Apologies were received from Mr A Brown and Miss M Jones.

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 confirm the Minutes of the Employment and Appeals Committee held on 27 March 2019, previously circulated.

The minutes of the Employment and Appeals Committee held on 27 March 2019, copies of which had been previously circulated, were confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

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 Governance 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, declarations or questions from members of the public were received.

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

No questions from members were received.

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

No notices of motion were received.

To receive report No.90/2019 from the Chairman of the Employment and Appeals Committee.

Report No.90/2019 was received from the Chairman of the Employment and Appeals Committee.

Mrs C Snell introduced the report, the purpose of which was to set out the work of the Committee in 2018-19 in an annual report which was in line with best practice.

During discussion the following points were noted:

·         The style of HR Policies going forward would be based on key policy issues (in line with employment legislation and best practice) rather than day to day operational procedural matters.

·         The experience, challenge and probity that the Committee brought was very much welcomed.

·         Flexible retirement was a provision within the Local Government Pension Scheme which had been adopted by Rutland County Council. The policy enabled the Council and employees to have flexibility about managing early retirement and also enabled the Council to retain essential skills.

·         The Committee had previously determined, and delegated to the Head of HR, amendments to policies in line with employment legislation changes. The Committee would be informed of these changes retrospectively by the Head of HR.  However, the amount of employment legislation being passed had significantly reduced over the last couple of years.

·         Members congratulated the HR team on the work done behind the scenes to put in place the new pay structure. Nationally there had been two years of lengthy negotiations but locally, agreement with the local unison branch had been reached very quickly and satisfactorily.

·         There had been no dismissal appeals last year and no issues had been referred to Council.

·         Members requested information on the Council’s apprenticeships and the apprenticeship levy and Miss Snell confirmed that she would bring back a report to the Committee during this meeting cycle.

 RESOLVED

The Committee:

1.    APPROVED the Annual Report of the Employment and Appeals Committee.

2.    REQUESTED that a report on apprenticeships be brought back to the Committee

To receive Report No.91/2019 from the Strategic Director for Resources.

Report No.91/2019 was received from the Strategic Director for Resources. 

Mrs C Snell introduced the report the purpose of which was to receive the Council’s Gender Pay Gap data as at 31 March 2019 (ahead of the March 2020 publishing date) to enable an earlier assessment of trend/movement to the previous two reporting periods. The report also supplied comparator data with other authorities for 31 March 2018.

During discussion the following points were noted:

·         The requirement to report on Gender Pay Gap had been brought in by the Government three years ago.

·         The figures were dependent on the workforce and natural staff changes that consequently created movement around pay points.

·         Appointment to roles was always based on merit.

RESOLVED

The Committee NOTED the Council’s Gender Pay Gap data for 31 March 2019 and the commentary/comparison to our previous year’s report.

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

No items of urgent business were received.

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The Chairman declared the meeting closed at 8.50pm

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