Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Madeleine Shopland  Democratic & Electoral Services Specialist

Items
No. Item

112.

Apologies

To receive any apologies for absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were submitted from Councillor Alistair Auty and Charles Margetts.

113.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 64 KB

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 12 December and 18 December 2018 and the Extraorindary Meeting held on 18 December 2018.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meetings of the Board held on 12 December and 18 December 2018 and the minutes of the Extraordinary meeting held on 18 December 2018 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Vice Chairman.

114.

Declaration of Interest

To receive any declarations of interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest received.

115.

Public Question Time

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

Minutes:

There were no public questions.

116.

Member Question Time

To answer any member questions

Minutes:

There were no Member questions.

117.

Gender Pay Gap report pdf icon PDF 79 KB

To consider the Gender Pay Gap report.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board received the Gender Pay Gap report.  Sarah Swindley, Lead Specialist HR indicated that the gender pay gap required employers with 250 or more employees to publish various figures to demonstrate how large the pay gap was between their male and female employees.

 

RESOLVED:  That the Gender Pay Gap report which will be published before 31 March 2019 be noted.

118.

Chief Executive Discipline, Capability and Grievance Policy & Procedure pdf icon PDF 81 KB

To consider the Chief Executive Discipline, Capabilty and Grievance Policy and Procedure.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board considered the Chief Executive Discipline, Capability and Grievance Policy and Procedure.

 

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

 

·         Sarah Swindley indicated that the procedure laid out in the Constitution did not provide sufficient checks and balances when making decisions as to whether to suspend senior officers.  It had highlighted the need to either adopt the JNA Chief Executive Handbook for dealing with disciplinary, capability and grievance issues for Head of Paid Service, Section 151 Officer and Monitoring Officer, or to develop a procedure.

·         When using the Handbook previously it was found that on some occasions elements were unworkable or unclear.  At the recommendation of the Investigating and Discipline Committee, officers had developed the Council’s own Policy and Procedure. 

·         Changes to the Constitution to improve checks and balances in some areas, had been approved.  It was noted that with regards to the suspension of senior officers, the model handbook stated that the Investigating and Disciplinary Committee should meet to agree suspension.  However, it had been felt that if consideration was being given to suspension then this was something which need to be reviewed quickly.  The strengthening of existing checks and balances had therefore been proposed.  Councillor Pollock questioned whether the Executive Member for the relevant service would be consulted in such cases and was informed that they would.

·         Councillor Helliar-Symons commented that she felt that it was a good document.

·         As a result of adopting the policy and procedure it was necessary to amend the terms of reference for the Appeals Committee and the Investigating and Disciplinary Committee and to create a Grievance Committee.

 

RESOLVED:  That

 

1)         the newly drafted Chief Executive Disciplinary, Capability and Grievance Policy and Procedure be approved;

 

2)         the Terms of Reference for the Grievance Committee that would be required to be formed as a result of adopting this policy and procedure be approved;

 

3)         the amended terms of reference for the Investigating and Disciplinary Committee and Appeals Committee to reflect the new policy and procedure, be approved.

119.

Agency Worker usage pdf icon PDF 89 KB

To receive an update on agency worker usage.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board received an update on Agency worker usage.

 

The Constitution Review Working Group had requested that the Personnel Board be provided with a quarterly update on the use of high earning agency workers.

 

120.

Exclusion of the Public

The Personnel Board will exclude press and public in order to discuss the Part 2 sheets of Agenda Item 97 above and to do so it must pass a resolution in the following terms:

 

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 Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act (as amended) as appropriate.

 

Minutes:

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 Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act (as amended) as appropriate.

121.

Agency Worker Usage

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  That the Agency Worker update be noted.