Minutes for Personnel Committee meeting, Nov 2 2009, 6.00PM official page

(a)              To receive the minutes of the Personnel Committee held on

15 June 2009                                                                                

(b)        To receive the minutes of the Joint Staff Consultative Group held on 15 June 2009      

(a)                The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 15 June 2009 were confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

(b)                The minutes of a meeting of the Joint Staff Consultative Group held on 15 June 2009 were received.  The Committee noted that these minutes had been accepted at the Joint Staff Consultative Group meeting held earlier in the day.

To receive a presentation on Health & Safety Issues –

“Think about Health and Safety - what elected members of local authorities need to know“

from Lynn Heckford, Building Control Manager with special responsibility for Health & Safety

A        REPORTS FOR DECISION / RECOMMENDATION

Lynn Heckford, Building Control Manager with special responsibility for Health & Safety gave a presentation on Health & Safety Issues –  “Think about Health and Safety - what elected members of local authorities need to know“

            The Topics covered were: -

¨       Who was responsible for health and safety in your local authority? 

The employer – overall responsibility for health and safety

The Chief Executive – responsibility for implementing and managing the health and safety strategy and policy for the authority

Line managers – day to day responsibility for themselves, their employees and others, including members of the public

Employees – responsibility for themselves and others

¨       The Elected Members role:  -

What Members say, do and decide could have a real impact on the health and safety standards of Workers; Contractors; Suppliers; Service Users and Customers

Health and safety was relevant to every department in the Council, and to every activity.

¨       In general terms: -

 Did Members know enough about health and safety and the risks that people face in the Council?  

Had the Council set the right health and safety strategy and budget?

¨       The Policy should: -

define the structure of health and safety risk management

include targets set for reducing injuries and ill health;

¨       Training should: -

make people safer and reduces accidents and incidents

be given to everyone in the Council in some form;

¨       regular reports on health and safety performance should be obtained and reported publicly

¨       the right advice from competent health and safety professionals should be sought

¨       When things go wrong – the cost of accidents; ill health

Members asked a number of questions about detailed aspects and sought clarification and explanation of certain issues concerning: - Health & Safety (H & S) as regards Contractors; monitoring problems – looking at ways of helping thereby being proactive e.g. stress and Car Safety Roadshow, Staff Questionnaire a section on H & S issues; Officers/Members H & S Insurance cover – full Public Liability, indemnity for Members, Accident book and H & S Audit.

            RESOLVED that: -

(1)    a report on Health and Safety issues be included on the Agenda for future Personnel Committee Meetings;

(2)    a fire drill for Members be held at a Council Meeting;

(3)    a Lead Member for Health and Safety Issues be appointed.

The Chairman thanked Lynn for her most interesting and thought provoking presentation.

To consider the report of the Chief Executive

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Executive the on annual review of pay covering all staff for the year from 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010.

Members noted that: -

¨       The Council’s pay system was based on two linked elements: -

Job size which involved allocating points for various elements of each post/job within the council, assessed under the Hay system, and

setting those points into the context of all other jobs in the council to give a ‘felt fair’ system of comparables.

¨         The pay for each job which was expressed as a pay grade and encompassed a range of points allocated under the sizing system.  Whilst the Hay points system sizes jobs very competently and fairly; it was also essential that the pay scales allocated to those points were maintained at a reasonably realistic and comparable basis with other councils with which the Council was competing in the job market. 

¨         It was currently the case that the job market had slowed and there was less movement of staff between councils and with the private sector but nevertheless it was important – both in terms of retention and subsequent recruitment but also of equity – to maintain the Council’s position against the current job market. 

¨         The report dealt solely with the inflationary position.

¨         At a national level, the employers and unions had agreed an award as follows effective from 1 April 09: -

minimum annual leave increased from 20 to 21 days for employees with less that 5 years service, with the rest staying the same

1% increase for those on pay scales from grade 2 upwards

1.25% for those on grade 1 (seven staff).

the above did not cover Chief Executive/Chief Officer pay which was separately negotiated at national level and where negotiations were stalled.

¨        In considering whether the Council should follow the national pay award or consider a different settlement, both the Council’s own recruitment and retention position and the comparative position against other local employers were both looked at.

¨        In terms of recruitment and retention, generally the position was quite good with reasonable levels of applications for posts and relatively low levels of turnover at the present time.

¨       The balance between maintaining the Council’s competitive position and being fair to staff set against resource constraints and any requirement to cut jobs as a result was looked at by the Chief Executive and he concluded that the right balance lay with matching the national pay award for the 2009/10 pay year in South Bucks. 

¨       The annual cost including on costs of the 1% pay increase and 1.25% on the lowest grades would be £57,200.

After further consideration of all the information available it was

To consider the report of the Director of Service

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Services on reviewing the current schemes operating in Building Control and Development Management.

Members noted: -

·         The Building Control schemewas introduced in December 2002, following the difficulties in retaining and recruiting staff which had led to problems of poor performance.

·         The Development Management scheme was introduced in 2004 as at that time 40% of posts within the Development Management team were vacant or about to be vacated and advertisements had not produced candidates of a sufficient quality to appoint to any of the posts from outside of the Council and was adversely impacting upon the Council’s performance.

·         The current structure for both schemes.

·         The level of payment for both schemes including information from authorities in Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, west London and other neighbouring authorities was set out in the Part II report.

·         The Council had decided to review the schemes in order to assess whether they remain relevant given the current economic climate. In short, was it possible for the Council to reduce its expenditure on such schemes without having significant adverse consequences for staff recruitment and retention? The Council did not have similar recruitment and retention a scheme for other services within the Council. However, some account must also be taken of the fact that the Council was also in competition with the private sector, in terms of Approved Inspectors in the case of Building Control, and with Planning Consultancies and Housebuilders in the case of Planners.

·         Both services were performing well.

·         In relation to both schemes the information in the Part II report showed that a small number of authorities offer significant financial incentives (market factor supplement, relocation package, and performance related pay) in addition to the salary, whilst others do not. More than half of the other authorities who responded paid higher sums, whilst the others paid lower sums than South Bucks. Of those which adjoin South Bucks, some paid higher and some lower.

·         A balance had to be met which sought to reduce costs without impacting upon the Council’s performance and its ability to retain high quality staff, and to attract equally high quality staff should the need arise. The loss of staff, or their de-motivation, could have an adverse impact on the Council’s current high performance in both of these services, with the consequential impact of loss of good reputation, and also loss of revenue.

·         The current schemes required that staff were given 12/24 months notice of any changes to the scheme and that a formal consultation with affected staff on proposed changes to the Building Control and Development Management retention and recruitment schemes.

After considering all the details available including all the financial information contained in the Part II report it was suggested that further information was needed.

RESOLVED that consideration of the report be deferred to allow further information to be provided with a report back to a future Personnel Committee.

To receive an oral update report from the Chief Executive       

B        REPORTS FOR DISCUSSION / INFORMATION

The Committee considered an oral update on Pathfinder - Support Services Project, from the Chief Executive

·         The Chief Executive made the following comments on Support Services Project: -

·               procurement four core services: - Finance, ICT, Personnel and Property & Facilities Mgt;

·               Services to be delivered by a joint venture company with a private sector partner;

·               BCC, WDC, AVDC, SBDC, BFRS  (CDC opted out);

·               two bidders to submit outline proposals by 17 November;

·               Evaluation of outline proposals received in order to see if they justify continuing the procurement;

·               Authorities would consider the outcomes of the evaluation process and make their decisions whether to proceed or not to a more detail proposal by January 2010.

The Committee welcomed the Staff representatives who were confirmed as follows: -

Kamla Joshi (Corporate)

Tony Brown (Resources Directorate)

Andrew Crow (Services Directorate)

To note the report of the Chief Executive

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Executive setting out information on activity within the Personnel and Training Services unit on Recruitment within the Council and Sickness days lost to the Council and an update on key projects within the unit.

Members noted that the report covered: -

·         Leavers June 2009 – September 2009 (including reasons for leaving)

·         Advertisements placed over the same period including an update on the previous report April – May 2009

·         Sickness days lost covering the period from January 2005 until September 2009

(The months from May 2009 –September 2009 were also represented by graphs showing levels of sickness by unit, bar and pie charts)

·         Due to the reduced human resources within the Personnel Section projects were being progressed as speedily as could be achieved and would be reported on as appropriate to future meetings: -

• Management Information (incl. Absence Monitoring) Development - ongoing
• Management Development Programme – evaluation to be carried out with possible further training requirements identified
• IIP Diagnostic Review – ongoing in readiness for IIP Accreditation Assessment due in 2010
• Occupational Health Contract – new contract in place/Employee Assistance Programme – sourcing supplier and contractual details
• Staff Opinion Survey – to include section on Health and Wellbeing
• HR Strategy to be drafted
• Various policies and procedures were being reviewed including the Discipline and Grievance Procedure - re-designed to cover legislative changes and the sickness absence policy

                        RESOLVED that the report be noted

Members noted that this would be held on Monday 25 January 2010.

The Chairman to move the following resolution: -

“That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.”

RESOLVED that under Section 100.A of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act

Review of Recruitment and Retention Schemes for Building Control and Development Management

(Para 1 and 3 because of information relating to an individual and also the financial or business affairs of a particular person)

The Committee noted the financial arrangements in place at present in respect of the retention payments for the Building Control Manager and the two Development Management Area Team Managers. And in addition the detailed information regarding the salaries, recruitment and retention payments for Building Control Officers and Development Management officers at South Bucks who were on a senior grade, and the composite responses from equivalent staff at other authorities.

Personnel – Staffing Issues

(Para 1 because of information relating to an individual)

The Committee noted the comments made by the Chief Executive.

[Para  1 & 3  - because of the report contains information relating to financial and business affairs of the authority and also contains information relating to consultations or negotiations or intended consultations or negotiation in connections with a relations matter between the Authority and its employees]

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Services on financial information in relation to the Part I report concerning the schemes operating in Building Control and Development Management.

It was noted that there were two inaccuracies in the report: -

·         Para 2.3  - last line delete income and insert % market share

·         Appendix first page – South Bucks delete 34,221 insert 34,389

The Appendices summarised: -

(a)                the detailed information regarding the salaries, recruitment and  retention payments for Building Control Officers and Development Management officers at South Bucks who were on a senior grade, and the composite responses from equivalent staff at other authorities;

(b)                the retention payments for the Building Control Manager and the two Development Management Area Team Managers.

Members noted that: -

·         Both Building Control and Development Management Officers received retention payments amounting to £2,000 per year (£1,000 each 6 moths) provided that as a team they meet pre set targets for either plan checking (application processing) and customer satisfaction or application processing and customer satisfaction.

·         The Building Control Manager and the two Development Control Area Team Managers also received retention payments amounting to £4,000 per year (£2,000 each 6 months), with the two members of staff who work part time in Development Management received £1,000 rather than £2,000, with payments being dependant upon either the same targets as the BCOs or DM staff but with an additional target relating to the income secured from building regulations fees or not relating to application processing. The two Development Control Area Team Managers also receive a further honorarium of £500 per year reflecting the fact that they have taken on some additional responsibilities since the former Head of Development Control left several years ago.

Members asked a number of questions about detailed aspects and sought clarification and explanation on certain issues concerning: -

·         Welcome grant – last paid two years ago

·         Increasing the reduction in retention payments by more than 30%, as suggested in the report or removing entirely

·         The issue of phasing in the reductions

·         No recognition for other planning staff

·         Recruitment & Retention problem – did not exist at the moment

·         Acceptable level of performance  - all government targets exceeded – was there any need to go above and beyond these targets

·         Was it acceptable for staff to work to this exceptional level without bonus payment?

·         Work load – reduction in the amount of applications over the last two years

·         Planning application may rise again need to be in the top 25% of authorities for good performance

·         Disadvantages of taking bonuses away – only have basic salary as each job involved allocating points for various elements of each post/job within the council, assessed under the Hay system, and then setting those points into the context of all other jobs in the council to give a ‘felt fair’ system of comparables

·         Reorganisation of the appropriate sections thereby evaluating all the posts in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

The Committee noted the following comments made by the Chief Executive: -

·         Performance & Improvements Officer (Maternity Cover) – Appointment was terminated due to periods of sickness which was not always substantiated

·        Dennis Smith – Fraud Officer, sadly died of cancer last week

·         The arrangements in place for both Tony Franklin, Area Team B Manager in Development Control and Briony Cliffe, Principal Planning Officer during their son’s illness were explained to the Committee who agreed with the actions taken by the Chief Executive.

All details of letters to and from the two members of staff would be kept on their Personnel files.

The Members expressed their sadness at the situation the two members of staff found themselves in and asked to be kept informed of the progress.

·         Swine Flu – policy in place - assessed each Business unit and had set trigger points for minimum staff cover.

The meeting having commenced at 6.00 p.m. terminated at 7.47 p.m.