Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any declarations of interests from Members.

None were received.

Councillor Colin Legg submitted a petition on behalf of the residents of Berth Ddu on the matter of the wind turbine situated at Rhos HelygSchool. 

Councillor Ray Hughes submitted a petition on behalf of the residents of County Road, Leeswood for consideration of putting traffic calming measures on the road.

That the Pay Policy Statement for 2014/2015 be approved noting that the Policy will need to be republished later in the year due to the developments summarised in paragraphs 3.0204 of the report.

The Chief Executive and Human Resources Manager introduced the report which sought approval of the Council’s Pay Policy Statement to be effective from 1 April 2014.

                        It was a statutory requirement for the Pay Policy Statement to be produced and published on an annual basis in advance of the beginning of each financial year.  It was intended that future Pay Policy Statements would be reported to County Council at the same time as consideration of the Budget.

                        The policy was a true and fair statement of current policy as approved by Council over previous years and the changes to the current policy were recommended for approval to meet the statutory deadline of being produced and published to meet the statutory deadline of 31 March 2014.

Subject to acceptance of the proposals in the Trade Union ballot, the achievement of a Single Status Agreement for Green Book employees would be effective from 1 June 2014.  This would result in a new pay and grading structure and new terms and conditions of employment.  There would be robust governance arrangements for maintaining the new pay and grading structure to ensure that there was no pay discrimination and that all pay differentials could be justified.  On implementation of Single Status, the Council’s Pay Policy for Green Book employees would change and the Pay Policy would need to be republished.  If the proposed management structure was approved later in the day, the Pay Policy would be adjusted to reflect the changes to Chief Officers and would be republished once the new structure was in place.

In addition, the Council was developing an Additional Payments Policy, to include Honoraria payments and Market Supplements, to ensure that the Council was able to offer competitive rates to attract and retain talented people where there may be limited availability of particular skills or expertise available in the market place.  This Policy would be introduced as part of the Single Status Agreement arrangements during 2014/15 and would be reflected in the updated Pay Policy Statement for 2014/15.

Councillor Billy Mullin, Cabinet Member for Corporate Management, proposed the acceptance of the recommendation within the report.  This was seconded by Councillor Bernie Attridge, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment.

Councillor Mike Peers made the following comments:

·        Page 5 of the Pay Policy Statement says the Council should set a benchmark example – he felt this should be clear that benchmarking comparisons could only be carried out against other Local Authorities

·        Page 9 of the Pay Policy Statement says apprentices are paid the current national minimum wage – he felt this should be reviewed and apprentices should not be on the minimum wage

The Chief Executive explained that the Government subsidy scheme was not at the minimum wage but whether the living wage could be paid to apprentices was under review.

RESOLVED:

That the Pay Policy Statement for 2014/2015 be approved noting that the Policy will need to be republished later in the year due to the developments summarised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 105.

RESOLVED:

That the press and public be excluded for the remainder of the meeting as the following item contained exempt information on the disclosure of which would not be in the public interest.

(a)       That the new corporate operating model and senior management structure as set out in the consultation paper and revised in the report be adopted;

(b)       That the new senior post titles and portfolios as set out in the report be adopted;

(c)        That the principal statutory roles be allocated as set out in the report with the exception of the Monitoring Officer which would be allocated once the senior posts had been filled;

(d)       That the Pay Policy, as independently reviewed and recommended, be adopted;

(e)       That the appointments process as set out in the report be adopted including the non-application of the Council’s Assimilation Policy in this case for the reasons given;

(f)         That a Member Appointments Panel of nine Members be appointed to make the new senior appointments;

(g)       That a formal transition and risk plan be developed to guide and manage the transition from the current to the new model and structure; and

(h)        That delegated power be given to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader, to resolve any issues arising from a-g above

The Chief Executive, Human Resources Manager and the Hay Consultancy representative presented the report, and accompanying PowerPoint presentation, which recommended a final new operating model and senior management structure for the Council following a Cabinet led review and open consultation.

Councillor Aaron Shotton, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Finance, proposed the acceptance of the recommendations as outlined within the report.  This was seconded by Councillor Bernie Attridge, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment.

Members gave detailed consideration to the proposed new structure during which various points were made, views expressed and questions asked.  The officers and the Hay Consultancy representative responded and answered the questions raised.

Details on the independent work on the review of the pay policy for the posts outlined in the report were presented independently by the Hay Consultancy representative.

Councillor Robin Guest expressed his concern on the role of the Section 151 Officer and proposed an amendment that the role should sit within the top tier along with the proposed Chief Officers details in the report to which the Chief Executive responded to.  On being put to the vote, the amendment was lost.

Following advice from the Democracy and Governance Manager on the inclusion of an additional recommendation, which was accepted by Councillor Shotton as mover of the motion, the recommendations were put to the vote.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the new corporate operating model and senior management structure as set out in the consultation paper and revised in the report be adopted;

(b)       That the new senior post titles and portfolios as set out in the report be adopted;

(c)        That the principal statutory roles be allocated as set out in the report with the exception of the Monitoring Officer which would be allocated once the senior posts had been filled;

(d)       That the Pay Policy, as independently reviewed and recommended, be adopted;

(e)       That the appointments process as set out in the report be adopted including the non-application of the Council’s Assimilation Policy in this case for the reasons given;

(f)         That a Member Appointments Panel of nine Members be appointed to make the new senior appointments;

(g)       That a formal transition and risk plan be developed to guide and manage the transition from the current to the new model and structure; and

(h)        That delegated power be given to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader, to resolve any issues arising from a-g above

There was one Member of the press present for agenda item number 4 – Pay Policy Statement.