Agenda, decisions and minutes

No declarations of interest were made.

No declarations of interest were made.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 11 June 2012.

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman. 

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 11 June 2012 had been circulated to Members with the agenda.

Matters Arising

                        In response to a question from Councillor I. Dunbar on matters arising on page 1 about the Council’s complaints procedure, the Head of ICT and Customer Services confirmed that the procedure had been implemented. 

                        The Chairman said that he did not recall the Leader of the Council making the comment about the development of the Forward Work Programme as shown on page 2; this should have referred to the Cabinet’s rather than the Committee’s Work Programme.   

                        Following a question from Councillor V. Gay on Single Status, the Chairman advised that it was item 4 on the agenda for today’s meeting.  The Chief Executive confirmed that Single Status workshops for Members were being arranged. 

            RESOLVED:

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman. 

(a)       That the project update be noted; and

(b)       That the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development

send a reminder to Members about the workshops scheduled for 17^th, 24^th and 26^th July 2012. 

The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development introduced a report to provide a project update and reassurance report on the delivery of the Single Status and Equal Pay projects.

            The Single Status Project Board had met on 15 December 2011 and had agreed a timetable for completion of the project, with a target implementation date of November 2012.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development highlighted that additional Governance arrangements had been introduced since the Project Board meeting in December to support the effective delivery of the project through to implementation, to make key project decisions, and to manage risks.  The activities which were nearing completion to prepare for pay modelling and to inform the proposed collective agreement ready for formal negotiations with the Joint Trade Unions were detailed.  She highlighted pay, Part 3 Terms & Conditions and Equal Pay potential liability, and reported on progress.   Workshops for Members had been scheduled for 17^th, 24^th and 26^th of July and it was agreed that the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development would send a reminder to Members to attend. 

            The Chief Executive said that working in partnership with the Trade Unions on pay and grading model options was on-going, and that negotiations with the unions were underway on Part 3 Terms and Conditions.  He said that when details were available, meetings would be held with Members as all would need to be briefed, confident and assured that the proposals were acceptable, affordable and legal. 

            The Leader of the Council said that it was important that Members were kept up to date of the progress being made and that they were given an overview of why there was a need to undertake the project, which was a significant challenge.  He reminded Members that at the meeting of County Council held in November 2009, it had been unanimously resolved by Members that the project should be stopped pending further work; he said that the project crossed both past and present Council ‘administrations’.  It was important that Group Leaders played a role in going forward and the Leader commented on the excellent work which had been undertaken to date.  He added that the pay modelling was critical to affordability and the acceptability by Members and staff but said that there were opportunities for the lowest paid staff to receive a decent reward for the work that they did.  The Chief Executive responded that work was ongoing on the pay and grading model and reiterated that it was important that the pay model must be affordable.    

            Councillor I. Dunbar referred to paragraph 3.04 and asked for further information on ‘sore thumbs’; the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development provided a detailed explanation.  The Chief Executive said that both Unions and Management had identified jobs in the ‘sore thumbs’ exercise which on the face of it were not comparable  to similar jobs and were in need of specific review. 

            Councillor R.G. Hampson asked if consultants were still in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

(a)       That the reports be noted; and

(b)       That a written response be provided on car parks. 

Revenue Budget Monitoring 2011/12 (Outturn)

The Corporate Finance Manager introduced the report to inform Members of the Council Fund and the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) outturn for 2011/12 (subject to audit) and the impact on the respective level of reserves at 31 March 2012.  The report would also be submitted to Cabinet on 10 July 2012. 

The final outturn position subject to audit was a net underspend of £2.835m on the Council Fund (underspend of £2.266m at month 11) and a net underspend of £0.737m on the HRA (underspend of £0.497m at month 11).  The draft accounts had been submitted to the Wales Audit Office.  The significant changes for the Council Fund from Month 11 were detailed in appendix 1 and the significant in-year variances at final outturn were detailed in appendices 2 to 6 for the Council Fund and appendix 8 for the HRA.  The underspend represented 1.2% of the Council’s net budget and showed that the Council had kept expenditure within its means whilst still meeting priorities and performance standards.  A query raised by the Chairman resulted in an error being identified in the table on page 15 and the Corporate Finance Manager explained that the efficiencies achieved in full or in part totalled £7.5m which was 84.4% of the total efficiencies included in the 2011/12 budget, not 88.5% as reported. 

Paragraphs 3.08 to 3.12 gave a brief overview of the year and non standard inflation and central contingencies were detailed on page 16.  The remaining Contingency Reserve of £0.992m was £0.578m more than the £0.414m estimated when the 2012/13 Council Fund revenue budget was approved by County Council at the meeting on 1 March 2012.  Service balances were made up of those balances held by departments which had previously been agreed could be carried forward.  The final balances were summarised in the table in paragraph 5.04. 

On the HRA the final outturn for 2011/12 showed an underspend of £0.737m which represented an increase of £0.240m on the projected position reported at Month 11.  The HRA showed a final closing balance of £1.857m which at 7.35% of the total expenditure more than satisfied the prudent approach of ensuring a minimum level of 3%.  The final year end balance (subject to audit) was £0.753m greater than the £1.104m that was projected when the 2012/13 HRA budget was approved at the Council meeting on 21 February 2012.  Appendix 8 detailed the reasons for significant variances to budget for the year. 

Councillor H. Isherwood referred to page 26 and the entry for Management & Support (Development & Resources) and the identified overspend.  The Corporate Finance Manager explained that it was mostly due to staff pay exceeding budget and included a request for a carry forward of balances into 2012/13 to fund the continuing work of the Transforming Social Services for Adults Project Manager (£0.051m). 

Councillor P. Curtis queried the entry for car parks reported on page 30 and was advised by the Chief Executive that the car park review was ongoing and that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

(a)       That the report be noted; and  

(b)       That the statistical information be made available in the Members’ Library, on the Council’s website and on the screen during discussion of the item at the meeting. 

The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development introduced a report to provide Members with an update for the fourth quarter/whole year of 2011/12 the following areas:-

• Establishment
• Headcount
• Agency Workers
• Turnover
• Diversity
• Absence

The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that the appendix was not attached to the report but had been placed in Member Services and was shown on the Council’s website.  The Leader of the Council said that Cabinet had made a decision to remove appendices from the reports submitted to Cabinet and that it was for Overview & Scrutiny Members to decide whether they wanted to follow this practice.  Following a discussion, it was agreed that future reports would not include the appendix but that it would be available in the Members Library, on the Council’s website and would be shown on the projector screen during discussion of the item at the meeting.   

The report provided a breakdown of the average number of agency workers per month during quarter 4 and the associated expenditure.  The number of positions occupied by agency workers had reduced month on month during the quarter.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development reminded Members that the European Union’s Agency Worker Directive became UK law on 1 October 2011 and was now known as the Agency Worker Regulations.  The Council monitored the number of placements exceeding 12 weeks and where appropriate had taken steps to reduce those that exceeded this duration.  She added that the next quarterly report would show a significant reduction due to the completion of the Streetscene Review which necessitated a temporary increase in resources.

The total saving for 2011/12 was £420,090.70 and was an overall increase of 17.25% on the savings of £358,271.48 made for 2010/11.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development highlighted paragraph 3.17 on sickness absence and explained that the amount of average Full Time Equivalent (FTE) days lost per employee had increased from 10.36 days in 10/11 to 10.54 days for 11/12 which was disappointing.  She explained that improvements were being seen in some areas but that there were still issues within Environment and Community Services Directorates that were being addressed.

Councillor M. Bateman referred to the table on page 99 and queried why there was a high female to male ratio for the number of positions which had been made redundant.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development confirmed that the figures were reflective of the gender profile of the organisation which was 75% female and 25% male.  Following a comment from Councillor Bateman on paragraph 3.21about stress related absence, she queried whether some of the employees who were off with stress could be in the wrong role.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that it was important to highlight that there would be stress related issues that may result in absence.  She added that there was a need to ensure that tools and techniques such as the use of Stress Risk Assessments were used appropriately  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

That the reports be received. 

The Member Engagement Manager introduced a report to request that the Committee consider the 2011/12 Quarter 4/Year End service performance reports, note the draft year end position of the Strategic Assessment of Risks and Challenges (SARC) contained within the performance reports and note progress made against the Improvement Targets contained within the performance reports. 

            Finance

            The Corporate Finance Manager gave a short presentation on the performance within Finance, outlining work which had been undertaken to improve performance and areas where improvement was needed, as outlined within the report. 

            The Chairman referred to page 113 and said that the Medium Term Financial Strategy 2011-2015 had been adopted by the Council in June 2011 and not in June 2012 as indicated.  He also queried why indicator CFH/006 on the percentage of undisputed invoices paid on time (30 days) was reported as ‘red’.  The Corporate Finance Manager said that the downturn in performance was disappointing and had been due to a number of issues which he detailed and these were currently being dealt with. 

            Human Resources and Organisational Development

            The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development gave a short presentation on the performance within Human Resources and Organisational Development, outlining work which had been undertaken to improve performance and areas where improvement was needed, as outlined within the report. 

            The Chairman asked whether appraisals were linked to Single Status and in response, the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that on performance and competency there may be a link with Single Status in the way increments were awarded.  Councillor H. Isherwood said that it was important that appraisals were undertaken and the Chairman felt that a way to ensure this was to include the requirement to carry them out in the manager’s appraisal. 

            ICT and Customer Services

            The Head of ICT and Customer Services gave a short presentation on the performance within ICT and Customer Services, outlining work which had been undertaken to improve performance and areas where improvement was needed, as outlined within the report. 

            Councillor M. Bateman queried why Members were no longer able to have mail sent to their Flintshire email address forwarded onto their private email addresses.  The Head of ICT and Customer Services said that auto-forwarding of mail was not permitted under the IT security policy.  This was because officers were confident that the Flintshire addresses were secure but could not guarantee security for private email boxes.  He reminded Members that their own email address could be published alongside their Flintshire email address on the website and in the A-Z booklet. 

            Following a query from Councillor Bateman on procurement auctions, the Head of ICT and Customer Services said that significant savings had been achieved to date and that the extended use of e-auctions was being considered.  He also spoke of work which was being undertaken on a Local Economic Impact Study. 

            Councillor H. Isherwood commented on difficulties she was having with navigating through the Flintshire website and the Head of ICT and Customer Services said  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

That the Member Engagement Manager and the Chairman and Vice-Chairman populate the Forward Work Programme for the future meetings. 

The Member Engagement Manager introduced the report to advise on the Forward Work Programme for the Committee.

            He suggested that he meet with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman to populate the Forward Work Programme for the future meetings. 

            RESOLVED:

That the Member Engagement Manager and the Chairman and Vice-Chairman populate the Forward Work Programme for the future meetings. 

            The meeting commenced at 10.00 a.m. and ended at 12.54 p.m.

            There were no members of the public or press in attendance.