The Chair opened the meeting and reminded everyone that the meeting was being webcast and a copy was retained on the Council’s website.

No apologies for absence had been received.

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

Members of the Sub Committee were asked to declare any disclosable

pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests, in connection with any item on the

agenda and state the nature of the interest.

No declarations were made.

To approve the accuracy of the minutes of the meeting held on 17 July 2023.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 17 July 2023 be approved as an accurate record.

There were no questions, petitions or statements received for this meeting.

The Assistant Director for Human Resources and Organisational Development introduced the report of the Director of Resources which provided the Senior Officer Appointments and Staffing Sub-Committee with the Annual Workforce Equality Report for 2022/23 which was statutorily required to be reported under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) 2011. In addition, an update on the actions outlined within the action plan in relation to progress made over the previous year was reported.

Members of the Sub-Committee discussed the work being undertaken to address challenges relating to an ageing workforce. The Assistant Director affirmed that the Council had published a talent strategy which outlined several pipelines to attract talent into Local government including graduate and apprenticeship programmes.

Additionally, Members noted work undertaken to provide employment opportunities to Care Leavers. The Head of Organisational Development & Talent outlined that this was an important pipeline for the Council, and most recently 6 apprentices who were care leavers had been supported into different parts of the organisation, who had been provided with both technical and pastoral development.

Resolved – That

1.  The publication of the Annual Workforce Equality Report be approved in order to meet the legal requirements under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) 2011; and

2.  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.

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The Assistant Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development introduced the report of the Director of Resources which, in line with the Equality Act 2010, the purpose of the Council’s Gender Pay Gap Report is to provide transparency with regard to the average difference between earnings of women and men, which was required to be published by 31 March each year, reflecting the pay gap as at March of the previous year. The report reflected the position as at March 2023. It was reported that the gender profile had remained steady for the fifth consecutive year - 64% female

and 36% male – and that the median gender pay gap had increased from 5.01% in 2022 to 6.48%, whilst the mean gender pay gap had also increased slightly from 4.4% to 4.65%.

Resolved – That the Gender Pay Gap report be noted and endorsed.

The following item contains exempt information.

RECOMMENDATION – 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 item 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 (as amended) to that Act. The public interest test has been applied and favours exclusion.

Resolved – 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 item 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 (as amended) to that Act. The public interest test has been applied and favours exclusion.

The Assistant Director for Human Resources and Organisational Development presented the report of Chief Executive.

Resolved – That the recommendations as detailed in the report be noted and approved.