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 Convener advised Members that Liam Knox had stepped down from his Trade Union role and would therefore no longer be participating in meetings of the Committee.  She thanked Mr Knox for his participation and contributions at meetings and advised that details of his replacement were awaited.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Committee had before it the minute of its previous meeting of 28 September 2021 for approval.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to note that Councillor Al-Samarai had been in attendance at the last meeting and not Councillor Hutchison; and

(ii)       to otherwise approve the minute.

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

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to note that item 4 (Employee Assistance Scheme / Occupational Health / Sickness Absence Six Monthly Report) would now be presented in November as updates had been provided at the last two meetings of the Committee; and

(ii)       to otherwise note the business planner.

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 April to June 2021 to provide the Committee with the opportunity to monitor compliance with health and safety legislation.

Officers advised that there were two slight errors in the report text, noting that at sections 3.3 and 3.7, the text should refer to April to June 2021, and not January to March 2021.

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:-

(i)       in relation to the RIDDOR/Non-RIDDOR reportable incidents, to request that officers look to break down the Operations figures further in future reports to enable the Committee to scrutinise the figures to more easily identify if there were issues in particular teams; and

(ii)       to otherwise note the report.

With reference to article 4 of the minute of its meeting of 1 October 2019, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Resources which provided an update on progress with the implementation of the new approach to internal recruitment – the re.cr.uit scheme.  The report set out how the new approach worked in practice and outlined changes and improvements which had been made as a result of the initial learning cycle undertaken from January to March 2021.

The report recommended:-

that Committee note progress made with the re.cr.uit scheme to date in line with the earlier Committee instruction for an update report to be provided after one year of operation.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to note that officers would provide information to Members outwith the meeting in relation to the total number of employees (headcount) who had moved posts through re.cr.uit;

(ii)       to note that officers would provide information to Members outwith the meeting in relation to the 2020 figures for the number of members of staff who had been successfully redeployed through re.cr.uit;

(iii)      to thank officers for the report and for the work undertaken in relation to the scheme; and

(iv)      to approve the recommendation.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Resources which sought approval for the granting of an additional public holiday on Friday 3 June 2022 in recognition of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

It was noted that a report had also been presented to the Education Operational Delivery Committee on 23 September and authority given for the Chief Officer – Education to make a formal request to the Scottish Government for an additional school closure day, subject to the Staff Governance Committee approving the recommendation contained in the report.

The report recommended:-

that Committee approve the granting of an additional public holiday on 3 June 2022.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendation.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Resources which sought approval for the revised Managing Grievances Policy.  The report advised that the review of the Managing Grievances Policy was part of a wider review of policies that 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 Grievances Policy, attached as Appendix 1 to the report;

(b)      agree that implementation of the revised policy be delayed until such time as the required training and communication has been undertaken on the policy and on the Managing Discipline and Dignity and Respect at Work policies;

(c)      note the appended procedure/guidance document which supported the

application of the policy; and

(d)      note that a generic investigations procedure had been developed to cover all three policies mentioned above (which was appended to the committee report on the Dignity and Respect at Work policy).

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to note that Trade Unions would be involved in the training opportunities;

(ii)       to agree an implementation date of 1 February 2022 for the revised policy noting that the required training and communication would be undertaken on this policy and on the Managing Discipline and Dignity and Respect at Work policies; and

(iii)      to otherwise approve the recommendations.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Resources which sought approval for the revised Dignity and Respect at Work Policy, to replace the Managing Bullying and Harrassment at Work Policy.  The report noted that the replacement of the Managing Bullying and Harassment policy was part of a wider review of policies that sat at the heart of employee relations processes within the Council, the other two policies being Managing Discipline and Managing Grievances.   It was noted that renaming the policy emphasised the positive behaviours expected from each other in the workplace and avoided unhelpful labelling of individuals as “bullies”.

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)      approve the Dignity and Respect at Work Policy, attached as Appendix 1 to the report to replace the Managing Bullying and Harassment at Work policy;

(b)      agree that implementation of this policy be delayed until such time as the

required training and communication had been undertaken on the policy and on the Managing Discipline and Managing Grievances policies;

(c)      note the appended procedure/guidance document which supported the

application of the policy; and

(d)      note that a generic investigations procedure had been developed to cover all three policies mentioned above, also appended to this report.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to agree implementation of the policy from 1 February 2022 and to note that training and communication would be undertaken on this policy and

on the Managing Discipline and Managing Grievances policies;

(ii)       to note that if the guidance was to be changed, this would be done in consultation with Trade Unions;

(iii)      to thank officers and Trade Union colleagues for their collaboration and work in revising the policies; and

(iv)      to otherwise approve the recommendations.

-          COUNCILLOR YVONNE ALLAN, Convener