HR - 2nd March 2021
Minutes of an HR Committee meeting held remotely on Tuesday 2 March 2021 via MS365 Teams
Present: Chairman Cllr White, Cllr Cunningham, Cllr Conway, Cllr Tonge, Cllr Ditch
Also present Kathryn Locke (Clerk)
No members of the public were present.
The Chairman of the Committee opened the meeting at 10.00am
1. To receive and accept apologies where valid reasons for absence have been given to the Parish Clerk prior to the meeting.
All members of the Committee were present.
2. To receive declarations of interest and to consider applications for dispensations in relation to DPIs.
None were declared at this time.
3. To approve as a correct record the notes of the last HR Committee meeting held on Tuesday 16 February 2021.
Action: The Committee RESOLVED to accept the notes of the meeting as an accurate record and Minutes of the meeting. Proposed by Cllr Conway seconded by Cllr Tonge and approved unanimously.
4. Date for next meeting.
Monday 8 March 2021 at 10am.
5. To resolve whether to exclude the public and press, in accordance with the Public Bodies (Admissions to Meetings) Act 1960, to discuss the following staffing matters.
Action: The Committee RESOLVED to exclude the public and press to discuss the following staffing matters. Proposed by Cllr Conway, seconded by Cllr Tonge and approved unanimously.
The Chairman closed the meeting at 10.02am. As no members of the public or press were in attendance, the Chairman re-opened the meeting at 10.02am.
6. To consider a rationalisation of the Council’s workforce following a review of the caretaker, handyman and environment warden roles and job descriptions.
An outline of the current and proposed new operative roles, as recommended following a review of the grass cutting arrangements by the Environment Committee on 11 February 2021, had been circulated prior to the meeting.
The Chairman asked for clarification of details within the report. It was noted that there was no intention of including the environment enforcement position within this review and the inclusion of the role of environment operative would only affect one other position.
To do this it was pointed out that the new operative would have to be 20% more efficient that previous employees and to improve service levels there needed to be a greater improvement.
The Clerks view was that improved management controls would help, but the committee also considered that a detailed analysis of the various tasks was needed to see if all tasks were relevant and needed to be carried out. This detailed analysis would also ensure that tasks were carried out properly.
Action: Agreed amendments to the two proposed roles to be made by the Clerk for review at the next HR Committee meeting on 8 March 2021.
7. To consider the documentation and procedure for staff recruitment.
The Chairman pointed out that in recent discussions within Council he had identified various shortfalls in our system. Two of these were outside of the remit of this committee but in his opinion should have first been reviewed by the Finance and Policy committee as they involved a policy decision. The third did impact on this committee and systems and procedures needed strengthening as follows:
Firstly, it was considered that all letters of appointment must be approved by the HR committee.
Next, notes must be taken at all interviews and reasons for the choice of the successful applicant.
Finally, for all job vacancies a fresh job profile should be carried out and the logic for the salary level awarded.
As this salary profiling involves subjective judgment it was thought we should investigate an ascertain if there is a training course which can help in this situation
Action: The Committee unanimously RESOLVED to review the recruitment and appointment documentation and procedures and agree recommendations for their improvement. Cllr Ditch agreed to take the lead on this.