Agenda and minutes

At this point in the meeting, Members are asked to declare:

·        any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests

·        any prejudicial interests or

·        any disclosable pecuniary interests

which they may have in respect of business on this agenda.

At this point in the meeting, Members were asked to declare any personal, prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interests that they might have had in the business on the agenda.

No interests were declared.

To consider the exclusion of the press and public from the meeting during consideration of the following:

Annexes to Agenda Items 5 (Pension or Exit Discretions) & 6 (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 the consideration of Agenda Item 5 (Pension or Exit Discretions) and Agenda Item 6 (Redundancy) on the grounds they contained information that related to individuals and the financial affairs of particular persons. This information was 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 12 May 2014.

Resolved:  That the minutes of the last meeting held on 12 May 2014 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 Friday 23 May 2014 at 5.00 pm.

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

This report advises the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee of the expenditure associated with pension or exit discretions in accordance with council policy.

Members received a report which advised them of the expenditure associated with two cases for pension or exit discretions in accordance with council policy. The business cases were circulated to Members at the meeting as exempt annexes to the report.

Both business cases outlined that the employees wanted to work part time. In one case the employee would reduce their working hours to three days a week from 1 June 2014 and to two days a week from 1 June 2015.

Discussion took place on whether business cases should be circulated to Members in advance of the meeting. Some Members highlighted that consideration of cases involving pension or exit discretions at the meeting were rare and that most others of those presented to the Committee were statutory redundancies and only needed to be noted.

Resolved:   That each proposal as detailed in the annexes be agreed.

Reason:     In order to provide an overview of expenditure and to consider whether the Council should exercise its discretionary powers to make enhancements.

This report advises the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee of the expenditure associated with the proposed dismissal of a number of employees on the grounds of redundancy. This summary information covers the period February 2014 to April 2014.

Members received a report which advised them with the expenditure associated with the dismissal of a number of employees on the grounds of redundancy from the period February 2014-April 2014. A confidential annex was circulated to Members which included details of all redundancies.

Some Members commented that there had been an increase in the number of compulsory redundancies during the past few months and requested that in future further analysis should be provided by Officers to Members on how these numbers compared with the previous quarter and the last year. It was also suggested that clarification be given as to which were the redundancies which had been “bumped”.  

Resolved:  That the expenditure associated with the proposed dismissal of the employees on the grounds of redundancy as detailed in the annex be noted and the additional analysis relating to comparative data and bumped redundancies is provided in future quarterly reports.

Reason:    In order to provide an overview of the expenditure and to maintain transparency and scrutiny of the process.

At the Annual Council meeting on 20 May 2014, appointments were made to Committees, outside and partnership bodies together with appointments to Chairs and Vice-Chairs for the 2014/15 municipal year, with the exception of appointments to the Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee.  Appointments to this Committee were referred to Staffing & Urgency Committee to resolve.  Since that time, some further changes have also come to light.

Members received a report which asked them to agree to a number of changes to appointments and nominations to Committees and Outside Bodies.

Members agreed to the suggested appointments and nominations set out in the Officer’s report, but also reconfirmed all appointments that had been made at Full Council.

Resolved:  (i) That the appointments and nominations to Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee together with minor changes set out in Paragraphs 4 to 8 in the Officer’s report be agreed.

                 (ii) That all other appointments and nominations approved by Full Council at the Annual Meeting be reconfirmed.

Reason:     In order to make appropriate appointments to the Council’s Committees and Outside Bodies for the current municipal year.