Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Committee Room 2 - Wallasey Town Hall. View directions

Contact: Andrew Mossop  Principal Committee Officer

Items
No. Item

22.

Members' Code of Conduct - Declarations of Interest

Members are asked to consider whether they have any disclosable pecuniary and / or any other relevant interest in connection with any of the items on this agenda and, if so, to declare it and state the nature of the interest.

Minutes:

Members of the Committee were requested to declare whether they had any disclosable pecuniary interests and/or any other relevant interest in the item on this agenda and, if so, to declare it and state the nature of such interest.

 

Councillor Moira McLaughlin declared a personal interest in agenda item 3, ‘Pay Policy 2020/21’ by virtue of a close relative being employed by the Council.

23.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 59 KB

To approve the accuracy of the minutes of the meetings held on 21 November, 18 December, 2019 and 28 January, 2020.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee was requested to approve the accuracy of the minutes of the meetings of 21 November, 18 December, 2019 and 28 January, 2020.

 

Resolved – That the minutes of the meetings of 21 November, 18 December, 2019 and 28 January, 2020, be approved.

24.

Pay Policy 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 81 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Tony Williams, Head of Human Resources, introduced a report which set out information on the Council’s Pay Policy, which provided transparency with regard to the Council’s approach to setting pay by identifying:

 

·  the methods by which salaries of all employees were determined;

·  the detail and level of the salary package of its most senior staff;

·  the Head of Paid Service’s responsibility for ensuring the provisions set out in the statement were applied consistently throughout the Council and recommending any amendments to Full Council.

 

The Council was required by Section 38 of The Localism Act 2011 to prepare a Pay Policy Statement for each financial year.

 

The 2020/21 statement reflected key changes and updates that had occurred within the last financial year, including a new Foundation Living Wage rate which had been announced by The Living Wage Foundation in November 2019 as £9.30 per hour, an increase of 30p. The Council used the National Joint Council (NJC) nationally negotiated pay spine as the basis for its pay structure. The starting spinal column point was currently £9.25 an hour. Although no nationally agreed pay award had been made yet, the predicted increase for the NJC pay award for 2020/2021 meant that the starting spinal point would increase above the living wage rate of £9.30 by April 2020.

 

In response to Members’ comments, Tony Williams informed the Committee that although ‘Matrix’ was the preferred supplier for the recruitment of agency workers, which the Council was duty bound to use under its contract, it was possible to go outside of the ‘Matrix’ system if recruitment could not be achieved via this, in accordance with the Employment Procedure Rules. With regard to IR35 (off payroll working rules), procedures were in place and a report would be brought to the successor committee.

 

Resolved – That it be recommended to Council that the Pay Policy Statement for 2020/21, be approved.

25.

Gender Pay Gap Report pdf icon PDF 74 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Tony Williams, Head of Human Resources, introduced a report which provided information on the Council’s Gender Pay Gap in line with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017, whereby the Council was required by law to publish an annual gender pay gap report.

 

He reported that the gender profile of Wirral Council employees in March 2019 was unchanged from 2018, with a predominantly female workforce, 63% female and 37% male. The median gender pay gap (GPG) for 2019 had remained at 10.9%, the same as for 2018. Whilst the mean gender pay gap had risen slightly from 6.3% in 2018 to 6.9%.

 

Tony Williams responded to a number of comments from Members on various aspects of the report.

 

 Resolved – That the Gender Pay Gap report be noted.

26.

Annual Workforce Monitoring report 2018/19 pdf icon PDF 86 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Suzanne Moore, Head of Organisational Design and Development, introduced a report on the annual Workforce Equality Report for 2018/19.

 

Responding to comments from Members, Suzanne Moore informed the Committee that strategic workforce planning was being undertaken to mitigate the potential risks with regard to the ageing workforce, measures included expansion of the apprenticeship scheme. The work would also help in maintaining knowledge within the workforce for succession planning. Managers were being supported to manage performance effectively including the use of appraisals. Further work would be undertaken as to how success could be measured in the future.

 

Members also made suggestions with regard to mentoring programmes for staff, the possible employment of veterans and also care leavers and Suzanne Moore agreed that these could all be looked at.

 

With regard to measuring poor performance, work was undertaken with each department and managers were supported in a variety of ways to try and improve performance where this was needed.

 

Members also queried whether it was appropriate to question staff further who, with regard to some protected characteristics, had chosen ‘prefer not to say’ as this was a personal choice.

 

Resolved –

 

(1)  That publication of the annual Workforce Equality report to meet the Council’s legal requirements under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) 2011, be approved.

 

(2)  That the position in relation to workforce equality performance and the progress made by the Council in relation to producing, analysing and publishing workforce data, be noted.

27.

Exempt Information - Exclusion of Members of the Public

The public may be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information.

 

RECOMMENDED –

 

That in accordance with section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business, on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined by paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to that Act. The public interest test has been applied and favours exclusion.

Minutes:

Resolved - That, under section 100 (A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined by paragraph 1 of Part I of Schedule 12A (as amended) to that Act.

28.

Chief Officers' Report

Minutes:

Paul Satoor, Chief Executive, introduced a report which sought the Committee’s  agreement for a new structure at Chief Officer level.  He had previously advised the Committee that a restructure at Chief Officer level was required to ensure the Council had the capacity and capability required to deliver the Council’s regeneration and growth plans and improve its service delivery to residents. He emphasised that the redesign had not incurred any external costs, and that if the proposals were approved there would be potential savings of up to £328,000.

 

Paul Satoor then invited each of his Directors and the Assistant Director of the Corporate Office to give a presentation on their individual directorates. The Directors responded to a number of questions and comments during their presentations giving clarification and reassurance on a number of issues with regard to the departmental redesigns.

 

Resolved (unanimously) – That,

 

(1)  the proposed structure at Chief Officer level, subject to appropriate consultation with officers that may be required, be approved;

 

(2)  agreement to the approach for internal and external recruitment set out in Section 9 of Appendix One for the posts proposed below, be confirmed:

 

1.   

Assistant Director: Highways

Internal

2.   

Assistant Director: Neighbourhood Services and Engagement

External

3.   

Assistant Director: Neighbourhood Safety and Transport

Internal

4.   

Assistant Director: Housing

Internal

5.   

Assistant Director: Asset Management and Investment

External

6.   

Assistant Director: Chief Regeneration Officer

External

7.   

Assistant Director: Chief Planner

External

8.   

Assistant Director: Digital and Improvement

Internal

9.   

Assistant Director: HR/OD

Internal

 

(3)  politically proportionate Appointments Panels of 9 Members, be established in accordance with the terms of reference set out in Appendix Four to the report;

 

(4)  the Chief Executive be authorised to make and undertake all requisite arrangements necessary for the recruitment process and appointments to be made;

 

(5)  the Committee (Appointments Panel) will appoint all Chief Officers and those Deputy Chief Officers whose grading is designated as ‘Director’ or ‘Assistant Director’; and

 

(6)  the appointment of other Deputy Chief Officers, whose grading is designated as ‘Head of Service’, ‘Service Manager’ or similar, are delegated to the Head of Paid Service or an officer nominated by him.