Agenda, decisions and minutes

The agenda and reports associated with this minute can be found 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 that Alison Robertson would no longer be attending meetings of the Committee on behalf of UNISON and stated that she wished to record her thanks to Ms Robertson for her contributions and input at previous meetings.  Kenny Luke advised that George Ferguson would be attending future meetings of the Committee as the second UNISON adviser.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Committee had before it the minute of its previous meeting of 31 January 2019.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the minute as a correct record.

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

The Committee resolved:-

(i)        in respect of item 8 (Violence in the Workplace Policy), to note that there was general interest in a safe leave policy for staff which would offer employees time off to access help and support without it affecting their finances or using annual leave, and to request that officers investigate this as part of the work being undertaken on the Policy and include it in the report back to Committee later in the year;

(ii)       to note that the Committee papers had been issued prior to any decisions taken at the Council Budget meeting and that the planner would therefore be updated to reflect any reports requested at that meeting; and

(iii)      to otherwise note the updates provided.

With reference to article 4 of the minute of its meeting of 1 November 2018, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which provided an update on current issues with LGV driver recruitment and retention and the mitigating actions being taken to alleviate this for the Waste and Recycling Services; and of issues relating to the recruitment and retention of staff within the Roads Infrastructure Service.

The report recommended:-

that Committee note the range of different approaches as set out in the report which sought to attract a wider and diverse range of applicants for the highlighted roles and subsequently reduce the vacancy level.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)        to note that both the Waste and Recycling Service and the Roads and Flood functions were statutory and therefore could not run below minimum staffing levels, and to request that officers clarify to Councillor Delaney outwith the meeting whether there had been any occasions where the staffing levels for these two functions had dropped below minimum levels;

(ii)       to acknowledge the best efforts of officers to fill vacancies in respect of both LGV drivers and Roads service personnel;

(iii)      to accept that there was no single or easy solution to resolve these ongoing recruitment challenges;  and

(iv)      to instruct the Chief Officer – Operations and Protective Services in conjunction with the Chief Officer – Organisational Development and Chief Officer - Finance to bring a report to the December meeting of the Staff Governance Committee detailing the full cost of covering these services over a 12 month period, looking at agency costs, advertising costs, travel and any other applicable costs.  The purpose of this report being to evaluate such costs against possible incentives which may assist in the recruitment and retention of staff to these posts. The recommendations arising from this report should consider a possible incentive scheme which incorporates a retention element and saves the Council money in the long term, to the benefit of both the Council and its employees, and provide savings options required to fund such initiatives, highlighting any necessary referrals to the budget process.

With reference to article 13 of the minute of its previous meeting, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer and Director of Resources which provided an update on the re-visit by the Health and Safety Executive, as well as further assurance on the sufficiency of the remedial actions undertaken by Aberdeen City Council following an incident at Bridge of Don Academy on 12 July 2018.

The report recommended:-

that Committee note the assurance provided in the report.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)        to note the content of the report; and

(ii)       to instruct the Chief Officer – Corporate Landlord to (a) provide a service update on the actions taken, and implemented, since this incident and further to the action plan reported to this Committee in January 2019;  and (b) to report back to Committee in June 2019 on actions taken to ensure the safety, in so far as is reasonably practicable, of all Council personnel, contractors and members of the public when work involving asbestos is carried out on any Council property.

With reference to article 7 of the minute of its meeting of 1 November 2018, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer – Governance which summarised statistical health and safety performance information for the three-month reporting period October to December 2018 to provide the Committee with the opportunity to monitor compliance with health and safety legislation.

The report recommended:-

that Committee provide comments and observations on the health and safety information contained in the report.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)        in respect of the figures reported on near miss information (October to December 2018), particularly in Operations, to request that officers investigate whether the data could be broken down further and ideally by cluster in future reports, in order to be able to identify particular areas of concern; and

(ii)       to otherwise note the report.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Resources which set out the proposed Principles which would guide behaviours and relationships with colleagues and customers going forward.  The report set out the methodology used to create the Guiding Principles which would replace the organisation’s current core behaviours, including the work that had been undertaken with staff at workshop sessions and the online survey that had been developed.

The report advised that a Workforce Development Plan would be brought to Committee in June 2019 and this would include an organisational capability framework, skills development plan, organisational workforce plan and revised performance review proposals.

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)      approve the proposed Guiding Principles;

(b)      agree that these built on, and should therefore replace, the organisation’s current core behaviours; and

(c)       approve the proposals to embed the Principles across the organisation.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

-     COUNCILLOR YVONNE ALLAN, Convener