Agenda and minutes

To receive Apologies for Absence from Committee members. 

There were no Apologies for Absence.

There were no Declarations of Interest.

By affirmation, the Committee authorised the Chair to sign the Minutes of the meeting held on Friday 14 January 2022 as a correct record.

The HR Advisor, Donya Taylor, presented the report. Apprenticeships were discussed by the Committee, with officers providing context on the challenges and successes of apprenticeships at the Council, and an overview of the range of apprenticeships was given. It was noted that the apprenticeship strategy was being finalised and there would be many opportunities for Member engagement in the process of developing and introducing the strategy. The Committee also discussed the impact of agency and casual worker bank staff.

Members sought clarity on the reasons for using various baseline figures and it was agreed that an ongoing footnote explaining the use of baseline figures would be included in future reports for reasons of clarity and traceability. Retention was explored, and the Committee the Committee agreed that a breakdown of length of service across the organisation should be added to the report, with further breakdowns into service area to be provided in the future if required. It was noted that some data, particularly parts of the information from exit interviews, would not be provided for reasons of confidentiality. The Head of HR, Transformation and Corporate Services offered an overview of the retention strategy and informed the Committee that where specific points were raised, or patterns were identified, action was taken to resolve any issues.

The Committee noted the report

The HR Advisor, Donya Taylor, presented the report. The HR Advisor, Clare Lomer Hill, informed the Committee of a mistake in paragraph 10, where Headaches and Migraines were described as having seen a “decrease of 70.5 days” which should have read “an increase of 70.5 days”, and also explained that the reporting of Covid-19 absence statistics would be changing in future reports.

The Committee discussed other forms of absence and the different parts of the leave policy in place. Officers informed Members of the support available to staff and highlighted the importance of the Management Development Programme and the ability of managers to recognise issues arising for their staff. The changes in the levels of mental health related absences and the impact of management training courses were explored by the Committee.

Members requested that comparative data be provided for sick days per FTE in order to allow the Committee to better understand if trends are in line with wider context or specific to the organisation.

The Committee noted the report.

The HR Business Partner presented the report. Members discussed what had been said at the previous meeting when the Update on the Disability Confident Task and Finish Group was presented. The Committee agreed that consolidation of Level 2 should be undertaken before work towards Level 3 was undertaken. The Head of HR, Transformation and Corporate Services stated that the Task and Finish Group had given clear steer to HR on how to proceed with the work around the Disability Confident scheme.

Councillor Anna Bradnam, seconded by Councillor Mark Howell, proposed that the Group be thanked for the work it had done and be closed whilst HR undertook work to consolidate Level 2. It was requested that a report be presented to the Committee in 6 months time and when the time came to start work towards Level 3, the Committee would be given the opportunity to decide if the Task and Finish Group should be reinstated. The Committee recommended Councillor Bradnam’s proposal by affirmation.