To receive and if so determined, to approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 1 July 2013.

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 1 July 2013 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Motion   (Which may be amended as Members think fit):

That the public be excluded from this meeting during consideration of the remaining items on the agenda, because of the likelihood of disclosure of “exempt information” which falls within one or more descriptive category or categories of the Local Government Act 1972, Schedule 12A, as amended, and specified on the agenda item or report relating to each such item respectively.

RESOLVED: That the public be excluded from this meeting during consideration of the remaining item of business because of the likelihood of disclosure of “exempt information” which falls within Paragraph 4 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.

It is anticipated that the Chairman of the meeting will allow, by reason of special circumstances (to be specified), consideration of a report of the Executive Member for Finance, as a matter of urgency.

(Note: The Chairman allowed consideration of this matter as an item of urgent business to allow the Committee to consider the outcome of consultation on proposed changes to Staff Terms and Conditions and convey its views to the Executive at its meeting on 23 September 2013.)

The Corporate Director, Transformation and Resources submitted a report proposing a revised package of proposals for proposed changes to staff terms and conditions, taking into account background information on the consultation that had taken place to date, a summary of the feedback received from staff and trade unions and information about similar activity across other local authorities.

The report also provided an update on benefits realisation in view of organisational changes and adjustments which had occurred since the original package of proposals was contemplated 12 months earlier.

During the Committee’s consideration of the proposals, the Director of Human Resources indicated that, in respect of the benefits realisation of the proposed reduced sick pay scheme, she would seek to provide Councillor A. Western with an indication of the anticipated number of staff to which it would equate.  

RESOLVED –

(1)        That the Employment Committee endorses the proposed revised package of proposed changes to terms and conditions, as set out in the report, on condition that a fair and robust criterion to extend the payment of sick pay beyond the contractual entitlement is introduced to safeguard those genuinely incapacitated and other exceptional circumstances.

(2)        That, commending the work of the Director of Human Resources and her team, the Committee welcomes the quality and intensity of the consultation undertaken to date and recommends that the Executive conduct the formal consultation in the same robust manner.

(3)        That Members of the Committee be provided with a copy of the Critical Car User Scheme as soon as the details are available.

(4)        That the Committee notes that the Director of Human Resources will provide supplementary information in respect of the query outlined above.