Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Mike Hewitt and Cllr Mark Packard.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 22 February 2012.    (Copy attached)

Resolved:

To confirm and sign the minutes of the Committee meeting held on 22 February 2012.

There were no declarations of interest.

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 no later than 5pm on Wednesday 29 February 2012. 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.

The Committee received a report by the Service Director HR & OD which set out information relating to under 25 year olds in the Wiltshire Council workforce and which also highlighted initiatives run by the Council to encourage greater representation of this group, as requested by the Committee at its meeting on 23 November 2011.

After a full discussion

Resolved:

(1)          To note the analysis of the under 25’s within the Wiltshire workforce.

(2)          To recognise Wiltshire Council’s position in a national context.

(3)          To recognise the impact of the current economic climate and recent reorganisation on the volume of external recruitment.

(4)          To recognise the schemes and initiatives in place to encourage improved recruitment and engagement with this age range.

(5)          To support the ambitions of the people strategy to develop initiatives to improve the under 25’s representation in the workforce.

(6)          To encourage professional graduate placements, supporting local higher education establishments.

(7)          To request the officers to explore what further opportunities could be generated to assist Looked After Children, the disabled and those young people with Special Educational Needs.

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

Consideration was given to a report by the Service Director HR &OD which presented a new policy covering the use of Wiltshire Council issued mobile phones and Smart phones.

After discussion,

Resolved:

To approve the Use of Wiltshire Council Mobile Phones and Smartphones Policy & Procedure, subject to the following amendment:-

“Are there any exemptions?

This policy does not apply to Members.”  (removal of the words “as they receive a technology allowance to cover these devices”, this being incorrect.)

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

Consideration was given to a report by the Service Director HR & OD which sought approval to an updated overtime policy with minor changes to reflect the changes to the Council’s organisational structure.

After discussion,

Resolved:

To approve the updated Overtime Policy & Procedure subject to the following minor amendment:-

Para 19 under Line manager responsibilities to read:-

“To obtain service director approval for any overtime payments made to employee on grade I or above.”

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

The Committee received quarterly workforce reports excluding schools for the quarter ended 31 December 2011 concerning:-

Staffing Levels

Workforce Information

Sickness Absence

Health and Safety

Disciplinary and Grievance Cases

Voluntary Staff Turnover

The report also set out information relating to Workforce Costs and Benchmark Data.

The ratio of managers to employees had remained constant at 1:8 and the Service Directorate with the highest ratio of managers to employees was the Workforce Transformation Programme Team with a ratio of 1:17.  A request was made for information showing the Service Directorate with the lowest ratio of managers to employees and the officers undertook to provide this information to Members.

Members were pleased to note that there had been an unexpected decrease in sickness levels for the quarter and this appeared to be attributable to an increase in FTE (full time equivalent) posts, with the new employees currently having low sickness rates. Stress/depression/mental health/fatigue reasons continued to account for the highest recorded days lost (21.5%).  

After further discussion,

Resolved:

(1)          To note the contents of the report.

(2)          To request that officers carry out a comparison with staff from other local authorities suffering from stress/depression/mental health/fatigue and report their findings to the next meeting.   

(3)          To request a short presentation on workforce planning for the next meeting,  the data from which could be given to Managers as an aid to managing their units.

To note that the next meeting is scheduled to be held on Wednesday 9 May 2012, starting at 10.30am.

Resolved:

To note that the next meeting was scheduled to be held on Wednesday 9 May 2012, starting at 10.30am.

There were no items of urgent business.