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 8 October 2018

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the meeting of the General Purposes Committee held on 8 October 2018 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To note the recommendation of the Electoral Review Working Group in respect of the review of Polling Districts and Polling Places in the Borough, and to agree to the final proposals to be submitted to Council for approval.

-        Final Proposals (Annex 1)

-        Minutes of Electoral Review Working Group (Annex 2)

The Chief Executive reported on the Review of Polling Districts and Polling Places and set out the proposals recommended by the Electoral Review Working Group on 14 January 2019.

It was noted that appropriate changes arising from these proposals would be made to the Register with effect from 1 March 2019.

The Chairman indicated that there had been an in-depth discussion at the Electoral Review Working Group and a number of views had been considered. 

RECOMMENDED:  That the final proposals, set out in Annex 1 to the report, be approved by Council.

*Referred to Council

Section 38(1) of the Localism Act 2011 requires English and Welsh local authorities to review their pay policy statement for each financial year.  This report summarises the requirements of the Act and presents an updated Pay Policy Statement for 2019/20.

The report of the Director of Central Services summarised the requirements of the Localism Act 2011 and presented an updated Pay Policy Statement for 2019/20 

Members noted that as there had not been any changes in the Borough Council’s remuneration policy, the substantive content of the updated Pay Policy Statement, attached as Annex 1 to the report, was identical to the authority’s first Pay Policy Statement adopted by Council on 16 February 2012.

RECOMMENDED:  That the Pay Policy Statement, attached as Annex 1 to the report, be commended to Council for adoption.

*Referred to Council

The report requests Members to give consideration to the matter of a pay award for employees for 2019/20.

Members gave consideration to the matter of a pay award for employees for 2019/20.  A range of factors that were relevant to the issue of a pay award were considered and included the prevailing economic conditions, comparative pay settlements and the Retail Price Index (RPI).

The Chief Executive reported that provision for pay award inflation for 2019/20 had been made in the Medium Term Financial Strategy.    Members recognised that staff were a valuable asset to the organisation  and continued to face significant challenges in dealing effectively with the implications of overall costs reduction through re-structuring, shared services, deletion of posts and potential future change.

Members acknowledged the hard work by the staff throughout the year and were grateful for their commitment.

It was also important for recruitment and retention that the Borough Council did not fall behind other local authorities and it was proposed that an award of 2.5% was offered to staff for 2019/20.  This was in line with other Kent councils with which the Borough Council competed in the recruitment market.

Members were pleased to note that there had been a good response to a number of recent high profile vacancies. 

RESOLVED:  That a 2.5% pay increase be awarded from 1 April 2019.

The report informs Members of the outcome of the annual review of the Council’s Whistleblowing Policy.

The report of the Director of Finance and Transformation advised of the outcome of the annual review of the Borough Council’s Whistleblowing Policy, which identified that no changes were required at this time.   Members were advised that the Audit Committee of 21 January 2019 had also approved the Policy.  (Minute Number AU 19/5 refers)

RESOLVED:  That the Whistleblowing Policy, attached as Annex 1 to the report, be approved.

The report summarises the legislative context for gender pay gap reporting and incorporates the outcomes of the Council’s gender pay gap analysis for 2017/18.

The report of the Director of Central Services summarised the legislative context for gender pay gap reporting and incorporated the outcomes of the Borough Council’s gender pay gap analysis for 2017/18.

Particular reference was made to the disparity in grades 3 to 6 (illustrated in paragraph 1.3.2 of the report) which indicated that women were more likely to apply for, be appointed to and remain in lower graded posts.  The Borough Council’s gender gap profile suggested that it was the lack of men in lower graded jobs that was the cause of the extent of the gap.

However, Members were reminded that the Borough Council had contracted out several services, such as refuse, street cleansing and leisure centres, where often lower paid jobs were filled in the majority by men, which explained in part why Tonbridge and Malling’s pay gap was higher than some comparative councils.

RESOLVED:  That the report be received and noted.

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

The report sets out for approval a number of establishment changes recommended by the Management Team.

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

The report of the Management Team set out for approval a number of establishment changes arising from the ongoing operational management of the Borough Council’s services.

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

(1)             post DB0303 (Customer Services Supervisor, 37 hours per week, scale 4 / 5) be deleted with effect from 1 June 2019;

(2)             post DB0312 and DB0316  (Senior Customer Services Advisor, scale 3 / 4, 37 hours and 24 hours per week) be deleted with effect from 1 June  2019;

(3)             posts DB0317, DB0318, DB0320 and DB0329 (Customer Services Advisor scale 2 / 3, 21.25, 6.50, 11.25 and 17.50 hours per week) be deleted with effect from 1 June 2019;

(4)             three updated posts of Senior Customer Services Advisor, scale 3 / 4 (two at 37 hours per week and one at 22.50 hours per week) be created with effect from 1 June 2019;

(5)             five updated posts of Customer Services Advisor , scale 2 / 3 (one at 37 hours per week, one at 21.25, one at 17.50 and two at 14.50 hours) be created with effect from 1 June 2019;

(6)             the saving of £2,140 arising from the above recommendations, be ring-fenced pending any further adjustments to the staffing resource within the team;

(7)             the 30 hours per week M8 post of Scrutiny and Partnerships Manager (DC0103) be regraded M7 with effect from 1 April 2019;

(8)             the 37 hours per week post of Economic Regeneration Officer (DC0106) be regraded M7 with effect from 1 April 2019;

(9)             the hours attached to the M5 post of Chief Corporate Policy Officer (post DC0101) be reduced from 37 hours to 29.6 hours per week with effect from 1 April 2019;  

(10)          in order to reflect the re-designation of post DA0001 from Central Services Director to Central Services Director and Deputy Chief Executive, the post be regraded M2 with effect from 1 February 2019;

(11)          post DN0001 be re-designated Head of IT Services and regraded M4 with immediate effect;

(12)          the full time post DN0210, Technical Support Officer grade SO/M8, be deleted with immediate effect; and

(13)          the saving of £11,637, arising from recommendations 11 and 12, be ring-fenced to resource potential future specialist IT staffing support.