Agenda and minutes

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

Councillor Scott declared a personal interest as his wife is an employee of City of York Council.

Councillor Hodgson declared a personal interest as a member of Unison, the Public and Commercial Services Union and as an ex employee of the NHS Trust.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 20 July  2011.

RESOLVED:       That the minutes of the meeting held on 20 July 2011 be approved and signed 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 Monday 12 September 2011 at 5pm.

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

The purpose of this report is to provide details of the headline financial performance issues for 2011-12 covering the period 1 April 2011 to 30 June 2011.

Members received a report that provided details of the headline financial performance issues for 2011-12, covering the period 1 April 2011 to 30 June 2011.  The report detailed performance against budgets, progress of the council’s savings programme and a position statement on the council’s revenue reserves.

Members queried the following:

·        The £187k one off pressure outlined in paragraph 23 of the report. Officers advised they would obtain further details and email Members with an explanation.

·        The use of reserves, in particular the action that would need to be taken if reserves fell below the minimum level.

RESOLVED:       That the information in the report be noted.

REASON:           To ensure that Members are informed of performance issues that fall within the committee’s remit.

This report sets the context for an Effective Organisation Overview and Scrutiny Committee review of staff sickness.

Members received a report that set the context for the committee’s review of staff sickness.

The Committee decided that a Task Group consisting of Councillors Steward, Firth, McIlveen and Hodgson would be formed to gather information and to establish which strands of the sickness absence topic should be focused upon. The task group would then report back to the meeting scheduled for 22^nd November with their findings.

Potential areas of focus were briefly discussed and the following identified as areas of interest to the Committee:

·        Current procedures at the Council and policies relating to sickness absence and how they can be improved.

·        Responsibility for reporting sickness.

·        Comparative figures from other Local Authorities in particular figures and information from the best performing Authorities.

·        Sickness absence figures split by pay grades.

In response to a query by the Chair, the Assistant Director for Customers and Employees advised that she would circulate copies of the Management Information reports relating to Sickness to the whole Committee.

Officers confirmed that the Task Group would be co-ordinated by Democratic Services.

RESOLVED: (i)     That a Task Group comprising of The Chair, Councillor Firth, Councillor Hodgson and Councillor Mcilveen be set up.

(ii)     That the reports produced by HR for the Management Teams relating to sickness be distributed to the Committee.

(iii)   That Members email any specific queries in relation to sickness absence to the Scrutiny Officer or the Task Group Members for consideration.

REASON:              To progress the Scrutiny Topic on Sickness Absence.

This report presents the committee’s work plan for the forthcoming year and asks Members to consider any additions and/or amendments they may wish to make to the plan.

Members received a report that presented the committee’s work plan for the forthcoming year.  Members were asked to consider any additions and/or amendments they wished to make to the work plan.

It was agreed that the Sickness Absence Task Group would meet at least twice before the next meeting on the 22 November, and then bring an update to that meeting.

RESOLVED:       That the committee’s work plan be updated to reflect Members’ decisions (as detailed above).

REASON:           In order to provide the committee with a work programme for this municipal year.