Venue: Sparkenhoe Committee Room, County Hall, Glenfield
Contact: Damien Buckley (Tel: 0116 305 0183) Email: damien.buckley@leics.gov.uk
No. | Item |
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Minutes of the previous meeting. Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 2 December 2021 were taken as read, confirmed and signed. |
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Question Time. Minutes: The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 34. |
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Questions asked by members. Minutes: The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 7(3) and 7(5). |
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Urgent items. Minutes: There were no urgent items for consideration. |
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Declarations of interest. Minutes: The Chairman invited members who wished to do so to declare any interest in respect of items on the agenda for the meeting. No declarations were made. |
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Minutes: The Committee
considered a report of the Director of Corporate Resources which presented the
initial results regarding Gender Pay Gap reporting for Leicestershire County
Council. The report showed results for 31 March 2021, and comparison was also
made against the results for the previous three years. A copy of the report
marked ‘Agenda Item 7‘ is filed with these minutes. An error in
paragraph 14 of the report was noted; ‘December 2022’ should have read
‘December 2021’. In response to
questions, the following points were noted: i.
Conversations with Leicester City Council
around its own Gender Pay Gap data had not taken place; however, County Council
officers would liaise with the City Council to ascertain how their data had
been calculated. ii.
Detailed data which analysed the split of male
and female employees at each grade was available and had been used in compiling
the report presented to members. An increase in the number of female employees
at grade six to eight accounted for a change in the Median Gender Pay Gap. The
split between male and female employees at lower grades, particularly in
part-time roles, was not untypical in Local Government organisations. iii.
Gender Pay Gap data would be reviewed in March
2022 to evaluate progress and to understand any impacts of the COVID-19
pandemic. RESOLVED: That the initial results regarding Gender Pay Gap reporting
for Leicestershire County Council, and the requirement to publish the data by
30 March 2022, be noted. |
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Becoming an Anti-Racist Organisation. Minutes: The Committee
considered a report of the Director of Corporate Resources on the proposal for
Leicestershire County Council to make a formal commitment to becoming an
anti-racist organisation. A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 8’ is filed
with these minutes. In introducing the
report, the Director of Corporate Resources clarified that the County Council
already had a good record with regard to race
relations and it was not being suggested otherwise. However, under the new proposals it was
expected that the County Council would become more proactive in addressing any
perceived inequalities. Arising from
discussions the following points were noted: i.
Members
expressed support for the proposal and agreed that it was important to tackle
discrimination and any perception of discrimination within the County Council.
Managers and staff needed to be given the confidence to challenge
discrimination, bullying and harassment and there needed to be a consistent
approach across the Authority. Where staff had a perception of discrimination,
that perception needed to be acknowledged by managers rather than dismissed. ii.
It
would be important that the County Council dealt with these issues in an honest
and transparent way. iii.
Members
noted the duty to promote anti-racism in their own roles and welcomed
additional specific training on the topic where necessary. RESOLVED: a)
That
the proposal for Leicestershire County Council to make a formal commitment to
becoming an anti-racist organisation be fully supported and submitted to the
County Council for approval at its meeting on 23rd February, subject
to the views of the Cabinet. b)
That
the comments now made be forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration at its
meeting on 11 February 2022. |
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Update on Pay. The Director of Corporate Resources will provide a verbal update on this item. Minutes: The
Director of Corporate Resources provided a verbal update on Local Government
pay arrangements following an update from The National Employers. Members
were informed that:
i.
Negotiations for the 2021/22 Local Government
pay arrangements had been ongoing since early 2021 and remained unresolved. The
initial trade union request was for a 10% pay increase across the board.
ii.
In relation to the National Joint
Council negotiations, the National Employers made a final offer in July 2021 of
a 1.75% pay increase at pay points 2 and above, 2.75% to those on pay point .The National
Joint Council offer also included offers of joint discussions on term time only arrangements, homeworking,
mental health joint guidance, and maternity and other related leave. In
relation to the Joint National Councils for Chief Officers and Chief
Executives, a 1.5% increase was tabled.
iii.
All three union bodies (Unison,
Unite and GMB) had rejected the offer and had moved to ballot their members on
strike action. Unison had completed its ballot which resulted in no strike
action due to less than 50% of members taking part in the ballot. Unite had an
ongoing ballot. GMB had not yet started to ballot members.
iv.
The National Employers were now
considering how to proceed. It was
noted that there would be a possibility for tax implications if a backdated pay
award was provided in tax year 2022-23. A pay award in the next tax year would
also coincide with planned changes to rates of National Insurance contribution.
The
Committee would be notified when an agreement on pay
arrangements had been made. In the event that a deal
was accepted, or that the Council chose to implement an award to its own
employees, before a meeting of the next Employment Committee, the Director of
Corporate Resources would write to the Chair of the Committee and opposition
party Spokesman to seek approval. A report would then be presented at the next
Committee. RESOLVED: That the update on
Local Government pay arrangements be noted. |
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Organisational Change Policy and Procedure: Action Plans. Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee
considered a report of the Chief Executive which presented the current Action
Plans which contained provision for compulsory redundancy and details of
progress made with their implementation. A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda
Item 10’ is filed with these minutes. RESOLVED: That the update
provided on the current Action Plans which contain provision for compulsory
redundancy, and details of progress in their implementation, be noted. |
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Date of Next Meeting. The next meeting of the Committee is scheduled to be held on 26 May 2022. Minutes: The next meeting of the Committee was scheduled to be held on Thursday 26 May 2022 at 10:00am. |