Agenda item

To receive a Motion on the Carbon Footprint of Homeworking.

That the recommendations and minutes of the meeting to be forwarded to Cabinet.

The motion was proposed by the Chair and seconded by Councillor Brockley.

            Councillor Eastwood felt that there were several statements about what Flintshire County Council did or did not do but there was no report from officers to support it.  She felt that the Committee was being asked to make a recommendation on unsubstantiated statements without any knowledge of what the resources or cost implications were and therefore could not support the motion as she could not be confident that all the required information had been captured.

            Councillor Copple felt the Committee had a large workload and he was unsure how important this aspect was.   He felt home working had its advantages in relation to reduced carbon emissions but questioned if there were more important things the Committee should be focussed on.

            Councillor Marshall concurred with the comments made by Councillor Eastwood. 

            Councillor Rose said he had investigated how, as a lone home worker, this had impacted on his own carbon footprint.  He could not find any benefit for an individual working from home given the increased heating costs for a single person property against a multiple person property.  The only benefit being if another person was also working at home.  He explained that what was being suggested was obtaining more accurate information on the home working policies and writing to Welsh Government (WG).  He was happy to support those requests as it required clarification and was something that this Committee could suggest was actioned to ensure that the correct figures on regards carbon footprints were reported.

            The Chief Officer commented on recommendation 3 and said the modern office at Ty Dewi Sant in Ewloe was not designed for all the workforce to return.  There was not enough capacity but it could hold 70% of the workforce.   He explained that the Hybrid Working Policy required managers to strike a balance between the business need and the needs of the person working from home.  He accepted that the carbon footprint of home working and hybrid working was important but it was more complex to manage with the carbon footprint being not the only element.  He suggested the Committee consider the most recent Hybrid Working Policy and agreed to share this with Members.

            Councillor Mansell had that concerns that offices were being heated with only a few people in them.

            Councillor Eastwood clarified her concerns on the motion but added that she was happy to support the item being placed on the Forward Work Programme. 

            Councillor Rose explained that the motion was not suggesting a change to the Hybrid Working Policy but was to ensure the data was accurate within the Policy.  He said that if a survey was carried out with staff to glean the required information, then that would be sufficient for this purpose.

            The Programme Manager referred to the recommendations saying that currently the impact on carbon emissions both travelling to and from work and working from home were not detailed in the Hybrid Working Policy.  A balance of those impacts was important to maintaining carbon reduction behaviours.  She then referred to recommendation 2, the commissioning of a travel survey which was the method recommended by WG when determining accurate employee commuting data.  Adopting a review of comparable evidence from elsewhere would divert the council from the WG prescribed methodology and she suggested updating the recommendation to reflect that.

            On recommendation 4 the Programme Manager said the updated guidance and methodology for calculating home working emissions did reflect seasonal variation and it was for the Council to demonstrate that steps had been taken to influence the reduction in emissions.  The Council should determine if it was to extend the baseline for in scope emissions from the 2018/19 data which did not include homeworking.  She recommended that consideration be given to including that data in scope once the Council had carried out the commissioned survey.

            The Chair as proposer of this motion then proceeded to sum up.  He referred to each of the recommendations.

            Referring to recommendation 1 the Chair, said that this was requesting Cabinet to review the Home Working Policy and did not make any representation on what that policy should include.  This was a broad policy with numerous other factors which had to be considered.  What the Committee was required to do was to ensure that climate change and carbon reduction was considered in every aspect of the Council’s work and that Cabinet considered this at the forefront when writing policies to ensure it considered how carbon could be best reduced.  When information was gathered from all committees and interested parties such as trade unions that information should be incorporated into developing policies.

            On the second recommendation and following the comments made by the Programme Manager the Chair was happy to delete the line “or a review of comparable evidence from elsewhere in the UK if similar studies are already available”.  He received confirmation from the seconder Councillor Brockley that she agreed.  The motion was carried.

Flintshire County Council Climate Change Committee resolved:

1.      To recommend that Cabinet reviewed the Home Working Policy, establishing a coherent and climate-informed framework for the council.

2.      To recommend to Cabinet that a study was commissioned in respect of total net emissions from homeworking, in the form of a survey of Flintshire staff as per Welsh Government guidance

3.      To recommend that as an interim measure pending the completion of a review of the climate evidence, the council should allow anyone who wished to work from the office in Winter to do so, particularly considering rising heating costs, and

4.      To instruct the Chair to write to the Welsh Government’s Climate Change Minister requesting that a mechanism that accurately reflected seasonal variation in net homeworking emissions was included in the guidance for assessing emissions, such that the council was not penalised for taking steps to reduce total emissions at the expense of those that show on its own figures.

RESOLVED:

That the recommendations and minutes of the meeting to be forwarded to Cabinet.