To receive any apologies for absence

There were no apologies for absence.

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 22 September 2020.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 22 September 2020 were confirmed as a correct record and will be signed by the Chairman at the next available opportunity.

To receive any declarations of interest

There were no declarations of interest received.

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 Annual Equality Workforce Monitoring Report.

The Board considered the Annual Equality Workforce Monitoring Report.

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

·         The annual report provided information on employees obtained from the Council’s monitoring processes and procedures, which allowed the Council to meet the reporting requirements outlined in the Equality Act 2010.  The report had been produced by the Employment Equalities Working Group and took account of both the Employment Tribunal Findings and the Tackling Racism at Work feedback.

·         Whilst the report was usually presented in July to the Personnel Board, it had been delayed because of Covid 19 and also to take account of learning from Black Lives Matter.

·         Councillor Weeks noted that 30% of staff had not declared whether they had a disability or not.  He commented that it was difficult for managers to support staff appropriately if they did not know that they had a disability, as some disabilities were hidden.  He questioned whether it should be a requirement of recruitment for the candidate to declare if they had a disability or not.  Sarah Swindley commented that candidates were asked whether they required reasonable adjustments for the interview process.

·         Councillor Ferris felt that the percentage of staff not declaring if they had a disability or not, was high, and questioned whether there were any links with the two cases against the Council.  Sarah Swindley indicated that there were no links between the two cases and that the percentage of staff declaring if they had a disability or not had increased year on year, albeit very slightly.

·         The Council wanted to improve on the number of staff entering their data into the Business World On System, and there was a real push to increase this.

·         Councillor Doran noted that there has been a significant increase in formal staff proceedings involving staff from ethnic minorities.  He asked what measures were being put in place to address this.  Sarah Swindley indicated that a thematic review of grievances had been carried out and that it had been found that they were across different directorates and for different reasons.  Discussions with UNISON were actively taking place and there was no hint of systemic racism.

·         Councillor Helliar Symons expressed concern regarding the number of leavers up to the age of 39.  Sarah Swindley commented that there were more starters than leavers in that age group, and that there were many reasons why people left the organisation, such as career expansion.

·         Councillor Helliar Symons asked whether exit interviews were conducted and was informed that there was a self-service toolkit that managers could use to undertake exit interviews.  Alternatively, staff could undertake an exit interview survey online, which was sent to HR.

RESOLVED:  That the 2020 - 2021 Annual Equality Workforce Monitoring Report be approved.

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.

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.

At this point in the meeting, 7.15pm, the meeting was adjourned.

At 8pm the meeting reconvened.

To consider a report

The Board considered a report regarding the Director Place and Growth.

RESOLVED:  That the recommendation contained within the report be agreed subject to the amendment discussed at the meeting.

To consider a report.

The Board considered a report regarding the Director Communities, Insight and Change.

RESOLVED:  That the recommendation contained within the report be agreed subject to the amendment discussed at the meeting.

To receive the Agency Worker Usage – Quarter 2 report.

The Board received the Agency Worker Usage – Quarter 2 report.

RESOLVED: That the Agency Worker Usage – Quarter 2 report be noted.