Agenda, decisions and minutes

The agenda and reports associated with this minute can be viewed here.

Please note that if any changes are made to this minute at the point of approval, these will be outlined in the subsequent minute and this document will not be retrospectively altered.

The following transparency statements were intimated:-

·       Councillor Clark made a transparency statement in respect of all items on the agenda due to her membership of UNITE, but did not consider that this amounted to an interest which would prevent her from participating in the meeting.

·       Similarly, Councillors Bonsell and Thomson made transparency statements in respect of all items on the agenda as members of UNISON but did not consider that this would prevent them from participating in the meeting.

The Committee had before it the minute of its previous meeting of 24 June 2024 for approval.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the minute as a correct record.

Please note that the reports for 2025 will be allocated to specific meetings for the next Committee now that the meeting dates for 2025 have been agreed by Council

The Committee had before it the business planner as prepared by the Interim Chief Officer – Governance.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       in relation to item 9 (Supporting Attendance and Wellbeing Policy), to note that officers had advised that work was ongoing in relation to improving the approach to managing absence, and therefore an update report would be provided to Committee in November, with the Policy to be presented to a meeting in 2025 for approval;

(ii)       to agree to remove items 12 (Managing Substance Misuse Policy) and 13 (Corporate Health and Safety Policy) from the November planner, as there were no amendments to be made to either Policy which would require Committee approval; and

(iii)      to otherwise note the planner.

The Committee had before it a report by the Executive Director Corporate Services which provided a summary of statistical health and safety performance information for the three month reporting period from April to July 2024 to provide the Committee with the opportunity to monitor compliance with health and safety legislation.

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)       in relation to the chart on page 39 of the agenda (reported incidents from 2021/22 to 2024/25) to request that in future reports, officers include a breakdown of figures showing comparable performance by quarter in previous years, rather than by year;

(ii)       in relation to section 3.5.5 of the report, and the wording “The choice on recording of every incident should be done following a consultation between the line manager and the affected member of staff”, to note that there could be further discussion between officers and Trade Union representatives on this wording at their regular meeting, however to note the potential compromise suggested at the Committee meeting of “The choice on where to report the incident”; and

(iii)      to otherwise note the report.

With reference to article 5 of the minute of its meeting of 22 January 2024, the Committee had before it a report by the Executive Director Corporate Services which provided an analysis of the performance of the current digital methods of Internal Communications, including activity data to show employees accessing SharePoint and ‘Open Forum’ (Viva Engage) and taking into consideration the recent public consultations which had also been promoted to staff.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee note the performance of internal communications and employee engagement.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendation.

With reference to article 8 of the minute of its meeting of 26 June 2023, the Committee had before it a report by the Executive Director Corporate Services which provided the annual update on the application of the Managing Discipline,

Managing Grievances and Dignity and Respect at Work policies.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      note the updated data provided regarding the usage and application of the policies; and

(b)      note the improvement actions planned to improve progress on timescales for employee relations casework across the organisation within a joint action plan.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

-     COUNCILLOR NEIL COPLAND, Convener