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.

Councillor Copland highlighted that he had contacted the Convener via email prior to the meeting to request that an item of urgent business be added to the agenda in respect of potential industrial action. 

The Convener advised that the matter was not within the remit for Staff Governance Committee, but rather the Appeals Sub Committee, and that she was aware that the Director of Customer Services would be providing an update to Members outwith the meeting, and therefore in terms of Standing Order 36.3, she would not be accepting the item on to the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Committee had before it the minute of its previous meeting of 12 April 2021 for approval.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the minute as a correct record.

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

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to agree that item 4 (Employee Assistance Scheme Annual Report) be removed as an update had been provided at the last meeting and a further update was included in the Employee Mental Health Action Plan (Item 11.2); and

(ii)       to otherwise note the planner.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Resources which sought approval of the action plan which had been developed in response to the results of the Future of Work employee check-in survey which had been undertaken in September 2020, and requested authority for the Chief Officer – People and Organisational Development to implement the plan which was attached at Appendix 2 to the report.

The report recommended:-

that Committee approve the action plan set out in Appendix 2 and instruct the Chief Officer People & Organisational Development to implement the action plan.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendation.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Resources which sought approval of the revised Managing Discipline Policy.  The report advised that the aim of the policy was to empower and support employees to comply with the cultural norms of the Council as set out in the Guiding Principles. 

It was noted that the review of the policy was part of the review of the three policies which sat at the heart of employee relations processes within the Council, namely Managing Discipline, Managing Grievances and Managing

Bullying and Harassment at Work.

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)      approve the revised Managing Discipline Policy, attached as Appendix 1 to the report;

(b)      agree that implementation of the revised policy be delayed until such time as the revised Managing Grievances and Dignity and Respect at Work policies were agreed (the intention being that these policies be presented to Staff Governance Committee in September 2021 for approval);

(c)      note the appended guidance document which supported the application of the policy; and

(d)      note that a generic investigations procedure was being developed to cover all three policies.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       in relation to the attached guidance, to note that the Chief Officer – People and Organisational Development would, in discussion with Trade Unions, revise the section “Life of Disciplinary Warnings” to clarify when circumstances might require these to be extended, to ensure that there was no disparity for certain members of staff (for example, term-time workers), and would circulate the revised guidance to Members for information; and

(ii)       to otherwise approve the recommendations.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer – Governance which provided a summary of statistical health and safety performance information for the three month reporting period January to March 2021 to provide the Committee with the opportunity to monitor compliance with health and safety legislation.

The report recommended:-

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

The Committee resolved:-

to note the report.

With reference to article 6 of the minute of its meeting of 3 February 2020, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Resources which provided an update on progress in relation to the employee mental health action plan.  The report advised that further analysis of the impact of the interventions and initiatives put in place prior to and during the pandemic would be undertaken over the upcoming months, and this data would be used to inform the development of the next iteration of the plan, which would be reported to Committee in due course.

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)      note the actions carried out so far to address and support positive employee mental health; and consider the variety of initiatives, activities, training and support made available to employees during the Covid-19 pandemic;

(b)      approve the continuing work outlined to address and improve employee mental health and wellbeing; and

(c)      note that a revised Employee Mental Health Action Plan would be reported to Committee in due course.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to request that future reports include detail on compassion fatigue; and

(ii)       to approve the recommendations.

-          COUNCILLOR YVONNE ALLAN, Convener