Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence

An apology for absence was submitted from Stuart Munro.

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 17 November 2014.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 17 November 2014 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Vice Chairman.

To receive any declarations of interest

Pauline Helliar Symons declared a Personal Interest in Agenda Item 9 Shaping the Council of the Future on the grounds that she was an Investors in People assessor.

To answer any public questions

A period of 30 minutes will be allowed for members of the public to ask questions submitted under notice.

The Council welcomes questions from members of the public about the work of this committee.

Subject to meeting certain timescales, questions can relate to general issues concerned with the work of the Committee or an item which is on the Agenda for this meeting.  For full details of the procedure for submitting questions please contact the Democratic Services Section on the numbers given below or go to www.wokingham.gov.uk/publicquestions

There were no public questions.

To answer any member questions

There were no Member questions.

To consider the Pay Policy Statement and to receive a general update on HR and the Organisation.

Sarah Swindley, Service Manager Human Resources presented the Pay Policy Statement 2015.  Under sections 38 to 43 of the Localism Act 2011 the Council was required to prepare and publish a pay policy statement annually.  Full Council was required to approve the statement.  Comparisons had been made with neighbouring authority’s statements and the Wokingham Pay Policy was fully compliant.

During the discussion of this item the following points were made:

·         Councillor Helliar-Symons expressed concern that there were several senior Officers who were on temporary contracts.  The Board discussed temporary contracts and the Director of Finance and Resources agreed to feed back Members’ concerns. 

·         With regards to pay scales, Councillor Bray asked how many employees were on Grade 1 of the Council’s pay scales (£14,075 per annum full time (37 hours per week) or £7.29 per hour) and was informed that there was 1 employee. 

·         It was noted that the £7.29 an hour rate was higher than the national living wage of £7.20 an hour for workers aged 25 and older, which would come into effect from April 2016.  However, £7.29 an hour was lower than the voluntary Living Wage Foundation rate.  Sarah Swindley indicated that further work was being undertaken to assess impact on schools and contractors arrangements.  The Board noted that Bracknell Forest Council had not signed up to the Living Wage Foundation but offered a similar scheme.  Members questioned whether consideration could be given to a Wokingham scheme.

·         In response to a question from Councillor Auty regarding how many employees earnt less than £7.85 an hour, the Living Wage Foundation rate, Sarah Swindley clarified that there were 5 centrally employed employees and147 school based employees who met the criteria.

·         Councillor Bray asked how many apprentices aged 16-18 years old, the Council employed.  The Board was informed that there were 6 apprentices, all of whom were in their first year of apprenticeship, 4 of whom were 19 years old, 1 who was 18 years old and 1 who was 20 years old. 

·         The Board noted the Council’s pay ratios and requested that they be sent those of the other Berkshire authorities.  Members also requested that they be informed of the salary of the other Berkshire Chief Executives.

The Board also received a general update on the organisation.

During the discussion of this item the following points were made:

·         Members were reminded that the Performance Management Framework had been implemented in 2013.

·         Councillor Helliar-Symons asked what training managers received to be able to undertake appraisals.  Members were informed that when coaching had first been launched managers had attended a day and a half training session on coaching skills.  Since then a one day coaching course was offered on a quarterly basis for new managers.  E-learning on the Dials was also available.  HR held open sessions on appraisals when appraisals were due to be carried out.

·         Individual’s appraisal targets related to their own personal and career development and the relevant department and Council objectives.

·         Councillor Helliar-Symons asked if appraisees were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act as appropriate.

RESOLVED: That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act as appropriate.

To be updated on shaping the Council of the future.

The Director of Finance and Resources presented an exempt update on shaping the Council of the future.

The Board was also informed of the progress of the development of the People Strategy and considered the responses to the Council’s Engagement Survey 2015.

RESOLVED:  That

1)  the ongoing work with regard to shaping the Council of the future be noted;

2)  progress in development of the People Strategy be noted;

3)  the 2015 Engagement Survey responses be noted.