Issue - meetings

The Board received a briefing paper on Public Appointments.

The Chair advised that he had requested that the paper be included within the agenda for the meeting, in order to begin to identify ways of increasing the number of people taking up Public Appointments. In order to encourage people from all sections of the community to take up Public Appointments and to equip people with the relevant skills, it was noted that training was required.

The Chair considered that the HSP was the most appropriate body to take a lead in encouraging people to take up Public Appointments and address the current deficit in volunteers by offering the relevant training.

It was noted that there had been discussion with the PCT in relation to this issue and there was a consensus that internal training sessions run by both the Council and the PCT could be opened up to members of the public, where appropriate, to address this. There had also been agreement that staff of both organisations should be encouraged to take up public duties.

It was noted that one of the barriers to taking up Public Appointments was the potential loss of Benefits that any remuneration may cause. There was agreement that this point should be looked at further.

In response to concerns that some employers, including the Council, limited their employee’s ability to take on Public duties, the Board was advised that Council employees were prohibited from taking up other employment. However, there was no restriction in their ability to take up voluntary posts in their own time.

There was a general consensus that an Action Plan, setting out how the HSP would address the deficit in Public Appointments and training, should be submitted to a future meeting of the HSP.

RESOLVED:

1. That the report be noted.

2. That an Action Plan, setting out how the HSP would address the deficit in Public Appointments and training, should be submitted to a future meeting of the HSP.