Agenda and minutes

Venue: Ascot and Bray - Town Hall

Contact: David Cook  01628 796560

Items
No. Item

5.

Apologies for Absence

To receive any apologies for absence

Minutes:

Apologies were received by Cllr Coppinger.

6.

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 219 KB

To receive any declarations of interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest received.

7.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 79 KB

To consider the Part I minutes of the meetings held on 12 November 2019 and 3 December 2019.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Resolved unanimously: that the minutes of the meetings on 12 November and 3 December 2020 be approved as a true record subject to Cllr Baldwin’s comments on page 9 of the 12 November minutes be changed to Cllr Werner.

8.

Gender Pay Gap 2019 pdf icon PDF 1 MB

To consider the report.

Minutes:

The Head of HR, Corporate Projects and IT introduced the report regarding the Council’s Gender Pay Gap.

 

Members were informed that the Council was required to publish by 30 March annually a number of gender pay gap indicators reflecting a snapshot of employees in post on 31 March the previous year. The report contained the data for 31 March 2019 to be published by 30 March 2020.

 

Table 2 of the report compared the Council’s 2019 gender pay gap with national figures for all employees and those in the public sector for 2018.  The Council’s gap remained significantly below the 2018 national figures with a 5% mean gap and 2.6% median gap.

 

Table 3 compared the Council with the other Berkshire councils for 2018 as the 2019 data was not yet available.  Page 15 also showed performance payments by gender pay gap.  A larger percentage of payments were made to men during 2018/19, which was down to the Royal Wedding preparations where a larger proportion of males undertook additional work. 

 

Appendix D showed pay profiles within pay grades.  The figures showed that for eight out of 13 grades, women were paid slightly more than men. For grades 10 and above, although men are mostly paid slightly more than women, analysis of the gender profile identified that women had fewer years’ service with the Council and less continuous Local Government service.

 

The Council were trying to encourage more women to take up managerial roles by having flexible working, introducing paid leave for foster careers and a middle management forum.

 

Cllr Del Campo asked why there were more men who worked on the Royal Wedding, why some of the payments were large and if there had been any complaints about gender bias. In response the Panel were informed that there had been more men working on the Royal Wedding due to the roles required, such as parking, parks and highway officers, being mainly male.  The level of reward were set to no more than 1k and came from existing service budgets and that there had been no complaints about gender bias.  The panel were also informed that a new unconscious bias e-learning training launched for all managers to undertake.

 

Cllr Del Campo also asked for clarification regarding those on part time roles and was informed that the pay was based on the role and not the hours worked, however pat time roles tended to be on the lower grades and part time workers were less likely to move into management positions although this is something the council are trying to actively promote. 

 

Cllr Jones asked how many employees were covered by the results and why at grades 10/11 there were more women employed but they were on lower pay was this historical. The Panel  were informed that it was about 600 centrally employed staff.  The reason for some men at grades 10/11 being on higher pay was they tended to have longer continues service and yes this related to historical grading where  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

9.

Approval of 2020/21 Pay Policy Statement pdf icon PDF 111 KB

To consider the report.

Minutes:

The Head of HR, Corporate Projects and IT introduced the report regarding the Council’s Pay Policy Statement for 2020/21 that if approved would go to Council on 25 February 2020.

 

The Panel were informed that the policy had been updated to reflect the latest structure for ‘Chief Officers’ , updated pay ratio between the Managing Director and the median and average pay as well as updated employee numbers.

 

It was noted that the policy would require further amendments if and when the government introduced exit payments being gapped at £90k,

 

Resolved unanimously: that the Employment and Member Standards Panel notes the report and:

 

i)          Approves the updated Pay Policy Statement for 2020/21 and recommends the statement to full Council for approval on 25 February 2020.

ii)         Notes that further revisions will be required to the statement when the Government’s reforms to public sector exit pay arrangements are implemented.

 

 

 

10.

Review of Arrangements for Standby and Overtime pdf icon PDF 169 KB

To endorse the briefing note.

Minutes:

The Managing Director introduced the report regarding a review of arrangements for overtime and standby pay.

 

The Panel were informed that CLT had already approved the change in the amount paid to the EDO role but as this was approved by the Managing Director and thus he would potentially benefit it was decided to bring the proposals to this Panel.

 

It had been agreed to create a new EDO payment at £150 per week when on call and that overtime payments could be made to those on grade 8 or above for civic events or emergency situation. It was noted that a number of employees did not claim any of the payments, even though they were entitled to, as they saw it as part of their role.

 

Cllr Del Campo mentioned that there were no financial implications in the report and was informed that these would be negligible and for certain events, such as the Royal Wedding, the council would be paid by Government.  The EDO payments were already paid from existing budgets.

 

The report was noted.

 

11.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 - EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC

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 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"

Minutes:

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 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.

12.

Minutes

To consider the Part II minutes of the meetings held on 12 November 2019 and 3 December 2019.

13.

Appointment of Head of Infrastructure, Sustainability and Transport

To consider the report.