PDF - Neston Town Council

DRAFT MINUTES OF THE
HUMAN RESOURCES COMMITTEE
9 APRIL2015
MEETING 9
Minutes of the meeting of the Human Resources Committee held at 6pm on Thursday
9th April at Neston Methodist Church, Park Street, Neston.
Present: Cllrs Griffiths (Chair), Cummins, C Lloyd and Shipman and Miss A Duncan
(Assistant Town Clerk)
In attendance: Mr S Jones (Ariadne Associates, NTC HR contractor)
Part One: Items considered in the presence of the press and public
86
Apologies for Absence: None.
87
Questions to the Committee: None.
88
Declarations of Interest: None.
89
Minutes of the Last Meeting
The Chair proposed and the Committee
RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 25.02.15 were a true and
correct record. The Chairman signed the minutes.
90
HR Policy Review
90.1 Mr Jones, HR Consultant, suggested to the Committee that several of the
current policies could be amalgamated to create a more streamlined set of
policies. It was agreed that Mr Jones would make the following changes for
submission to the Annual Meeting of the Council on 19 May:

Staff Code of Conduct (to incorporate current disciplinary, grievance, dignity
at work, bullying/harassment and whistleblowing policies)

Equal Opportunities (to incorporate current equal opportunities and equality
and diversity policies).
90.2 The Committee considered the draft sickness and attendance policy tabled
by Mr Jones and made some amendments to the document. It was agreed that
Mr Jones would incorporate the changes as suggested and that the amended
policy would be submitted to the Annual Meeting of the Council on 19 May.
91
Sickness Absence
92
a) The Committee agreed that the information provided by Mr Jones in item
90.2 answered the queries regarding an appropriate course of action to manage
periods of sickness absence.
b) The Committee agreed that, subject to approval at the Annual Meeting of the
Council, the sickness and attendance policy should provide the framework for
managing future periods of sickness absence.
Financial Management
The Committee considered how best to ensure that the appropriate financial
skills and experience were available within NTC to ensure the responsibilities of
the Responsible Financial Officer were delivered, especially during holiday or
sickness absence. The Committee agreed that there was a need for the
organisation as a whole to consider succession/business continuity planning.
The Committee agreed that:
Chairman’s initials and date _____________________________________________
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93

The Town Clerk be requested to produce a set of written financial
procedures.

Potential gaps in business continuity across the organisation would need to
be assessed.

As a result of the assessment, recommendations would be made to ensure
business continuity during staff absence. Mr Jones advised that any
changes that included alterations to existing job descriptions would need to
involve consultation with staff.
HR Processes and Procedures
The Committee received an oral report from the Assistant Town Clerk on
current HR processes and agreed that there should be an HR co-ordinator
function within the organisation to take responsibility for creating and
maintaining organisation-wide HR processes including:

The centralisation of personnel recording, including individual personnel
files.

Creation of centralised absence notification, recording and monitoring
systems.

Documentation of new processes.

To act as a point of contact for HR-related queries from staff (procedural
issues only – not relating to line management).
The Committee agreed that the Assistant Town Clerk should provide this HR coordination function and requested that Ms Duncan provide a six monthly report
for the HR Committee.
94
Staff Health and Safety
The Committee considered concerns that had been raised by Councillors
regarding the safety of staff operating from the reconfigured Town Hall
reception. The Committee agreed that:
 A risk assessment should be completed for this work space and that any
training needs identified must be addressed as a matter of priority.
 CWaC should be asked what guidance and support they offered to their staff
working in libraries.
 Staff working in Town Hall reception should be issued with mobile panic
alarms.
95
Any other business: None.
96
Date of Next Meeting:
It was noted that the date and time of the next meeting would be confirmed at
the Annual Meeting of the Council on 19.05.15.
97
Exclusion of the Press and Public
The Chair proposed and the Committee
RESOLVED that under the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 (as
extended by s.100 of the Local Government Act 1972), the public and
accredited representatives of newspapers be excluded from the meeting for the
following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure
of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local
Government Act 1972.
Chairman’s initials and date _____________________________________________
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Part Two: Items to be considered in the absence of the press and public
98
Sickness Absence
a) Mr Jones confirmed that the procedure as laid down in the draft sickness and
attendance policy should be followed in all cases of sickness absence and that
this would ensure that the organisation fulfilled its responsibilities.
b) The Committee agreed that it would be necessary to get temporary cover for
the Responsible Financial Officer function should current staff absence become
prolonged.
99
Pensions
The Committee considered the implications of forthcoming changes to pension
regulations. Mr Jones stated that local government schemes met the criteria
and agreed to draft a guidance note for NTC staff.
100
Staff Workload
100.1 The Committee noted that staff had provided reports on their current
workloads and agreed that monitoring of workloads would now fall within the
staff supervision and review process.
100.2 It was agreed to defer the issue of a formal time recording system to
September 2015 to allow time for new processes to be implemented.
100.3 The Committee agreed that consideration of the introduction of a flexitime system should be added to the next HR Committee meeting.
The meeting closed at 7.55pm.
Signed _____________________________________ Date ____________________
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