Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Jane Scott, who was substituted by Cllr Bill Moss and from Cllr Stuart Wheeler, who was substituted by Cllr Fleur de Rhe-Philipe.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 22 May 2013.   (Copy attached)

Resolved:

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Committee meeting held on 22 May 2013.

Arising therefrom

Minute No.18 – Appointment of Sub-Committees

Resolved:

To amend the membership of the following sub-committees as set out below:-

(a)       Senior Officers Employment Sub-Committee

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

            (Substitute Members: Cllr Fleur de Rhe-Philipe, Cllr David Jenkins, Cllr Gordon King, Cllr Mark Packard, Cllr Jane Scott, Cllr John Smale & Cllr Ian Thorn.)

(b)                   Appeals Sub-Committee

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

            (Substitute Members: Cllr Fleur de Rhe-Philipe, Cllr Mike Hewitt, Cllr Jon Hubbard, Cllr Gordon King, Cllr Bill Moss, Cllr Mark Packard & Cllr Ian Thorn.) 

(c)                   Grievance Appeals Sub-Committee

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

                                    (Substitute Members: Cllr Peter Evans, Cllr Jon Hubbard, Cllr David Jenkins, Cllr Bill Moss, Cllr Mark Packard, Cllr Ian Thorn & Cllr Tony Trotman.)

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

There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

The following announcement was made:-

Outcome of first round of Voluntary Redundancy (VR) applications   The Corporate Directors had met on Monday 8 July 2013 to review all applications received in the first round of the Council’s Voluntary Redundancy (VR) programme.

Decisions on round one applications were as follows:-

Applications accepted         228     (70%)

Applications declined          99      (30%)

Total applications                 327     (100%)

Service Directors had been informed of decisions for their service areas and would confirm the outcomes of applications to all staff who had applied by Monday 15 July 2013. The outcome would be sent by email or by telephone/letter to those without email access.

Service Directors, or their nominated manager, would then arrange to meet all applicants from Tuesday 16 July onwards to provide them with a formal notification letter confirming the decision and the next steps in the process.

The second round of the programme would be open until 5.00pm on Friday 12 July and applications were continuing to be received. Service Directors were being kept informed of any applications within their service areas.

The third and final round of the VR programme would open on Monday 15 July and run until 5.00pm on Friday 26 July.

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 3 July 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.

A report by the Service Director, HR & OD is attached.

Consideration was given to a report by the Service Director, HR & OD seeking the Committee’s approval to a new staff benefits scheme.

After some discussion,

Resolved:

(1)          To approve the new benefits scheme for staff and foster carers.

(2)          To note that the new benefits scheme would be referred to the Standards Committee for consideration as to whether the scheme should be made available to Members of the Council.

(3)          To request the Officers to look into the possibility of this scheme being extended to other groups of workers, such as those working in the voluntary sector, and to report back to this Committee at its meeting in November 2013.

(4)          To request the Officers to present a progress report to the March 2014 meeting of this Committee, setting out the amount of take-up for this scheme.

There were no urgent items of business.