Issue - meetings

(i)       to note that officers would liaise with Councillor Thomson outwith the meeting in relation to the anecdotal reports she had received about a possible lack of consistency in schools who were reporting incidents;

(ii)       to request that officers provide a service update to Members and Trade Union Advisers in respect of the work of the Health and Safety sub group, which had been set up to undertake analysis of health and safety data generated by schools, to include the action being taken to address short-term behavioural incidents;

(iii)      to note that officers had prepared a short training presentation for relevant staff on how to deal with any incidents involving animals, and to request that the presentation also be circulated to Elected Members; and

(iv)      to note the report.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Commissioning which presented a summary of statistical health and safety performance information for the three month reporting period from July to September 2023, to provide the Committee with the opportunity to monitor compliance with health and safety legislation.

Members asked a number of questions on the report, specifically around the number of incidents within the Education Service.  It was further noted that there had been two dog bite incidents during the reporting period, and officers advised that the incidents had been checked and monitored against the trend from August 2022.  Staff had been reminded of procedures and officers had produced a short training presentation which had been shared with relevant staff and would be made available on the Council’s intranet.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee note the report and provide comment on the health, safety policy, performance, trends, and improvements.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to note that officers would liaise with Councillor Thomson outwith the meeting in relation to the anecdotal reports she had received about a possible lack of consistency in schools who were reporting incidents;

(ii)       to request that officers provide a service update to Members and Trade Union Advisers in respect of the work of the Health and Safety sub group, which had been set up to undertake analysis of health and safety data generated by schools, to include the action being taken to address short-term behavioural incidents;

(iii)      to note that officers had prepared a short training presentation for relevant staff on how to deal with any incidents involving animals, and to request that the presentation also be circulated to Elected Members; and

(iv)      to note the report.