Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Mike Hewitt who was substituted by Cllr Peter Evans and Cllr Jane Scott OBE who was substituted by Cllr Bill Moss.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 7 May 2014.    (Copy attached)

Resolved:

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on 7 May 2014.

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

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chairman made the following announcement:-

Industrial Action – Thursday 10 July 2014

Wiltshire Council is part of the national pay bargaining process in which the National Employers represent the views of councils across the UK.

The recognised unions (Unison, GMB and Unite) had notified the Council of the outcome of their recent national ballots regarding industrial action in relation to the 2014 pay offer for green book staff.

The pay offer made by the National Employers would increase all employees’ pay by 1% while those on the lowest pay (up to spinal point 10, £14,013 per annum) would receive a larger increase of between 1.25% and 4.66%.

The National Employers had said this was a fair deal for employees given the limits of what could be afforded as well as being a fair deal for the taxpayers and residents who used and paid for the services local government provided.

The unions had rejected the pay offer and members voted nationally in favour of strike action.  Only 5.7% of all council staff employed nationally voted in favour of strike action.

The Council had been notified that the strike action would take place on Thursday 10 July 2014. This would also coincide with a strike by teaching staff in the NUT and fire fighters and civil servants in dispute over pay and pensions.  The Council’s Staff Industrial Action Group would be monitoring the situation to ensure the delivery of services.

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  no later than 5pm on Wednesday 2 July 2014. 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.

A report by the Associate Director, People & Business is attached.

Consideration was given to a report by the Associate Director, People & Business which presented an updated Discretions Policy for Wiltshire Council, following changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) in April 2014.

It was noted that the introduction of new LGPS regulations effective from April 2014 required Wiltshire Council to review its existing pension discretions policy and to publish a new policy effective from April 2014.

The discretions policy stated how the Council would apply its discretionary powers in relation to specific provisions of the pension scheme.

The LGPS regulations provided a set of nine discretions for employers to review and agree. Seven of these discretions were the same as stated in Wiltshire Council’s existing discretions policy but with the addition of two new discretions, as follows:-

·                Discretion 2 – whether to make either a regular or lump sum additional pension contribution.

It was being recommended that this discretion be only exercised by this Committee in exceptional circumstances after considering the costs that would apply.

·                Discretion 6 – to allow the rule of 85 for employees aged between 55 and 59.

It was being recommended that this discretion be only exercised by this Committee in exceptional circumstances after considering the costs that would apply.

After some discussion,

Resolved:

To approve the recommended changes to the Discretions Policy, which is attached as Appendix 1 to these minutes.

At its Annual Meeting held on 13 May 2014, Council considered the following Notice of Motion received from Cllrs Jeff Osborn and Terry Chivers 

“In the tendering of any future contracts for services provided by this Council, a clear condition should be made that the Council will only enter into a contract with organisations that make a clear and public commitment that they fully recognise trade union rights for their employees and that they will continue to do so”

Council referred the Motion to Staffing Policy Committee for consideration.

A copy of the report prepared by the Associate Director, Law & Governance for the Annual Council meeting is attached.

Cllrs Osborn and Chivers have been invited to this meeting.

It was reported that at its Annual Meeting held on 13 May 2014, Council considered the following Notice of Motion received from Cllrs Jeff Osborn and Terry Chivers 

“In the tendering of any future contracts for services provided by this Council, a clear condition should be made that the Council will only enter into a contract with organisations that make a clear and public commitment that they fully recognise trade union rights for their employees and that they will continue to do so”

Council referred the Motion to Staffing Policy Committee for consideration.

On considering the report prepared by the Associate Director, Law & Governance for the Annual Council meeting and on hearing the views of Cllr Jeff Osborn and Cllr Gordon King,

Resolved:  To note that:

1.         there were  already statutory processes for considering union recognition during the TUPE process and with contracting parties.

2.         there was already statutory protection for employees’ freedom of association to join a union and for union representation for employees within certain employment processes.

3.         in terms of any future contracts it would not be possible within the current statutory framework to use as evaluation criteria a public commitment to recognise Trade Unions for collective bargaining purposes.

There were no items of urgent business.