Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were noted from Councillor Jose Hales. Councillor Anna Bradnam was in attendance as a substitute for Councillor Hales.

There were no declarations of interest.

To authorise the Chairman to sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 7 July 2015 as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 July 2015 were agreed as a correct record.

Matters arising were:

·         The Executive Director (Corporate Services) would circulate:

1.    A breakdown of the savings in the Shared Legal Services Business Case that was discussed at the 7 July 2015 meeting.

2.    The 2014/15 spend across the three Councils involved in the Legal Shared Service.

There were no public questions.

The Executive Director (Corporate Services) presented the 2015-16 first quarterly position statement on finance, performance and risk which would be presented to Cabinet on 10 September 2015.

The committee was informed that candidates for planning officer posts had come forward following a recruitment campaign. Members were informed that a creative approach had been taken to the recruitment for these posts and it was hoped that most posts would be filled once interviews had been carried out. The committee was informed that:

·         Discussions were ongoing with potential applicants to senior posts.

·         The Council had subscribed as an employer on Linked In and was using this as a route to contact potential candidates directly. The committee was informed that the Council was employing as many routes as possible to approach people directly.

·         The vacancy level in Planning was not unique to this authority.

Concern was raised regarding the Council getting value for money regarding agency staff. Members were informed that procurement rules had been changed to allow the Council to use more agency staff suppliers and therefore have better control of the quality of staff put forward for posts.

Members were informed that where market supplements were being advertised for posts, existing equivalent staff would be receiving the market supplement as well.

The committee was informed that existing members of staff had been successful in achieving promotions within Planning and this was encouraged by the organisation despite the need to then backfill posts.

A paperless Planning office was being worked towards. Problems with the current Planning IT system had been acknowledged and were being addressed. An upgrade of the system was taking place in October 2015 which would facilitate more paperless working.

Staff turnover was discussed as this was higher than target:

·         Staff morale particularly around shared services was queried by members. The Chief Executive informed the committee that the latest results of Investors in People and the staff survey had been very positive but it was recognised that there was some uncertainty regarding shared services.

·         Exit interview rates had not been high enough to draw conclusions but it was thought that levels of staff turnover reflected a more buoyant jobs market.

·         Recruitment and retention had been made a higher strategic risk as it was recognised that local government was no longer such an attractive employer as it had been compared to the private sector whose job market was more buoyant than it had been. It was also no longer as easy for local government to offer the job stability and attractive terms it used to offer in comparison to the private sector.

Shared services was discussed:

·         The Chief Executive and Executive Director (Corporate Services) had been working with staff facing shared services.

·         Members were informed that staff moving to a shared service would only have to reapply for jobs where there were more staff than posts. Whilst there was potential for this, members were informed that all three Councils involved in the shared services were operating with vacancies. Members were informed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Councillor Lynda Harford provided a written update on the work of the Orchard Park Task and Finish Group, which was circulated at the meeting. It had been agreed with the Scrutiny and Overview Committee Chairman that the group’s final recommendations would be presented to the committee at its meeting in November 2015.

The committee NOTED the update.

a)    The committee is required to appoint Scrutiny Monitors to the Corporate and Customer Services portfolio, Economic Development portfolio and the Environmental Services portfolio.

b)    Scrutiny Monitors are invited to report to the committee regarding Portfolio Holder meetings attended since the last meeting and specifically raise any issues challenged and the result and/or issues where the committee could add further value.

The following Scrutiny Monitors were appointed:

To enable the committee to consider its work programme for future meetings.

The committee’s work programme was noted.

The draft Medium Term Financial Strategy was added to the work programme for November.

·         Thursday 5 November 2015 at 6pm

·         Thursday 7 January 2016 at 6pm

The dates of future meetings were noted. The next meeting would take place on Thursday 5 November 2015 at 6pm.