Council and councillors

Apologies were received from Councillor Harvey.

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.

No declarations of interest had been received.

To confirm the Minutes of the Employment and Appeals Committee held on 29 September 2020, previously circulated.

The minutes of the Employment and Appeals Committee meeting held on 29 September 2020 were approved.

To receive any petitions, deputations and questions received from Members of the Public in accordance with the Virtual Meetings Regulations (s1 2020 392) and the subsequent RCC Procedure Rules agreed at Council on 20 May 2020 and revised by Council on 14 September 2020. (Please see link: Revision to Virtual Meetings Protocol.)

No petitions, deputations or questions 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.11/2021 from the Strategic Director for Resources.

Report No.11/2021 was received from the Strategic Director for Resources. Carol Snell, Head of Human Resources introduced the report the purpose of which was to present for approval of the Committee, an Apprenticeship Strategy for the Council, following the update to Committee in September 2020.

During discussion the following points were noted:

·         The Strategy reflected the Rutland context and was pragmatic and achievable rather than mirroring something that much larger authorities had in place.

·         2021 would be an interesting year for the job market particularly as recovery started. Last years’ experience of Covid and lockdown, especially for those leaving school and college had an impact on how they integrated with their role.  Hopefully 2021 would be a big push forward for new apprentices and the current workforce to take opportunities and develop.

·         The Strategy focussed on what the Council could achieve and do really well, particularly ‘growing our own’ with talent that would go on to develop a career at RCC.

·         The Chief Executive and the Director of Children’s Services were very supportive of a commitment to Rutland Care Leavers and Apprenticeship roles, and talks were ongoing to develop this.

·         The Strategy would be underpinned by an action plan which would be developed once the Strategy had been approved. The action plan would report through SMT and back to the Committee.

·         HR Staff were still very involved in Covid Response work which delayed work in other areas.

·         Much had been learnt about working from home and apprentices would be supported to adapt to working in what was likely to be a mixed economy of both working at home and in the office. A higher level of supervision and support for those coming straight from a school environment would be put in place if needed.

·         Councillor Waller requested that the commitment to support Care Leavers with apprenticeship roles be put up front and included in the second paragraph of the Strategy.

·         Any lessons learnt from those who did not complete an apprenticeship scheme would be fed back into the system so that improvements could be made. Reflection on this aspect would become part of any action plan.

·         A vote to approve the strategy was taken and the Committee was unanimously in favour.

RESOLVED:

That the Apprenticeship Strategy be approved.

To receive Report No.12/2021 from the Strategic Director for Resources.

Report No.12/2021 was received from the Strategic Director for Resources. Carol Snell, Head of Human Resources introduced the report the purpose of which was to provide the Committee with the Council’s Gender Pay Gap data as at 31 March 2020 together with some comparator data and commentary.

During discussion the following points were noted:

·         A report was not submitted in 2020 due to re-prioritisation of work towards Covid response and support.

·         Data would always be historical because the requirement was to publish at year end for the previous March.

·         As Rutland was a small organisation with a small workforce any movement created fluctuations in the data; these fluctuations could be exacerbated if, as was the case recently, there was a change of gender for roles such as the Chief Executive which was at the top of the pay scale. Fluctuations in data were expected and dependent on the level of movement through the year as well as those coming in at the bottom of the scale.

·         In 2020 turnover had been much lower so it would be interesting to see how this affected the data.

·         Recruitment and the appointment of staff was devolved to managers at RCC within the Recruitment and Pay Policies. HR were responsible for the contracts of employment and so were able to immediately identify if mangers were operating outside of policy.

·         The Government were quite clear that agency workers were not to be included in the data which should only reflect employees on the RCC payroll.

·         Councillor Woodley would have been interested to have seen any data that showed whether there was a higher tendency for female, rather than male employees, to move on. This would be included in subsequent reports.  

·         The recording of a female or male employee was based on what people told HR when they joined the organisation.

·         When someone resigned, exit interviews in person were offered or alternatively, employees could fill in a proforma. Miss Snell stated that in her experience of exit interviews, gender was not a factor for people leaving but she would look in future to draw this out. 

RESOLVED:

That the Council’s Gender Pay Gap data as at 31 March 2020, and the commentary/comparison to the previous reporting periods, be noted.

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

No items of urgent business were received.