To note the Membership of the Committee for the 2016/17 Municipal Year, as appointed at the Annual Meeting of the Council held on 24 May 2017.

RESOLVED: That the membership of the Committee as agreed by Annual Council 24 May 2017 be noted by the Committee.

To note the Terms of Reference of the Committee for the 2016/17 Municipal Year, as agreed at the Annual Meeting of the Council held on 24 May 2017.

RESOLVED: That the Terms of Reference of the Committee as agreed by Annual Council 24 May 2017 be noted by the Committee.

To receive and if so determined, to approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 6 March 2017.

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 6 March 2017 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive a report from the Interim Director of Human Resources.

The Interim Director of HR presented the annual report on agency spend to the Committee. It was highlighted to the Committee that spending on agency staff had increased during the year with Children Families and Wellbeing seeing the largest increase. The Committee were informed that an element of the increase related to a difficult restructure that had taken place within the directorate which had resulted in an increase in levels of sickness and a requirement to use agency workers to compensate. This matter had since been resolved.

The Interim Director of HR told the Committee that the peripatetic team, which had been introduced last year, had been very successful in reducing dependency on agency staff within Children’s services. The Council planned to build on this model in relation to social workers for adult services to reduce CFW’s agency spend. A Committee member drew attention to the fact that Manchester had run a large recruitment campaign for social workers in 2016/17 and asserted that this may have further impacted on the turnover of social workers and the use of agency workers in CFW.

The Committee thanked the Interim Director of HR and noted the report. A Member of the Committee requested that a regular workforce update come to the Employment Committee and the other members supported the request.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That the Interim Director of HR be thanked for presenting the report to the Committee.

3)    That the Committee is to receive regular workforce updates.

To receive a verbal update from the Interim Director of Human Resources.

The Interim Director of HR delivered a verbal update to the Committee. The Committee were reminded that following the successful voluntary unpaid leave scheme the amount of Mandatory Unpaid leave had been reduced from 3 to 1.5 days for 2017/18. In an attempt to further increase the level of voluntary leave and reduce the requirement for Mandatory leave it had been decided that staff would be able to apply for voluntary leave for 2018/19 over a longer period during the 2017/18 municipal year.

Committee members were given the opportunity to ask questions but none were raised and the update was noted.

RESOLVED: That the update be noted.

To receive a verbal update from the Interim Director of Human Resources.

The Interim Director of HR informed the board that the Council were still awaiting government guidance on the detailed calculation to be used regarding the gender pay gap reporting within the workforce. In addition, an AGMA working group had been established to ensure a consistent approach to reporting across GM; this approach would extend beyond the statutory requirements and would look to analyse the gender pay gap in relation to wider protected characteristics. The Committee noted the update and Members conveyed their interest in the results of the analysis.

RESOLVED: That the update be noted.

To consider a verbal report of the Director of Human Resources.

The Interim Director of HR informed the Committee that since the last meeting there had been 2 applications for exemption to the sickness policy. The Committee were told that both of these exemptions had been in relation to long term medical conditions and had been agreed. No questions were raised by Committee Members and the update was noted.

RESOLVED: That the update be noted.