Meeting documents

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Andrew Cattaway and Janet Dover.

There were no declarations by members of disclosable pecuniary interests under the Code of Conduct.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 27 November 2017.

The minutes of the meeting held on 27 November 2017 were confirmed and signed.

(a)   Public Speaking

(b)   Petitions

Public Speaking

There were no public questions received at the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 21(1).

There were no public statements received at the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 21(2).

Petitions

There were no petitions received at the meeting in accordance with the County Council’s Petition Scheme.

To receive an update from the Leader of the County Council and the Acting Specialist Services Lead.

The Leader of the Council updated members on the current situation with Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) and highlighted the recent decision of the Joint Committee who voted for a Shadow Authority.  This would have resource issues for this organisation in that all 11k staff (including schools where the County Council was the employer) would TUPE across to the new Authority.  This may have an impact on the estimated savings for next year.  It was reported that the name of the new Authority would be ‘Dorset Council’.

The Chairman of the Committee highlighted that whilst the Chief Executive was responsible for sending out detailed communications to all staff in this regard, he was responsible for communication with all elected members. He stressed the importance of being consistent and constructive when speaking with both staff and members.  The Chief Executive and the Chairman agreed to work closely together to achieve the consistency required.

Following a question about when the LGR decision may be announced, the Leader of the Council advised she expected to hear before Parliament went on recess on 8 February 2018. There was a concern from members that the Authority risked losing some very good staff because of the continued delay with the announcement.

The HR & OD Service Manager updated members on the focus of the workstream for LGR from an HR perspective.  She highlighted the tight timescales and areas of work including; the development of the Staffing Order, support to appoint a Chief Executive and Statutory Officers, disaggregation, the TUPE transfer process and employee and TU consultation.

The Vice-Chairman felt that more Staffing Committee meetings may need to be scheduled in order to make any staffing decisions on behalf of the Council and highlighted the close communication between the workstream and members of the committee.

In respect of appointments, the Section 151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer would need to be in place at an early stage and Leaders were in the process of securing independent advice in order to take this forward.

Following a question from a member about whether the appointment of a Chief Executive for the Shadow Authority would be on the ‘open market’, the Leader advised that this would be something for the Dorset Area Joint Committee to establish.

The HR & OD Service Manager made reference to the Staff Consultative Panel, whilst not a decision making body, was a good arena for members to discuss LGR.  The Chairman asked that these meetings in future should be scheduled prior to Staffing Committee meetings.

Noted

To consider a report by the Head of Organisational Development.

The Committee considered a report by the Head of Organisational Development which highlighted the Council’s flexible approach to ensuring it had people with the right skills and that operational needs were delivered using an appropriate combination of directly employed staff, casual workers, agency staff and specialist workers.

It was noted that the Council had seen a small reduction in directly employed staff overall between October 2016 and September 2017 (10 FTE). Agency workers or consultants were used to cover workload peaks and short-term capacity needs or where specific expertise was not readily available within the directly employed workforce.

The Chief Accountant highlighted to members the agency and consultancy figures, in relation to Children’s Services, and how these fitted into the overall budget.  It was noted that business managers were not allowed to change their budgets without agreement but changes were sometimes approved as a result of new grants and/or responsibilities that came forward.

Following a question from the Chairman about why Children’s Services had a substantial underspend on permanent staff whilst the large overspend was caused by agency staff, the Interim Director for Children’s Services explained that there were some areas of his service that were statutory. In respect of children in care they were managing risk carefully but were having to pay for expensive placements out of county in some instances. He noted that 30 agency workers last year were expensive and that it was important to ensure that the County Council was more attractive to employees in the market and there were already signs of some success in this regard. There were currently about 18 new social workers in post but he had imposed a freeze on all recruitment apart from social worker recruitment and that this would remain in place until the budget situation started to improve.

Following a question about becoming an employer of choice and reducing dependency on agency staff, the Interim Director for Children’s Services advised it was as much about the offer as the money along with ensuring that caseloads were more manageable. It would be important to make people feel safe and in a position to manage risk safely. He also highlighted the importance of ensuring there was affordable accommodation for people moving into the area and the People and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee had been tasked with looking at this.

The HR & OD Business Partner highlighted to members that the overall trend of agency and consultancy spend was down and was being monitored carefully.  In response to a question about whether departments were targeted with a percentage reduction in agency staff, the HR & OD Business Partner responded that in areas such as the Dorset Waste Partnership, agency staff was part of the resourcing model, whilst in other areas it sometimes made sense to bring in short term agency staff. 

Further work would continue with Directorate Management Teams to provide financial  and workforce information which enabled ongoing monitoring of workforce resourcing to meet operational and service development requirements within the available  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To consider a report by the Head of Organisational Development.

Members considered a report by the Head of Organisational Development which highlighted the strong evidence to show that PDRs were both consistently carried out and effectively used. The mid- year review completion rate had increased from 65% in 2014 to 83%.

One member noted that whilst it appeared to be going in the right direction, in some areas of the business completion rates were around 75% which meant that in these areas there were still 1 in 4 people not having a mid-year PDR and felt this still required improvement.

The Chairman highlighted the importance in the current climate to monitor and motivate staff and explained how he was in the process of attending staff meetings as a way of explaining his portfolio new role to staff and he undertook to use this opportunity to highlight the value of mid-year PDR’s.

The Committee requested that managers were thanked for their efforts to improve completion rates but were encouraged to get PDRs completed for all eligible staff.

Noted

To consider a report by the Head of Organisational Development.

Members considered a report by the Head of Organisational Development which summarised the key changes and anticipated improvements to the Lone Working Policy.

The Health, Safety and Well-being Manager advised that the Trade Unions had been very supportive of the policy and had been involved throughout the process.

In response to a question about where the risk came from, the manager gave examples including the role of civil enforcement officers and those staff supporting service users and childcare social worker teams. Personal safety training was offered to those staff that managers felt were at risk.  In respect of bodycams, these were available but in some areas staff felt it could heighten the risk if they were worn.  In particular high risk areas, officers tended to ‘buddy up’ to maintain contact with their managers. One member suggested that CCTV in libraries could be useful.

The Chairman suggested that if a member of staff felt they were working in isolation then this policy would apply and that more communication with staff on this could be helpful.

The Vice-Chairman felt it was a question of managing risk and needed to be part of management training.

It was noted that 1000 incidents were reported last year and that reports with further information were presented to the Staff Consultative Panel on a quarterly basis.

Resolved

That the revised Lone Working Policy and Guidance be approved.

Reason for Decision

The Staffing Committee oversee matters relating to staff terms and conditions and people management policies.

To consider a report by the Chief Executive.

The Committee considered a report from the Chief Executive which included the proposed Pay Policy Statement for 2018/19, as required by the Localism Act 2011.

The report showed the pay for highest paid Chief Officers and the pay for the lowest paid officers and the relationship between them The pay multiples were very similar to last year and the slight difference was as a result of the different structures that were now in place.  Attention was drawn to the updated schedule of Chief Officers remuneration at Appendix 1 of the Chief Executive’s report.  As a result of the current interim management arrangements in Adult and Community Services.  The Chief Executive explained that the aim was to properly represent the money that was being spent in specific areas.

Following a comment from a member about whether the pay grades were performance related, the HR & OD Service Manager highlighted that roles were Job Evaluated and advised that processes were in place to address any performance issues.

Members felt it would be helpful for future reports to include comparisons of pay multiples from other authorities.

RECOMMENDED

That the County Council be recommended to approve the Pay Policy Statement for 2017/18.

Reason for Recommendation

The Staffing Committee oversees matters relating to staff terms and conditions.

To consider a report from the Chief Executive.

The Committee considered a report which provided a short overview of the requirement together with the proposed Gender Pay Gap Report for 2017.  The report had a positive message throughout and looked at the average earnings between men and women expressed as a percentage.

The Chairman commented that the report was well presented and compared very favourably with other authorities.  The Committee wished to pass on their thanks to colleagues in HR who had produced the report both in respect of content and style.

Members’ attention was drawn to the section on the proportion of men and women who received bonuses and advised that very few staff received a bonus and those who did had TUPE protected terms and conditions.

Resolved

That the Gender Pay Gap Report for 31 March 2017 be approved.

Reason for Decision

To ensure that the council was compliant in respect of the gender pay gap reporting duty.

To answer any questions received in writing by the Chief Executive by not later than 10.00am on Wednesday 24 January 2018.

No questions were asked by members under Standing Order 20(2).

To consider passing the following resolution:

To agree that in accordance with Section 100 A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the public from the meeting in relation to the business specified below it is likely that if members of the public were present, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in the paragraphs detailed below of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.

Resolved

That in accordance with Section 100 A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the public from the meeting in relation to the business specified in minute 13 as it was likely that if members of the public were present, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.

To consider an exempt report by the Chief Executive.

The Committee considered an exempt report by the Chief Executive which set out the progress that had been made to resolve matters and reviewed the arrangements made for the separation of the Director for Adult Social Services (DASS) and the Director for Children’s Services.

The Chairman made reference to Article 12, as mentioned in recommendation 4, which the Audit and Governance Committee supported at its meeting on 19 January 2018.  The HR & OD Service Manager explained that this referred to key officers and their functions within the organisation and it was recognised that this would need updating following agreement of the recommendations.

Following a comment from a member about the 6 month extension to the contract for the Interim Director for Children’s Services, the Chief Executive advised that this was because they were still awaiting a final decision from the Secretary of State on LGR.  If the decision was not to proceed with LGR then the authority would seek to appoint to a permanent post, as a preferred option. 

RECOMMENDED

That the County Council be recommended to approve:

1. That the Chief Executive retains the statutory role of the Director for Adult Social Services on an interim basis.

2. That options for the discharge of the DASS role be confirmed within the new structure of Adult and Community Services and that discussions proceed with the Clinical Commissioning Group to consider a Joint Director post and resources to progress the Accountable Care System/Partnership development be agreed.

3. That delegated authority to develop these options be granted to the Chief Executive, after consultation with the Chairman of the Committee and Leader of the Council, Chair of the Health and Well-being Board and Cabinet Member for Health and Care.

4. That the changes, when approved by the County Council, be subject to Article 12 of the Council’s Constitution,subject to the recommendations of the Audit and Governance Committee.

5. That the Interim Director for Children's Services appointment be extended for a 6 month period, to expire in October 2018, be agreed.

6. That the Adult & Community Services Directorate Scheme of Delegation from Senior Managers be amended accordingly.

Reason for Recommendations

To ensure the continued delivery of the County Council’s statutory responsibilities and effective management.