Minutes Template

MAIDSTONE BOROUGH COUNCIL

 

EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE

 

Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 6 July 2017

 

Present:

Councillor Mrs Gooch (Chairman), and

Councillors Barned, Mrs Blackmore, D Burton, Cox, English, Mrs Grigg, Joy, Perry and Mrs Stockell

 

 

 

 

 

 

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8.           Apologies for Absence

 

It was noted that apologies had been received from Councillors D Mortimer, Mrs Ring and Mrs Wilson.

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9.           Notification of Substitute Members

 

The following Substitute Members were noted:-

 

Councillor Cox for Councillor D Mortimer

Councillor English for Councillor Mrs Wilson

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10.        Urgent Items

 

There were no urgent items.

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11.        Disclosures by Members and Officers

 

There were no disclosures by Members and Officers.

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12.        Disclosures of Lobbying

 

There were no disclosures of lobbying.

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13.        Exempt Items

 

RESOLVED:  That the items be taken in public as proposed.

 

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14.        Minutes of the Meeting held on 1 February 2017

 

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 1 February 2017 be approved as a correct record and signed subject to the insertion of the following wording to Minute 28 – Report of the Head of Policy and Communications – Appointment to Sub-Committees as highlighted:-

 

·         The Group Leader of the Independents would be appointed to the Sub-Committees where indicated for the remainder of the municipal year 2016/17; and


·         The following year 2017/18 the Group Leader of UKIP would be appointed.

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15.        Minutes of the Meeting held on 23 May 2017

 

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the meeting held on 23 May 2017 be approved as a correct record and signed.

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16.        Presentation of Petitions

 

There were no petitions.

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17.        Questions and answer session for members of the public

 

There were no questions or statements from members of the public.

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18.        Report of the Head of HR Shared Services - Workforce Strategy Update

 

The Head of HR Shared Services presented a report on the Workforce Strategy Update.

 

The Committee noted that the Policy and Resources Committee had approved the Workforce Strategy at its meeting on 29 June 2016 and had requested that the Employment Committee received a progress update every six months.

The Head of HR Shared Services advised that she was aware of a number of questions raised about the Investors in People accreditation at the last meeting of the Committee and she had tried to incorporate the answers to those questions in the body of the report. 

 

The Committee was asked to note areas in the action plan attached as Appendix I to the report where good progress had been made:-

 

·         Resilience Training – Two programmes had been developed, one for recognising stress (aimed at Line Managers) and another for staff to recognise and manage their stress and reduce the organisational causes of stress.  It was noted that good feedback had been received from staff as to the usefulness of this programme. 

·         Strive – The feedback on Strive was good from staff who felt it was well embedded in the Council’s values.  Overall staff felt the organisation was well organised and well managed.

·         Market Supplements – This initiative had worked well and was used in areas that were traditionally been hard to recruit to. 

 

Members noted that the action plan would be revised to reflect the feedback received from the IiP survey.   

The Head of HR Shared Services also advised that the following areas needed improvement:-

·         Apprenticeships

·         Encourage staff to feel their voice is heard 

·         The definition of a Manager and what the Council expects

·         Succession Planning

·         Leadership Programme

·         Officer/Member Relationships

·         Rewards

In response to questions from Members, the Head of HR Shared Service advised that:-

 

·         Apprenticeships – The drop off was due to the apprenticeship scheme being very competitive and the Council did not fair well as it did not pay very well.  Therefore a review of this would be taking place. 

·         Succession Planning – the development framework would be the first step in ensuring that there is succession planning in teams.   

·         Employee Handbook – this was updated regularly.  New starters were given a hard copy along with the depot staff who did not have access to a computer.

·         Rewards Package – the Rewards Package was very competitive but Managers need to be made aware of all the rewards that can be given to staff.  There was also a Health and Wellbeing Programme for staff to access.

·         The 360° Feedback Process - assessment was carefully administered and if there were any areas where there were red flags, those were brought to the Council’s attention by the consultants.

·         Investors in People - Staff time spent on meeting with the IiP Assessor was not factored into the overall costings and would be difficult to calculate.  However, it could be estimated at no more than £3,000 meaning that the total cost with the assessor’s time was less than £20,000.

The IiP Accreditation had just been renewed but there would be another opportunity to assess what direction the Council wanted to go in two years’ time.

The IiP Assessor’s report would be circulated to the Committee for information.

·         Pay Award – The Council was not bound by the Government’s 1% cap on public sector pay.  It was explained that a discussion was held with the Leader in the first place and then discussions are held with the Unions in September before the pay award is agreed by Policy and Resources Committee in its budget setting.

RESOLVED:  That the progress of the actions set out in the Workforce Strategy be noted.

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19.        Duration of Meeting

 

11.30 a.m. to 1.05 p.m.

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