The Council will receive the minutes from the meetings of the below-mentioned Committees, Forums, Working Groups and Outside Bodies for the purposes of information in accordance with Rule 17 of Part 4 of the Constitution.
Minutes:
The Council received the minutes as set out at agenda item numbers 16a -16s (pages 132 – 221) from the meetings of the below-mentioned Committees, Forums, Working Groups and Outside Bodies for the purposes of information.
Further to and in respect of agenda item numbers 16g and 16p, the Chair of the Policy, Finance and Development Committee, Councillor Mrs S B Morris, reported that an agreement for the interim provision of joint-advisory services within the Borough had been negotiated by the Chief Executive with Helping Hands and the Citizens Advice Bureau to begin from January 2016 until the end of the financial year.
A Motion was moved by Councillor Mrs S B Morris that the relevant part or parts of Human Resources Policy or Policies prohibiting this Council from permanently employing an existing, temporary employee (viz. agency, placement or contract worker) without first tendering a vacancy to external recruitment be herewith suspended until further notice.
The Interim Chief Financial Officer (Section 151 Officer) advised Members that the rationale behind the Motion was to ultimately build a more sustainable, resilient and long-term workforce and, by doing so, accrue an approximate £100,000. He assured Members that although the proposal did seek to eliminate the oft-lengthy external recruitment process and would allow the Council to become less reliant upon agency-based employment in the short to medium term, a robust internal interviewing process for job vacancies would continue to operate so to assess candidates’ experience and suitability to obtaining job specifications and descriptions.
The motion was seconded by the Leader of the Council.
Councillor Mrs H E Loydall sought an assurance from Officers that the outlined proposal complied with all applicable Employment and Equal Opportunity legislation.
The Interim Chief Financial Officer provided Members with the said assurance, stating that the proposal simply sought to suspend parts of the Council’s own policies. He advised Members that all HR recruitment policies would in turn be subsequently reviewed at a later date as part on an exercise to improve performance and consolidate surplus expenditure.
Councillor J Kaufman commended the commonsensical thinking behind the proposal as a means to adopt talented temporary “in-post” employees into the permanent workforce.
Councillor B Fahey enquired as to the number of agency staff presently employed by the Council and if any financial commitments were currently owing, to or to be owed, any recruitment agency companies.
The Interim Chief Financial Officer advised that this information was not readily available at the time of the meeting.
RESOLVED THAT:
The relevant part or parts of Human Resources Policy or Policies prohibiting this Council from permanently employing an existing temporary employee without first tendering a vacancy to external recruitment be herewith suspended until further notice.
Votes For 21
Votes Against 0
Abstentions 2
In respect of agenda item number 16g, Councillor Mrs H E Loydall requested that ‘the residents of Oadby’ be substituted with ‘the residents of Oadby, Wigston and South Wigston’ within the wording of the minutes (Min Ref. 28 at page 156).
In respect of appended table to agenda item number 16r, Councillor K J Loydall requested that ‘J Loydall’ be substituted with ‘K Loydall’ and identified that he was not a standing Member of the Development Control Committee as erroneously marked (Min Ref. 15/11 at page 218).