To confirm the Minutes of the Employment and Appeals Committee held on 16 March 2016, previously circulated.

The Minutes of the Employment and Appeals Committee held on 16 March 2016, copies of which had been previously circulated, were confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

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 in respect of items on the agenda.

To receive any petitions, deputations and questions received from members of the

public in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rules.

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 from members of the public had been received.

To receive Report No. 5/2017 from the Director of Resources.

Report No 5/2017 from the Director for Resources was received the purpose of which was to seek approval for the following updated HR Policies, Standby Policy, ProfessionalDevelopment Policy and Secondment Policy.  Also, to approve any amendments to the Umbrella Flexible Working, Capability Policy, Umbrella Leave Policy and GrievancePolicy as applicable.

During the discussion the following points were noted:

                 i.     Standby Policy

·  Head of Human Resources, Mrs C Snell, informed the Committee of the following:

o   Changes to the Standby Policy were to ensure that standby provision is fit for purpose.

o   The policy effected front line service areas where emergency out of hours cover is required, for example, Adult Social Care, Highways, and Property Services.

o   Comparisons were made with other Local Authorities and private companies’ Standby Policies to determine best practice.

o   The proposed payment model had been revised to take into consideration the level of frequency and accountability required.

o   Senior Management Team (SMT) and Trade Unions had been consulted prior to this Committee meeting.

·         Adult Social Care Emergency Duty Cover used to be supplied by an external provider; the contract ended and is provided internally.

·         Childrens Social Care Emergency Duty Cover is provided by Leicestershire County Council.

·         The Standby Policy forms part of the contract of employment. Rotas were mainly working 1 in 3 weeks or 1 in 4 weeks on Standby.

·         Concern was raised that posts effected by the Standby Policy maybe more difficult to recruit to.

·         The Head of HR confirmed that transport would not be provided for staff on Standby.

·         A proportion of the work completed when on Standby can be done from home via telephone, for example IT.

·         The payment model had been modelled against the current rate and frequency of the use of staff on Standby. The Head of HR confirmed that it would be extremely rare for a staff member receiving payment level 1 to exceed the amount received by level 2 employees.

          ii.        ProfessionalDevelopment

·         Head of HR informed the Committee of the following:

o   The Council was committed to the further development of the workforce.

o   Employees who leave the Councils employment within 2 years, regardless of the cost of the training/further qualification they had undertaken, would be required to repay the costs.

o   Day release facilities would be granted for staff undertaking apprenticeships.

                    iii.        Secondment

·         Head of HR informed the Committee of the following:

o   This was a 3 year ‘Health Check’ of the Secondment Policy.

o   There had been minor amendments to the Policy, but these would have very little effect.

o   The Policy had served the Council well with a substantial number of staff successfully completing a Secondment within the Authority.

                   iv.        Policies with no/minor amendments - Umbrella FlexibleWorking, Capability Policy, Umbrella Leave Policy and GrievancePolicy

·         Head of HR informed the Committee of the following:

o   These Policies had ‘stood the test of time’ and require no or minimum amendments.

o   These Policies had been brought to the Committee as part of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 654.

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

No urgent business was received.