To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bicknell, Dr L Evans, Quick and Saunders.

To receive any declarations of interest

Nikki Craig and Karen Shepherd declared interests in the item ‘Pay Reward Payment 2019’ as officers of the council eligible for the Pay Reward scheme.

To consider the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 22 January 2019

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 22 January 2019 be approved.

To consider the above report

Members considered the results of the 2018 staff survey.  The survey had been undertaken in July 2018 and had been completed by 327 employees (52.53%). The survey had covered seven areas, as detailed in paragraph 2.3 of the report.  Members noted that the last staff survey was undertaken in 2016 and since then the number of staff directly employed had reduced from over 1200 to 600, due to the transfer to partner organisations. The questions were based on those used in previous years to allow for a direct comparison.

The Head of HR and Corporate Projects explained that overall the majority of questions scored higher than in 2016; details were included in Appendix A. The covering report provided detail on the key areas for focus including leadership, the council, and employee stress. Members also noted areas to celebrate were teamwork, managers and the service being delivered.

The results had been reviewed by the Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) and the staff champions group to create an initial action plan. These were discussed further at CLT with focus being given to nine priority activities as detailed in Appendix C. The top three were also discussed at the staff events held in early March 20-19 and would be further considered by CLT and the champions group in the coming week.

Councillor Dudley commented that there did not appear to be an action plan item relating to engagement with Members. Following the local elections there could be a large number of new councillors. The current cohort of councillors were experienced, yet did not necessarily engage with officers or the CREATE values, therefore there needed to be an action plan for both new and returning councillors. He was concerned that the new cohort would not be able to demonstrate the types of leadership or characteristics that staff were not seeing enough of at the moment.

The Managing Director commented that there was work needed over the next two years on the culture of the organisation in terms of how everyone worked together and the issue of visible leadership. More work was also needed to understand the results of the survey given the majority of staff would not have day to day contact with Members. The Service Lead – Governance confirmed that the Member-Officer protocol would be covered as part of the Member Induction programme, beginning the week after the local elections.

Councillor Dudley commented that he had seen numerous examples of engagement by Members that he felt was inappropriate or disrespectful. There was also a lack of Members giving basic thanks or recognition of support by officers. The Chairman highlighted that instant recognition awards provided an opportunity for Members to nominate staff for good work.

Councillor Carroll stated that he agreed with the comments by Councillor Dudley. The reality was that Members usually only contacted officers when there was a problem. It was important for Members to offer thanks to individual officers and also highlight this to their line manager.

It was noted that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 247.

To consider passing the following resolution:-

“That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion takes place on items 6-7 on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1-7 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act"

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion takes place on items 6-8 on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1-7 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.

To consider the Part II minutes of the meeting held on 22 January 2019

To consider the above report

To consider the above report