Meeting documents
Venue: Council Chamber, South Bucks District Council, Capswood, Oxford Road, Denham UB9 4LH. View directions
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Election of Co-Chairmen Minutes: It was RESOLVED that Councillor I Darby and
Councillor N Naylor be appointed Co-Chairmen of the Committee for 2018/19. |
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To approve the
minutes of the Joint Staffing Committee held on 26 March 2018. Minutes: The minutes of
the Joint Staffing Committee held on 26 March 2018 were approved and signed by
the Chairman as a correct record. |
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Declarations of Interest Minutes: There were no
declarations of interest. |
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Customer Services Programme Staffing Implications PDF 189 KB Minutes: The Committee
considered a report relating to the staffing implications of the Customer
Experience Programme. The Project Manager reported that the full business case
for the Programme was approved by the Joint Committee on 28 June 2018. A
procurement process had been undertaken for a technical solution. There was
currently a procurement process for a technical solution. The Outline and Full
Business Case identified the need for additional posts in Customer Services to
form the Support Team to mobilise, design and test solutions. The Team would be
recruited to at the commencement of the Programme and the aim was to recruit
internally. External recruitment would be pursued if this was not possible. The
Support Team would initially manage the implementation and delivery of the
programme and would then be responsible for the administration of the Customer
Services systems, analysis of data, customer insight, training and managing the
website as an access channel. The Principal HR
Adviser reported that they were confident that they would be able to fill these
roles internally and recruitment would be ringfenced.
Functional analysis had been undertaken within the service areas and group
activities undertaken, this would inform the
percentage of activity that could be transferred to Customer Services. Analysis
has shown that customer facing activity made up a small part of many jobs but
not a large part of very many. Therefore some of the salary budgets would be
transferred to the customer services budget depending on how customer facing
their service was but all services would have a transformation target
equivalent to 3.75% of salary budgets. Any restructuring activity would be
undertaken by Heads of Service but there would be a ‘light touch’ approach. RESOLVED that:- 1. The
proposed customer service structure be approved. 2. The
proposed restructuring methodology be noted 3. The
fact that the Chief Executive has delegated authority to approve individual
business cases be noted with the proviso that
fundamental changes and changes outside the budget would need to come to the
Joint Staffing Committee for agreement. 4.
The Joint Staffing Committee would be
kept updated on the progress of the roll out of this Programme and approval
would be sought for changes proposed that come outside the Chief Executive’s
delegated authority. |
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Investors in People Award PDF 64 KB Minutes: The Committee
received a report which sought Members views on whether to apply for
re-accreditation of the Investors in People (IIP) Standard for South Bucks and
Chiltern District Council or whether to take an alternative approach. The IIP
accreditation expired in December 2018 and August 2019 respectively and if it
is decided to renew both together this would need to commence in September
2018. The HR Manager
reported that there were a number of reasons not to renew the IIP. The estimated
cost of renewal was £10,400 for CDC (previous assessment was 4k), £7,800 for
SBDC (previous assessment £4k). In addition the process of accreditation was
time-consuming and the IIP award may possibly no longer have the same prestige
as it did previously. However, it
was recognised that there was great value in the Councils taking a critical
look at their leadership and management practices and comparing these with best
practice and identifying areas to improve. This can be achieved at a lower cost
or zero cost by arranging an alternative form of assessment from an independent
expert such as South East Employers, the LGA or through a reciprocal peer
review arrangement with for example WDC and AVDC. Members noted
that if IIP accreditation was not renewed the budget could be invested directly
in to employee and leadership development e.g. funding the on-going roll out of
the Management Development Programme, introducing a “Change Ready†Programme,
developing health and well-being initiatives, introduce customer service
improvement workshops. In addition the Council could enter into awards to
receive recognition of the excellent work being carried out. A Member
commented that they were surprised how little the IIP cost and wanted
reassurance that the alternate methods would not cost the Council more money.
He also asked for more information on the ‘change-ready’ courses. The HR
Manager reported that she was already organising these courses. She commented
that with regard to IIP the amount of indirect costs were considerable in terms
of staff time and this could not be underestimated. The HR Manager reported
that when she had spoken to new staff they commented that they had not noticed
the IIP logo when applying for jobs and also the Unions did not think it made
any difference. The Member agreed that having alternative awards could be more
valuable for enticing staff. Following a
question on what staff would miss by not having the IIP, Members noted that
nothing would be missed as better alternatives would be put in place and there
was no evidence to show that IIP provided value for money. The CDC Leader
also commented that the current awards held by the Council publicised good
practice. The SBDC Leader asked for reassurance that these alternatives would
be within the same budget or less than the current budget and the HR Manager
reported that she would liaise with the Chief Executive to redeploy the
existing IIP budget. The Head of Finance had set aside funding in the budget
for the IIP of £18,200. A Member commented that it may be better to have an
external peer review rather than internal and the HR Manager responded that she
would look at costs for this. Members agreed that the alternative approach
looked to provide better value for money which could be looked at through the
budget scrutiny process in the Autumn . RESOLVED that:- 1. CDC
and SBDC Councils do not undertake further IIP accreditation: and instead ·
arrange
an independent assessment of the leadership and management practices in the Councils
through an alternative method such as a reciprocal peer review arrangement with
Wycombe District Council and Aylesbury Vale District Council or through the
South East Employers or another independent expert. ·
explore
options to enter in to a business award to seek recognition and promotion for
the work the Councils undertake. ·
the budget set aside for IIP
accreditation be invested directly into corporate wide staff development
initiatives such as a “Change Ready†programme, the continued roll out of the
Management Development Programme, health and well-being initiatives, raising
customer service standards training. 2. Authority
be delegated to the Chief Executive to arrange the
three alternatives outlined above in recommendation 1 in discussion with the HR
Manager and redeploy the existing IIP budget accordingly. |
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Minutes: The HR Manager
provided an update to Members and in particular drew Member’s attention to the
following:- ·
The
sickness figures for April/May had fallen significantly and they were still awaiting
information for June. Managers and the HR Team were particularly focussing on
this issue to ensure a robust and consistent approach was taken. ·
Collaborative
work was being carried out with District Councils. This included the ‘change
ready’ workshops as it was important that staff were able to cope successfully
with change and maximise the opportunities it could bring. ·
In
May the Chief Executive launched the Health and Wellbeing Statement and Annual
Action Plan. The launch coincided with Mental Health Awareness Week and each
day of that week the Council promoted different health and wellbeing
initiatives including workshops delivered by MIND. The Health and Wellbeing
Forum met regularly and initiatives were put forward by staff at all levels and
all service areas. ·
The
second cohort were half way through their course for the Management Development
Programme. The first cohort were being offered further development and they
were also being encouraged to continue to meet in their action learning sets. ·
They
were rolling out ‘it starts with you’ courses. ·
The
figures in 2.3.1 were wrong and would be amended to clarify that these were
annualised figures “by month†not “per monthâ€. A Member asked
about pilates and yoga and whether these classes were
continuing and the HR Manager confirmed that these classes were still in place.
Feedback on the MIND programme was being followed up and this would be further
promoted following a question at the ‘meet Bob’ sessions. Reference was made to
sickness absences and that it would be helpful to compare sickness absences
with last year’s figures. The HR Manager reported that this information could
be made available but it would be inappropriate to split sickness figures by
Department as it could identify people on long term sickness. Reference was
made to the number of days lost to absence but that figures were still high.
The SBDC Leader reported that the number of days had gone down significantly
but further work needed to be undertaken. Another Member commented that the HR
figures were significantly better and thanked the HR team for their work on
this area. RESOLVED That the report be noted. |
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Social Media Policy for Staff PDF 38 KB Minutes: The Committee
received the report which contained the new social media policy and guidance.
The Senior Communications Officer reported that this policy should be used at
work and also at home and it set out the principles which staff were expected
to follow when using social media and their expected code of conduct, when
online. The Communications Team hold the central list of accounts including
access and password security. All Members of staff had been offered training. The policy
also included information on corporate style and made staff aware of the risks
of using social media and the law relating to it. However, staff were
encouraged to use and recognise the benefit of social media. A Member asked
about using Facebook and it was suggested that they speak to the Communications
Team for further information. RESOLVED that:- 1. The
social media policy for staff be approved at Appendix A of the report 2. The
social media guidance contained in Appendix B of the report be approved |