Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)            to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)          where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)         the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)         if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

Having received apologies on behalf of Gary Martin, Unison, the Forum noted the attendance of Morgan Hernandez, Unison as a substitute for the purposes of the meeting.

RESOLVED:  To note the attendance at this meeting of the following duly appointed Reserve Members:-

To appoint (i) a Chair from the Employees’ side and (ii) a Vice-Chair from the Council side for the Municipal Year 2020/21.

RESOLVED: 

(1)          To note that Davis Searles (Unison) had been appointed by the Employees’ side as the Chair of the Forum for the Municipal Year 2020/21;

(2)          That Councillor Adam Swersky be appointed as the Vice-Chair of the Forum for the Municipal Year 2020/21.

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)          all Members of the Forum;

(b)          all other Members present.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no declarations of interests made by Members.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 4 March 2020 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 4 March 2020 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

To receive petitions (if any) submitted by members of the public/Councillors under the provisions of Executive Procedure Rule 47 (Part 4D of the Constitution).

RESOLVED:  To note that no petitions were received at this meeting under the provisions of the Executive Procedure Rule 49 (Part 4D of the Constitution).

To receive deputations (if any) under the provisions of Executive Procedure Rule 48 (Part 4D of the Constitution).

RESOLVED:  To note that no deputations were received at this meeting under the provisions of Executive Procedure Rule 48 (Part 4D of the Constitution).

To receive any public questions received in accordance with paragraph 16 of the Executive Procedure Rules.

Questions will be asked in the order in which they were received.  There will be a time limit of 15 minutes for the asking and answering of public questions.

[The deadline for receipt of public questions if 3.00 pm, Monday 30 November 2020.  Questions should be sent to publicquestions@harrow.gov.uk

No person may submit more than one question].

RESOLVED:  To note that no public questions were received.

Report of the Corporate Director of Community

The Forum received a report which summarised the Council’s health and safety performance for the year 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020, provided an update of activities and information on outcome measures.  The report also provided information about Occupational Health, as this did not sit within the Corporate Health and Safety remit, and also included the Health & Safety Strategy, Corporate Health and Safety Plan and Policy.

The Employees’ side representatives indicated that they had not had sufficient time to read the report as there had been issues with accessing the agenda electronically.  Following a request from the Employees’ side for hard copies of agendas to be provided, the Corporate Director of Resources advised the Forum that the Council was moving away from paper copies but these could be provided as an exception.

RESOLVED: That consideration of the report be deferred to the next meeting.

The Chair advised the Forum that Unison had submitted a report for consideration but that it had been rejected.

The Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development (HROD) advised that the submitted report had not been acceptable in terms of content for the reasons set out in a letter to Unison from the Director of Legal and Governance Services.  She added that Unison had been invited to amend and re-submit the report but had not done so to date.

The Employees’ side representatives stated that the agenda should have indicated that a report had been submitted but was rejected with the reasons specified.  This was acknowledged by the Council side representatives.

Members requested that their thanks and gratitude be conveyed to staff for their hard work and commitment during the pandemic.