Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the committee, led introductions and issued the safety information.

Apologies were received from Councillors Clark, Stone and Thomas.

To note that at its meeting on 21^st May 2024, Annual Full Council appointed:

·       Councillor Kye Dudd as Chair of the Human Resources Committee for the 2024/25 Municipal Year.

·       Councillor Paula O’Rourke as Vice-Chair of the Human Resources Committee for the 2024/25 Municipal Year.

RESOLVED the confirmation of Chair and Vice-Chair was NOTED.

To note the membership of the Human Resources Committee for the 2024/25 Municipal Year as set out below:

Councillors Kye Dudd, Paula O’Rourke, James Crawford, Kerry Bailes, Jerome Thomas, Lisa Stone, Richard Eddy, Jos Clark and Zoë Peat.

RESOLVED: the Committee Membership was NOTED.

To note the Human Resources Committee meeting dates for 2024/25 Municipal year as follows:

·       Thursday 19^th June 2024, 2-4pm

·       Monday 16^th December 2024, 10am-12pm

·       Thursday 13^th March 2025, 2pm

(alternatives to be confrimed)

There was a discussion about the proposed dates for future meetings. There was agreement that they should be held on the same day of the week for consistency.  

ACTION OH survey members to find dates that work for as many as possible.

To note the Terms of Reference for the Human Resources Committee.

RESOLVED the Terms of Reference were NOTED.

None received.

To agree the minutes of the last meeting on 15^th February 2024 as a correct record.

RESOLVED The Minutes of the previous meeting of 15 February 2024 were agreed as a correct record.

Members of the press and public who plan to attend a public meeting at City Hall are advised that you will be required to sign in when you arrive and you will be issued with a visitor pass which you will need to display at all times.

30 minutes is allowed for this item

Any member of the public or councillor may participate in Public Forum.  The detailed arrangements for so doing are set out in the Public Information Sheet at the back of this agenda.  Please note that the following deadlines will apply in relation to this meeting:

Questions - Written questions must be received 3 clear working days prior to the meeting. For this meeting, this means that your question(s) must be received in this office by5 pm on Tuesday 18^th June.

Petitions and Statements - Petitions and statements must be received by 12 noon 2 working days before the meeting. For this meeting this means that your submission must be received in this office at the latest by 12.00 noon on Thursday 20^th June.

Please send all submissions to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk

There was one item of public forum, which was noted.

There was a brief discussion on the staffing issues within the library service and the committee requested an update to be brought to committee.

ACTION [JB] to bring update to Committee on Library staffing.

A total of 15 minutes is permitted for Trade Union Forum.

Each Trade Union will be allowed up to 5 minutes to speak to their submitted statements or raise a supplementary question arising from a submitted question. If only one trade union is in attendance a 5-minute time slot will be allowed.

All statements and questions must be in writing and the following deadlines apply:

Questions - Written questions must be received 3 clear working days prior to the meeting. For this meeting, this means that your question(s) must be received in this office by5 pm on Tuesday 18^th June.

Statements - Statements must be received by 12 noon 2 working days before the meeting. For this meeting this means that your submission must be received in this office at the latest by 12.00 noon on Thursday 20^th June.

Please send all submissions to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk

The committee noted a statement from UNISON regarding agency staff. The following points were raised in discussion:

·         It is a condition of Living Wage Employer accreditation that the Council has a plan to work towards ensuring all its contractors pay the Real Living Wage. The council is retendering a 10-year framework for social care in the city. BCC is in discussions with the Living Wage Foundation. The level of Social Care funding is a national problem.

·        A concern was expressed about the potential costs of implementing sick pay for agency workers.

ACTION [JB] to find out from Adult Social Care more details regarding any contractual requirements regarding sick pay arrangements of Social Care providers.

·         This matter falls largely within the purview of the Adult Social Care Policy Committee. The HR Committee has an interest in terms of the Council’s Living Wage Employer status.

To note the work programme.

The Committee noted the initial HR Committee Work Programme for 2024/25. The following points were raised in discussion:

·         This is the first iteration of the work programme, so members should expect it to develop over the year. 

·         Staff Led Groups should have the opportunity to brief the committee formally each year as well as informally. The Committee noted that the groups had just elected their leaders, so any updates were likely to come later in the year.

·         Severance pay for Executive Directors falls within the Pay Policy Statement. A progress update on transformation activities would come later in the year.

·         The HR dashboard on recruitment and retention will include exit survey information.

·          The apprenticeships report will include identification of skills gaps across the organisation and will also cover the pay of apprentices.

The HR Committee Annual Report to Full Council was NOTED.

The Committee requested that their thanks to the named lead officers supporting the committee be included in the report.

ACTION: name the specific officers involved in para 5.3. e.g. JB, SG, MJ.

The Committee considered a report on improving the workplace for disabled colleagues.

A Co-Chair of the Disabled Colleagues Network highlighted the following points:

·         Last year the DCN came to an informal HR committee to report that institutional discrimination based on disability was happening within BCC. A year on BCC is becoming noticeably different as an employer of disabled people. The hard work of SG, JB, the former Chief Executive Stephen Peacock and Alun Davies should be recognised. Last year BCC was failing and this year it would be still “needing improvement”.

·         BCC is still in a position where it finds it hard to make reasonable adjustments for disabled colleagues. The Disabled Colleagues Network (DCN) met with the Corporate Leadership Board (CLB) recently to give examples of how its offices were not as accessible as they should be.

·         There are considerable delays in implementing reasonable adjustments. Over the past last year we have worked with HR to develop a new reasonable adjustment policy, but there is a long way to go.

·         There has not been an increase in complaints from disabled colleagues because they are so fatigued by this. They want to do a good job, they are proud to work for BCC, want to improve and progress their careers but they are often blocked from doing so.

·         Apprenticeships are an important avenue for disabled colleagues.

·         The HR Committee should recognise the importance of this work publicly to show that BCC is fully behind this.

Alun Davies (Chair, Bristol Disability Equality Commission) highlighted the following points:

·         Last year, the DCN contacted Alun and said that they no longer knew where to go to improve the situation. This was worrying considering the resourcefulness of the DCN Chairs. Alun contacted the former Chief Executive to discuss.

·         CLB has recognised the need for improvement and acted well, including messaging and meeting with colleagues across the city. The project board has been going for 6 months. The reasonable adjustments policy is welcome. There is still a lot of work to be done.

·         SG’s leadership has been exceptional, and the progress would not have happened without her.

·         Alun will be meeting with the new Chief Executive soon.

·         The Commission wants Bristol to be a city that disabled people are proud to live in and wants BCC to be an organisation disabled people are proud to work for.

·         The Committee should join these initiatives to show their support for disabled colleagues.

The following points were raised in discussion:

·         The Committee members were surprised by the state of play last year but encouraged by the progress being made.

·         Members thanked Alun and the DCN Co-Chairs for all their hard work, without which we would not be seeing this progress. Disabled colleagues have said that BCC talks about disability rights, but does not always deliver.

·         There needs to be a culture change in officer and member thinking; it is not just about improving what is available.

·         Any report of institutional discrimination is concerning. Sometimes disabled colleagues do not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

The Committee considered the Health Safety and Wellbeing Annual Report. The following points were highlighted: 

·         The report looks back through the performance of the last year and sets out future provision.

·         A key activity is supporting the new stress risk assessment, which was launched this time last year.

·         There is considerable attention given to the issues raised by the Barton House incident, and the Housing Building Safety Board has updated Terms of Reference to oversee this.

·         There are new Governance Structures and arrangements in place that respond to an Internal Audit report.

·         There are too many health and safety discussions taking place in isolation; the new governance arrangements aim to address this and provide a single reporting line up to CLB.

·         There are 5 key areas of focus with defined objectives within the new strategy, including to reduce the number of accidents, increase training and improve the effectiveness of Corporate Health and Safety Management System (CHaSMS).

The following points were raised in discussion:

·         Trade Union colleagues were pleased that their feedback had been incorporated into the report and strategy.

·         On the CHaSMS RAG rating 75% of issues are rated amber. Although the return figure has improved on last year, more returns are being encouraged by reducing the number of questions required. 100% return should be a KPI.

·         BCC has set a KPI for all Heads of Service to complete the CHaSMS as a mandatory performance objectives for the year.

·         While the stress risk assessment is helpful, there also needs to be an implemented action plan. Managers experience significant stress themselves.

ACTION [CCC] will invite all committee members to the Trade Union H&S meeting.

The Committee considered the Senior Leadership Recruitment Update report. The following points were highlighted:

·         There are a number of senior vacancies being covered by interims and there are plans being developed to recruit to these on a permanent basis.

·         The priority is a permanent Chief Executive and Finance Director. The interim Director of Education is being recruited this week and a permanent appointment will happen in the autumn.

The following points were raised in discussion:

·         Interims tend to be exempt from the 1:10 BCC pay ratio policy. Interims do cost more, so it is a priority to make the positions permanent. Pay levels are approved by the selection committee.

·         Members were concerned about interims in position for a long period of time.

·         ACTION [JB] to explore monitoring of interims.

RESOLVED: The Committee NOTED the report on senior leadership recruitment.

The Committee APPROVED the terms and conditions of the employment for the roles of Chief Executive, Executive Directors and Directors.