Agenda item

(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 to prevent employees from stress-related sickness absence.  Councillor H. Isherwood asked about the sick pay policy for the authority and the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development advised that when employees were off sick, full pay was paid for six months which reduced to half pay for a further six months and that this was for a rolling twelve month period.  She explained that this was part of the national terms and conditions for local authority employees.  The Chairman felt that there was a need to monitor sickness absences closely. 

The Head of ICT and Customer Services reminded Members that 45% of staff had achieved 100% attendance during 2011/12 and added that employees in ICT & Customer Services had only taken an average of two days sickness per annum, so there were examples of good practice. 

The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development advised Members of the policies in place and of the trigger points for sickness absence.  She said that work was ongoing with managers to ensure that the policies were followed and proactive interventions were put into place to reduce levels of sickness absence. 

RESOLVED:

(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.