Agenda and minutes

At this point, Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on this agenda.

Members were invited to declare at this point in the meeting any personal or prejudicial interests they might have in the business on the agenda.

Cllr Alexander declared a personal interest in agenda item 6, 7 and 8 (Minutes 34, 35 and 36 refer), as a member of the GMB.

Cllr Fraser declared an interest in the same items, as a member of the retired section of UNISON and the retired section of Unite (TGWU/ACTS sections).

To consider the exclusion of the press and public from the meeting during consideration of the annexes to Agenda Item 8 (Redundancy), on the grounds that they contain information relating to individuals and the financial affairs of particular persons.  This information is classed as exempt under paragraphs 1,2 and 3 of Schedule 12A to Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as revised by The Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006).

RESOLVED: That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the annex to Agenda Item 8 (Redundancy), on the grounds that it contains information relating to individuals and to the financial affairs of particular persons, which is classed as exempt under paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Schedule 12A to Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as revised by The Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006).

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting of the Staffing Matters & Urgency Committee held on 6 December 2010.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Staffing & Urgency Committee meeting held on 6 December 2010 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Committee’s remit can do so.  The deadline for registering is 5.00 pm on Friday, 17 December 2010.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

This report asks Members to approve the addition to the Capital Programme in 2010/11 of £525k in relation to the acquisition of premises on behalf of the York Museums Trust, subject to satisfactory terms being agreed.

Members considered a report which sought approval to add £525k to the 2010/11 Capital Programme, to enable the Council to acquire premises at Unit 4, Birch Park and lease them to the York Museums Trust (YMT) for the provision of additional storage space.

The matter had been referred to the Committee following consideration by Council on 9 December of a recommendation made by the Executive on 16 November to add this sum to the Capital Programme.  This followed representations made to the Council meeting by the current tenant of the premises, stating that he had bid to buy the unit and that its purchase by the Council would force the closure of his business.  Further details of the background to this issue were circulated to Members at the meeting. 

It was noted that the original report to Executive had contained information obtained and supplied in good faith by YMT, indicating that the current tenant was re-locating his business to Leeds.

RESOLVED: (i)         That no action be taken by Officers to progress the inclusion of £525k in the Capital Programme in order to acquire the premises at Birch Park mentioned in the report.

                        (ii)        That Officers work with both York Museums Trust and Joshua Barrington / Technoprint to meet their accommodation requirements and the retention of employment in York.¹

REASON:      To enable the matter to be resolved in commercial arena, as is appropriate in the circumstances.

This report provides Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee with the outcome of an analysis of Chief Officer pay.

Members received a report which informed them of the outcome of an analysis of the Council’s current pay rates for Chief Officers.

The current grading structure for the Chief Executive was from £130k to £145k, which was around average for Unitary Chief Executives but low when compared to the regional picture.  For Directors, the current structure was from £88,080 to £102,766, which was in the lower quartile for City Strategy, C&NS and CBSS roles.  Chief Executive pay levels had not changed since October 2007 and Director pay levels had not changed since April 2008.  Market data for Assistant Director roles showed that the current pay structure did not appear to be aligned to the market.

It was noted that the pay multiples for all Chief Officer roles in York were well below the 20 to 1 maximum pay multiple examined by the government’s Fair Pay Review in their interim report.  The final report, due in March 2011, would provide recommendations in respect of this and the other issues discussed in the interim report.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

REASON:      For information.

This report proposes changes to Chief Officer pay progression, to link incremental progression to performance.  This matter is considered to be urgent due to the need to undertake consultation, amend contracts of employment and design the necessary performance assessment process prior to 1^st April 2011.

Members considered a report which proposed changes to the progression of Chief Officer pay, in order to link incremental progression to performance.

During the discussion, a proposal was put forward that Assistant Director pay be reduced from the current Chief Officer Group 10 grade to Chief Officer Group 9.

The Committee discussed the proposal and agreed to receive a full report on its financial and non-financial implications.

RESOLVED: (i)         That consideration of the report on performance related pay be deferred.

(ii) That a report be received on 7 February 2011 setting out the implications of reducing Assistant Directors’ pay to Chief Officer Group 9 ¹

REASON:      To enable all implications, including the financial impact and risks, and potential savings, to be properly explored and presented.

This report advises Members of the expenditure associated with the proposed dismissal of a number of employees on the grounds of redundancy.  Details of the individual cases will be circulated to Members at the meeting.

Members considered a report which informed them of the expenditure associated with the proposed dismissal of an employee on the grounds of redundancy.

Details of the case, and its implications, were circulated at the meeting as an exempt annex to the report.  The case concerned a voluntary redundancy and no discretionary enhancement was proposed.

RESOLVED: That the expenditure associated with the proposed dismissal of the employee on the grounds of redundancy, as detailed in the annex, be noted.

REASON:      In order to confirm that the Committee has been informed of this expenditure.