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)             after notifying the Chair at the start of the meeting.

RESOLVED:  To note the attendance of the following duly appointed Reserve Members:

To receive declarations of personal or prejudicial interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from all Members present.

RESOLVED: To note that the following interests were declared:

To consider whether any of the items listed on the agenda should be considered with the press and public excluded on the grounds that it is thought likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that there would be disclosure of confidential information in breach of an obligation of confidence or of exempt information as defined in the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985.

RESOLVED:  That all items be considered with the press and public present.

To agree that the minutes of the meeting held on 19 July 2005 be deferred to the next ordinary meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 19 July 2005 be deferred to the next ordinary meeting of the Committee.

To receive questions (if any) from local residents/organisations under the provisions of Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 8.

RESOLVED:  To note that no public questions were put, or petitions or deputations received at this meeting under the provisions of Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules 8, 9 and 10 respectively.

The Chair welcomed the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive to the meeting.

The Chair advised that it was being considered whether the regular question and answer sessions with the Leader and the Chief Executive should occur separately from the main Overview and Scrutiny Committee meetings.  The Chair noted that this meeting represented a trial of the proposed new arrangement, and invited Members to provide the Chair with their views on this arrangement.

The Chair invited Members to ask their questions of the Leader and the Chief Executive.

Question 1: What is happening to staff displaced by the Middle Management Review (MMR) process in general, and in Urban Living in particular?

The Chief Executive responded that the transition support arrangements put in place at the commencement of the MMR process had continued to be provided to staff in all directorates, including displaced staff.  A total of 127 staff had attended group workshops and 140 staff had had one to one meetings with the transition support team.

The new structure was in the process of being implemented and a number of potentially displaced staff were undertaking interim roles and project work to support continuity of service delivery.  The Chief Executive reported that in Urban Living the MMR process had not progressed as quickly as in other directorates, and consequently fewer staff had been identified as being potentially displaced.

The process by which the Council dealt with displaced staff was set out in the Council’s Protocol for Managing Organisational Change.  Cabinet would be receiving a report in October 2005 which would outline proposals for managing staff identified as displaced by the MMR, which would include: 

·                     Providing continuing access to transition support

·                     Operating a ‘clearing house’ system to ensure that displaced staff were considered for all potentially suitable vacancies in the council.

·                     Building a job search network including neighbouring boroughs, job centres and partner organisations such as Eden Brown through which the Council would proactively manage job searches for suitable jobs outside of the Council.

·                     Considering requests from volunteers who wanted to be considered for voluntary redundancy/early retirement

·                     Providing additional training and development to assist in career development and job searches.

·                     In the event that the Council was unable to find employment for a displaced employee, then the Council would have to consider severance with enhanced payments including, where appropriate, early payment of pension benefits.

Question 2: What is the Chief Executive’s assessment of staff morale across the council?

The Chief Executive responded that she continued to be heartened by the commitment of staff at all levels whether they were affected by MMR or not, but acknowledged that some pools of dissatisfaction did exist.  In response to comments made by Members regarding their concerns about efficiency in areas of the organisation where morale was low, the Chief Executive stated that efforts were being redoubled to make sure that staff did not feel unhappy or disadvantaged.  The reduction in levels of sickness and absence that had been reported by the Leader at  ...  view the full minutes text for item 320.

It is proposed that the press and public be excluded for the duration of a question that contains exempt information under paragraph 8 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) in that it contains information relating to a particular employee; former employee; applicant to become an employee of; or a particular office-holder; former office-holder; or applicant to become an office-holder under, the authority.

The Chair invited Members to ask confidential questions, which were answered by the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive.