Council and councillors

Apologies were received from Councillor G Waller. Councillor R Payne attended the meeting as the representative for Councillor G Waller.

To confirm the Minutes of the Employment and Appeals Committee held on 17^th April 2023 and receive an update on actions agreed in the minutes of the previous meeting.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meetings held on 17 April 2023.

It was moved by Councillor S Harvey and seconded that the minutes of the 17 April 2023 meeting be approved.

RESOLVED

a)    That the minutes of the meetings held on 17 April 2023 be APPROVED.

In accordance with the Regulations, Members are invited to declare any disclosable interests under the Code of Conduct and the nature of those interests in respect of items on this Agenda and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

There were no declarations of interest.

To appoint a Vice-Chair of the Committee for the 2023-24 municipal year.

Nominations were invited for the position of Vice Chair of the Employment and Appeals Committee for the Municipal Year 2023-24.

Councillor D Ellison proposed, and this was seconded to be Vice-Chairman to the Employment and Appeals Committee, there were no other nominations. Upon being put to the vote this was unanimously carried.

RESOLVED

a)    That Councillor D Ellison be APPOINTED Vice-Chairman of the Employment and Appeals Committee for the municipal year 2023-24

To receive any petitions, deputations and questions received from members of the public in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 93.

The total time allowed for this shall be 30 minutes. Petitions, deputations and questions shall be dealt with in the order in which they are received.

Questions may also be submitted at short notice by giving a written copy to the Democratic Services Officer 15 minutes before the start of the meeting. The total time allowed for questions at short notice is 15 minutes out of the total time of 30 minutes.

Any petitions, deputations and questions which have been submitted with prior formal notice will take precedence over questions submitted at short notice. Any questions which are not considered within the time limit shall receive a written response after the meeting and be the subject of a report to the next meeting.

No petitions deputations or questions had been received.

To consider any questions received from Members of the Council in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 95.

No questions with notice from Members had been received.

To consider any Notices of Motion from Members submitted under Procedure Rule 97.

No notices of motion had been received.

To receive Report No.147/2023 from the Strategic Director for Resources.

Report No.147/2023 was introduced by Carol Snell, Head of Human Resources.

The report was asking for approval to the refreshed Restructure Policy. The Council’s Restructure Policy provided us with a clear framework that enabled the Council to effectively manage employee implications arising from organisational change e.g. restructures.

The Head of Human Resources briefly went through the proposed changes with Members and Members were then able to ask questions on the policy.

Members were overall very happy with the refreshed policy and thought it was very well written.

It was moved by Councillor S Harvey and seconded that the recommendations be approved. Upon being put to the vote, the motion was unanimously carried.

RESOLVED

That Committee:

a)    APPROVED the updated Restructure Policy.

To receive a verbal proposal regarding the role of Members in Officer Appeals from the Head of Human Resources.

Carol Snell, Head of Human Resources recently proposed at the Constitution Commission an amendment on the Council’s officer procedure rules and within the Constitution with regards to hearing of appeals when an employee has been dismissed by the Council.

The proposal was put forward to move away from a Member appeal process and for it to be managed by officers. This would be consistent with the Council’s Probation and Grievance Policies.

Members were in agreement with the proposal and felt it was the appropriate approach to take having an appeals process in place without Member involvement.

It was moved by Councillor S Harvey and seconded that the proposal be approved. Upon being put to the vote, the motion was unanimously carried.

RESOLVED

That Committee:

a)    APPROVED that any appeals against a dismissal arising from any employment process would be heard by an Officer led appeals panel.  

To receive items of urgent business which have previously been notified to the person presiding.

The Chair wanted a piece of work to take place on the level of vacancies and future staff retention within the Council. To look at and analyse staff movements per year in each department and if there are any departmental initiatives taking place. It was agreed for a meeting to take place next year around this.

As it was the Head of Human Resources last meeting before leaving the authority, the Chair thanked them for all their knowledge, help and hard work on this Committee.