Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest made in accordance with the Code of Conduct.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of General Purposes Committee held on 1 February 2016

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the meeting of the General Purposes Committee held on 1 February 2016 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The report of the Director of Central Services presented an updated Human Resources Strategy which provided an overview of the Council’s approach to managing its employees.  Details were given of progress in achieving the improvement priorities in the Strategy for 2015/16 together with actions to be implemented in the period April 2016 – March 2017 (the Workforce Development Plan).  The updated strategy also contained the statutory equality monitoring required by the Equality Act 2010.

RECOMMENDED:  That the outcomes of the equality monitoring reported in Section 4 of the Human Resources Strategy, as set out in Annex 1 to the report, be noted and the actions listed in Section 5 thereof be commended to the Council.

* Referred to Council

The Chairman to move that the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting during consideration of any items the publication of which would disclose exempt information.

The Chairman moved, it was seconded and

RESOLVED:  That as public discussion would disclose exempt information, the following matters be considered in private.

(LGA 1972 Sch 12A Paragraph 1 – Information relating to an individual)

(LGA 1972 Sch 12A Paragraph 1 – Information relating to an individual)

The report of the Director of Central Services presented for approval a number of establishment changes recommended by the Management Team arising from the on-going operational management of the Council’s services.  It was noted that the proposals would result in net savings of £89,000.

Members recognised the cross-cutting nature of the various reviews that had been undertaken with the objective of ensuring that resources were in place at the right level to deliver services in accordance with the Savings and Transformation Strategy.  They expressed appreciation of the flexibility, commitment and contribution of staff and requested that thanks be conveyed accordingly.

RESOLVED:  That the proposals and establishment adjustments set out in the report be endorsed as follows:

(1)                                                    the post of Customer Support Assistant - DB0005, 21 hours per week, scale 2/3 be deleted with effect from 30 June 2016;

(2)                                                    the post of Services Administrator – DA0201, 20 hours per week, scale 4/5 be deleted with effect from 30 June 2016;

(3)                                                    the two Mayors Assistant posts – DA1301 and DA1302, 19.5 hours per week, scale 4/5 be deleted with effect from 30 June 2016;

(4)                                                    three new Administration Officer posts – scale 3/4 at 21 hours per week, 20 hours per week, and 19.5 hours per week be created and the incumbents of posts DB0005, DA0201 and DA1301 be transferred on their current hours into these newly created posts with effect from 1 July 2016.  The individuals in posts DA0201 and DA1301 will receive 3 years of salary protection in accordance with Section J of the Council’s Reorganisation, Redundancy and Redeployment Procedure;

(5)                                                    post DA0213, currently scale 4/5 be redesignated from Administration Officer to Senior Administration Officer and regraded scale 6with effect from 1 July 2016; 

(6)                                                    the existing post of Administrative Assistant (DA0204) be redesignated Administration Officer and regraded scale 3/4 with effect from 1July 2016;

(7)                                                    the posts of Electoral Services Officer numbers DC0402 and DC0403 be regraded from scale 2/3 to 3/4, with a bar at the top of scale 3, and the hours be formalised as 29.5 hours and 24 hours per week respectively with effect from 1 July 2016;

(8)                                                    the post of Solicitor - DR0007 be regraded from grade M6 to M5 and redesignated Principal Litigation Solicitor with effect from 1 July 2016;

(9)                                                    the post of Elections and Special Projects Manager - DC0498, scale M6, 37 hours per week be deleted with effect from 30 June 2016;

(10)                                           a new post of Head of Electoral and Democratic Services scale M5, 37 hours per week be created with effect from 1 July 2016;

(11)                                           a sum of £39,950 accruing from the reduction in hours of post DB0002 be ring-fenced pending a corporate review of the Customer Services function;

(12)                                           the post of Media and Communications Manager – DA1202, 18.5 hours per week, scale M8 be deleted with immediate effect;

(13)                                           a new post of Media and Communications Officer, 22 hours  ...  view the full minutes text for item GP 16/14