Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from:-

Cllr Richard Clewer

Cllr David Jenkins, who was substituted by Cllr Bob Jones MBE

Cllr Baroness Jane Scott OBE, who was substituted by Cllr Peter Evans

Cllr Jerry Wickham, who was due to attend for Item No. 6 – Proposed Smokefree Wiltshire Council Sites   

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 6 September 2018.    (Copy attached)

Resolved:

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on 6 September 2018.

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 this agenda no later than 5pm on Thursday 8 November 2018 in order to be guaranteed of a written response. In order to receive a verbal response questions must be submitted no later than 5pm on Monday 12 November 2018. 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 Director of Public Health is attached. 

The Committee considered a report by the Director of Public Health which set out details of a proposal by the Corporate Leadership Team that all Wiltshire Council work sites should be smokefree from March 2019.

It was explained that from January 2019 NHS sites across Wiltshire would become smokefree and this would bring a fresh opportunity for Wiltshire Council to consider engagement with the smokefree site agenda. 

Members noted that smokefree would mean a total abstinence from smoking tobacco by all employees/contractors/tenants on any council site including carparks, workplace and work vehicle. There would also be a commitment to deter non-employees from smoking tobacco whilst on any council site. It was intended that sites would be prioritised to include those that had the higher levels of employee footfall. These would include the three main hubs at County Hall, Monkton Park and Bourne Hill followed by all campus sites, leisure centres and libraries. 

It was pointed out that smoking in almost all enclosed public places, including work vehicles, had been prohibited by law since 1 July 2007, the aim of the legislation being to protect workers from the harmful effects of second hand smoke and also offer the potential to influence smoking behaviour. Members were informed that there would be support and help offered to smokers to be smokefree through the promotion of smoking cessation services, including the provision of training.

Whilst Members supported the general principle of no smoking there was some concern expressed at the feasibility of introducing no smoking in council car parks and other areas which it would be difficult to police.  Furthermore, thought would need to be given to the problem of dissuading members of the public from smoking in these areas.

The officers present addressed the concerns raised by councillors and provided assurance that the concerns would be addressed as part of the comprehensive communications and engagement plan in place to drive this programme of work forward.

Resolved:

To approve the proposal for Wiltshire Council sites to go smoke-free, which would include:

a.         The removal of the council smoking policy (including supporting the removal of smoking breaks for staff during work time)

b.        The revision of the council vaping policy to allow vaping onsite away from public view.

c.         The support for all council sites to go smokefree starting as a rolling programme in March 2019, beginning with the three hubs (phase 1):Monkton Park (Chippenham), County Hall (Trowbridge) and Bourne Hill (Salisbury) including carparks. Phase 2 would follow this for  all campus sites, leisure centres and libraries to go smokefree if not already done so.  The aspirational time line for this is to have the majority of council sites smokefree by the end of financial year 2019-20.

A report by the Director, Human Resources & Organisational Development is attached.

The Committee received a report by the Director, Human Resources & Organisational Development which set out proposed arrangements for the 2018 Staff Engagement Survey.

The Staff Survey, which was held every two years, was a valuable tool in recognising staff voice and provided an opportunity to measure the effectiveness of the action plans generated following the previous survey.  It also enabled the identification of any new issues or opportunities which could help shape revised priorities for both corporate and service area plans.

Based on the outcomes of the 2016 Staff Survey, four corporate priorities were agreed and communicated to all managers.  They were:-

·         Learning and Development

·         Visibility of Senior Management

·         Corporate Communications

·         Resources

It was noted that the 2017-27 People Strategy introduced an increased focus on developing and measuring staff engagement and its associated benefits as a key priority. Consequently, the Staff Survey was planned to run from Monday 10 December 2018 until Sunday 6 January 2019 to coincide with the completion of the staff engagement forums. These would include a brief review of the four corporate priorities from the 2016 survey and updates on action taken towards these. Staff would be encouraged to complete the new survey.    

During discussion, Members referred to the 65.7% response rate from staff which was achieved from the 2016 survey and enquired if it might be possible to improve upon this with the new survey.  It was reported that waste employees no longer formed part of the Council’s workforce and they traditionally had not been particularly forthcoming in completing these surveys.  There would be increased publicity to draw attention to the 2018 Survey and hard copies would be made available for all staff who did not have access to a laptop.

Resolved:

(1)      To confirm support for carrying out a Staff Survey in 2018, as set out in the report.

(2)      To note that a report setting out the results of the survey would be presented to the Committee at its meeting on 6 March 2019.        

A report by the Director, Human Resources & Organisational Development is attached.

The Committee received a workforce report, excluding fire, police and school staff, for the quarter ended 30 September 2018. 

It was noted that the number of disciplinary cases for the quarter had more than doubled which, although of concern, was as a result of some complex casework. Leisure Operations, Learning Disabilities Provider Services and Streetscene South saw increases from the previous quarter but HR Advisory Services were aware of these cases and were providing ongoing support to these services. They were continuing to put on disciplinary workshops with managers to ensure they had the tools to effectively manage disciplinary cases.

There had been a large reduction in the number of agency staff being used this quarter as a result of the Waste Collection teams being TUPE’d out in August 2018.  However, the cost of agency staff had increased during the quarter by £244,000 due to an increase in more costly agency staff, especially in the social work field and also project managers.

The voluntary turnover rate of staff under the age of 25 had seen an increase of 2.4% to 5.4% but this was slightly less than the same quarter in 2017 which was 6.1%. This was largely as a result of staff in this age range leaving Leisure Operations due to the school summer holiday period ending.

The 2016 staff survey highlighted Learning & Development Opportunities as a corporate policy. As a result, the Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) had identified this as a corporate priority, leading to the creation of a statement of intent to review the Council’s learning and development offer and help staff to develop a ‘your career is your asset’ mindset, where staff take responsibility for their own learning and development, supported by their manager. This had been included in the People Strategy 2017-2027 which focused on three key priorities, one of which was workforce development and retention.

During discussion, it was noted that whilst the Council’s performance against their apprenticeship target, currently at 112, was good there was however a shortfall of a significant number of apprenticeships in schools, largely due to apprenticeship standards not being available yet.  The release of the social worker degree apprenticeship was eagerly awaited and it was hoped that this would help recruit and retain social workers.

Resolved:

To note the Quarterly Workforce report.     

To note that the next meeting of this Committee is due to be held on Wednesday 9 January 2019, starting at 10.30am at County Hall, Trowbridge.

Resolved:

To note that the next scheduled meeting of the Committee was due to be held on Wednesday 9 January 2019, starting at 10.30am at County Hall, Trowbridge.

There were no urgent items of business.