discharges its function to dismiss and take disciplinary action against certain categories of officer in accordance with the officer employment procedure rules.  Accordingly, it is recommended that a second Cabinet member be appointed to this Sub-Committee either as a member or as a substitute member.

Resolved:

To appoint members to serve on the sub-committees of this Committee for the ensuing year as set out below:-

            (a)       Senior Officers Employment Sub-Committee

Cllr Mike Hewitt, Cllr Jon Hubbard & Cllr Stuart Wheeler.

            (Substitute Members: Cllr David Jenkins, Cllr Gordon King, Cllr Jane Scott & Cllr John Smale.)

(b)       Appeals Sub-Committee

Cllr Allison Bucknell, Cllr David Jenkins & Cllr Stuart Wheeler.

            (Substitute Members: Cllr Mike Hewitt, Cllr Jon Hubbard, Cllr Gordon King & Cllr John Smale.) 

(c)       Grievance Appeals Sub-Committee

Cllr Allison Bucknell, Cllr Mike Hewitt & Cllr Gordon King.

                                    (Substitute Members: Cllr Peter Evans, Cllr Jon Hubbard, Cllr Peter Hutton, Cllr David Jenkins & Cllr Tony Trotman.)

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 18 December 2012. (Copy attached)

Resolved:

(1)          To receive and note the minutes of the Senior Officers’ Employment Sub-Committee meeting held on 18 December 2012.

(2)          To request that in future only those sections of reports which contained personal details as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1072, be considered in private.   

To receive a workforce report for Wiltshire Council relating to the quarter ending 31 December 2012. (Copy attached)

The Committee received a quarterly workforce report, excluding fire, police and schools staff, for the quarter ended 31 December 2012 concerning:-

Staffing Levels

Sickness Absence

New Health and Safety RIDDOR related injuries

New Disciplinary and Grievance Cases

Voluntary Staff Turnover

Employee Costs

Resolved:

To note the contents of the report.

To receive a workforce report for Wiltshire Council relating to the quarter ending 31 March 2013. (Copy attached)

The Committee received a quarterly workforce report, excluding fire, police and schools staff, for the quarter ended 31 March 2013 concerning:-

Staffing Levels

Sickness Absence

New Health and Safety RIDDOR related injuries

New Disciplinary and Grievance Cases

Voluntary Staff Turnover

Employee Costs

During discussion the following points were highlighted:-

·                The headcount (full time equivalent FTE) during this quarter had decreased by 37 to 3889, a decrease of 0.9%. The ratio of managers to employees remained at 1:8, the required level being at least 1:6.

·                Sickness rates during the quarter had decreased to 2.3 FTE days per FTE, this being 0.3 FTE days lower than for the same quarter in 2012.  The sickness rate for the 2012-13 financial year was 8.7 FTE days per FTE, this being 1.2 FTE lower than the benchmark rate.   Members enquired as to how much long term and short term sickness recorded was due to stress related illnesses and requested that this information be sent to them after the meeting. 

·                There had been 191 redundancies that had taken place from April to September 2012.

·                 It was noted that for the second consecutive quarter, Transformation had had the largest reduction in agency spend (-£91,752 compared to the last quarter).  This had contributed to an overall reduction in agency spend of £40,704 for the quarter ended 31 March 2013. Members requested details of the total accumulative spend over the whole of the financial year 2012-13 be sent to them after the meeting.     

Resolved:

(1)          To note the contents of the report.

(2)          To request that the number of agency workers and consultants be shown separately in future reports.

A report showing overall results for staff is attached.

The Committee received a report showing overall results of the Wiltshire Council Staff Survey 2012.

It was noted that theCouncil had lastsurveyeditsemployeesinFebruary2011 from which staff had stated that theywanted:

•    Moreconsistentand regularinformation

•    Greater respect andrecognition

•    A greaterunderstandingon whydecisionsare made

•    Tobe consultedwhendecisionsaremade

InresponsetheCouncil had:

•    Introducedregular blogsfromseniormanagers

•    Undertakenhub visitsfromseniormanagement

•    IntroducedTheDirectoryand Microsoft Lync

•    Arrangedemployeeand management forums

•    Introducedthebehavioursframework

•    IntroducedHR Direct

•    Introducednew usesofsocial mediasuch asTwitter

•    Introducedadditional corporateawards

•    Introduceda newand improvedappraisal solution

•    Agreeda yearlystaff surveytocapturestaffviews

•     Offeredsenior managementattendancetoattendteam meetingsupon   invite

•    Communicatedthe2011-2015Business Pl  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

To note that the next scheduled meeting is due to be held on Wednesday 10 July 2013 in the Pratchett Room at New County Hall, Trowbridge, starting at 10.30am.

Resolved:

(1)          To note that the next scheduled meeting of this Committee was due to be held on Wednesday 10 July 2013 in the Pratchett Room at New County Hall, Trowbridge, starting at 10.30am.

(2)          To note that an additional meeting of the Committee had been arranged to be held on Wednesday 26 June 2013 in the Pratchett Room at New County Hall, Trowbridge to consider a report on an urgent staffing matter prior to a decision being made by full Council on Tuesday 9 July 2013.   A short training session would be held at 3.30pm, during which certain policies and aspects of the subject would be explained prior to the start of the formal meeting at 4.00pm.

There were no urgent items of business.