Meeting documents

To sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 5 July 2012.

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 5 July 2012 were confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

The Chairman to move the following resolution:-

“That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.”

RESOLVED that under section 100 (A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

The Committee considered a report setting out progress towards the appointment of two posts of Principal Officer for the Chief Executive’s Support Team.

The objectives for setting up the Support Team were to 1) establish an integrated resilient team; 2) to provide support to the Chief Executive and Management Team; and 3) to be cost neutral. The two broad roles identified for the Principal Officer posts were:

• Personnel

• Policy, Partnerships and Communications and the job descriptions drafted for the posts were set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

It was proposed that the Policy, Partnerships and Communications post should be filled through internal recruitment, ring fenced to existing team members, by October 2012. For the Personnel post it was proposed to appoint an interim experienced Personnel Officer for a six month period from October 2012, with recruitment to the permanent role to follow. The posts had been evaluated using the three different schemes currently in use, enabling a temporary grade, with a fixed salary point for 12 months (depending on the levels and skills of the successful applicant), pending a decision on the evaluation scheme to be adopted for the future.

It was now necessary for the report and proposals to be the subject of formal consultation. The Committee asked a number of questions about the roles, and the timescales and costs for the appointments. The Committee requested that the report to the next meeting should include progress being made with recruitment before final decisions on the appointments are made.

RESOLVED that:

(1)       The report and the two proposed roles be the subject of formal consultation with team members and the respective Staff Sides with a view to a final decision being made at the next JAIC; and

(2)       The recruitment process for the interim Personnel Officer be commenced to ensure this resource is in place in a timely manner.

The Committee considered a report with an update in relation to revision of terms and conditions for the joint arrangements.

Appointments to the joint senior team had been made on the terms and conditions and salaries agreed by JAIC for the purpose. However posts below this level would be recruited on NJC terms and it would be important to avoid issues with differential terms when compare to the workforce falling outside the scope of the joint arrangements. Appendix 1 to the report contained a schedule which set out the areas of difference in the main terms and conditions of employment that will need to be addressed, including the key issue of the future mechanism for evaluating posts.

The policies which set out how the terms are managed and administered were also different in each Authority and these would need to be reviewed over a longer term period. More particularly, both Councils had reorganisation policies which differed slightly. Appendix 2 contained a draft organisational change policy for the Committee to consider.

The Committee noted that it was important to start to address the issues by getting formal consultation under way. The Chief Executive indicated that it was proposed to commence the broader staff consultation in August, hold meetings with the respective staff sides in mid August and staff briefings in early September, with a view to reporting back to the next JAIC towards the end of September. Janet Beaumont reported that she had prepared a copy of the Appendix 1 schedule of terms and conditions, with helpful annotations, which would be circulated separately to members.

RESOLVED that the choice of evaluation scheme, terms and conditions review strategy and the proposed organisational change policy should be the subject of consultation at the two Councils with a further report to JAIC once this is concluded.

The Committee considered a follow up report on the outcome of the recruitment process for Heads of Service.

Recruitment for the Head of Legal and Democratic Services was underway and the process was expected to conclude in September. Officers had reviewed the options for that part of the structure which had not yet been implemented.

Business Support was considered to be a key area as regards transformation and moving the joint working project forward. It was proposed to embark on a new internal recruitment process for the post of Head of Business Support. Customer Services was also considered to be an important part of a balanced service structure, however, further discussions with the relevant postholder at Chiltern indicated that an external appointment for the Head of Customer Services may be necessary and a further report to the Committee would be made when the position was clearer.

The Committee noted Appendix 1 to the report being the financial summary with the business case given the planned exits already agreed (ie excluding Business Support and Customer Services), and Appendix 2 being the financial summary on the basis of a successful internal appointment for Business Support and a redundancy in Customer Services. The Committee requested that the report to the next meeting should contain options for the Customer Services area together with recommendations as to the way forward.

RESOLVED to note the position regarding the appointments of the Head of Business Support and Customer Services, with a further report to the next meeting once the outcome is known.

UNISON letter

The Chief Executive tabled a copy of letter from the Chiltern Branch of UNISON addressed to him setting out a number of comments on reports forming part of the agenda for the meeting.

Date of next meeting

The JAIC agreed to hold its next meeting during week commencing 24 September 2012, on a date to be fixed after consultation with members.