Agenda and minutes

Please note that the Constitution requires that when considering any decision in respect of which a member of the Committee is subject to a party whip, the member must declare the existence of the whip. Under the Code of Conduct, any Councilor who has a personal or prejudicial interest should declare this at the meeting. A member of a Task and Finish Group or Panel, but not a Sub Group of the Scrutiny Committee, which has discussed an item that is now being scrutinised, cannot participate in that debate as a member of the Committee nor vote.

Councillors MP Howell and Mrs BE Waters declared personal, non-prejudicial interests in Agenda item 3 (Service continuity arrangements for December and January) as members of Unison. They remained in the meeting and took part in the consideration of this item.

The Chairman reminded Members that, when considering any decision in respect of which a member of the committee was subject to a party whip, the member must declare the existence of the whip. No such declarations were made.

To consider the call-in of the decision of the Staffing Portfolio Holder in respect of Service Continuity Arrangements for December 2008-January 2009.

Covering report plus papers previously considered by the Staffing Portfolio Holder attached. 

The Chairman welcomed members of the committee, witnesses and other attendees to the meeting. He advised those present that the committee was to consider the call-in of the Staffing Portfolio Holder’s decision in respect of Service Continuity arrangements for December 2008 and January 2009, and drew the meeting’s attention to the grounds for call-in set out in paragraph 6 of the report, that the Portfolio Holder’s decision was not made in accordance with the following principles of decision-making:

·         Due consultation and the taking of professional advice from officers;

·         Presumption in favour of openness, helpfulness and consistency;

·         Consideration of available options and giving reasons for decisions.

The Chairman welcomed Martin Williams, Chairman of the Unison local branch, as a witness. Mr. Williams drew the Committee’s attention to the letter attached as an appendix to the report which set out Unison’s concerns. Members of the Committee asked questions to Mr. Williams, from which the following points were established:

Consultation – The matter had first been discussed formally at local level at the Senior Management Team meeting of 16 April 2008, at which the Human Resources Manager had been requested to prepare a report for the Portfolio Holder for presentation following consultation with the unions. During the consultation which followed, 54 Unison members out of 137 had expressed opposition to the proposal to open the Council Offices between Christmas and New Year 2008-09. Following the consultation, the local branch secretary had met informally with the Chief Executive to summarise staff concerns, and had subsequently been invited to voice these concerns at the weekly Leader’s meeting attended by the whole Cabinet. The branch secretary also attended the Portfolio Holder’s meeting on 17 June 2008 at which the decision was taken.

Strength of, and reasons for, opposition – In Mr. Williams’ view, 54 responses opposed to opening between Christmas and New Year represented sufficient mandate against the change. The appendix to the report summarised individual representations in more detail. Mr. Williams felt that the issue had arisen from problems with refuse collection in December 2007, and that the Council’s decision to open the offices in response to these concerns represented a form of punishment for all staff. He did not consider Christmas closing to be a perk; moreover, he felt that residents expected the offices to be closed between Christmas and New Year, as had traditionally been the case.

Contractual issues – The proposal to open the offices between Christmas and New Year raised contractual issues in terms of statutory leave entitlement. Unison expected full consultation and negotiation on individual contracts in due course, however contractual matters were not the key driver of the unions’ concerns on the Christmas opening issue.

The Chairman thanked Mr. Williams for his contributions and called upon the Chief Executive and Human Resources Manager to contribute to the Committee’s consideration of the matter.

Consultation - The chairman asked the Chief Executive to comment on whether he felt consultation on the proposal had been adequate. Greg Harlock, Chief Executive, advised that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.