Issue - meetings

(i)             to note that officers would include data around Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) in the Mental Health and Wellbeing update report which was due to Committee in January;

(ii)            to note that officers had undertaken to include information on SAD within the toolkits and leaflets available to staff, and would liaise with Vivup to ascertain whether any other support was available;

(iii)          to note that officers had made information available on the intranet in respect of wellbeing in winter, including a podcast on SAD, and that this would be circulated to Members and Trade Union Advisers for information;

(iv)          to note the potential impact on the mental health of staff who were either being investigated or who had raised matters through the other Policies for People, and that officers would include detail on this in the January Mental Health and Wellbeing update report; and

(v)           to note that the data included within the report evidenced progress made to date against the specific aims of the Absence Improvement Project as detailed in section 3.4 of the report.

(v)

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Customer Services which provided (a) an update on the utilisation of the Employee Assistance Service (EAS) through the provider VIVUP during the last 6 month period (1 January 2023 to 30 June 2023) and (b) a 6 monthly update on the Occupational Health and Absence for the period 1 January 2023 to 30 June 2023.

Members asked a number of questions on the report in respect of absence data and the high levels of low mood, anxiety and depression reflected in the self-help download statistics and what was being done to mitigate this.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      consider the contents of the report; and

(b)      note that the data included within the report evidenced progress made to date against the specific aims of the Absence Improvement Project as detailed in section 3.4 of the report.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to note that officers would include data around Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) in the Mental Health and Wellbeing update report which was due to Committee in January;

(i)             to note that officers had undertaken to include information on SAD within the toolkits and leaflets available to staff, and would liaise with VIVUP to ascertain whether any other support was available;

(ii)           to note that officers had made information available on the intranet in respect of wellbeing in winter, including a podcast on SAD, and that this would be circulated to Members and Trade Union Advisers for information;

(iii)          to note the potential impact on the mental health of staff who were either being investigated or who had raised matters through the other Policies for People, and that officers would include detail on this in the January Mental Health and Wellbeing update report; and

(iv)          to note that the data included within the report evidenced progress made to date against the specific aims of the Absence Improvement Project as detailed in section 3.4 of the report.

-       COUNCILLOR NEIL COPLAND, Convener