Issue - meetings

(Report of the Head of Personnel)  To advise committee of the work that HR have been doing to deliver on the HR Strategy. 

We received this report to advise the committee of the work that Human Resources had been doing to deliver on the HR strategy.  The HR Strategy was introduced in 2004 as a 3-4 year strategy to ‘proactively improve service performance by ensuring that people perform and they work in a modern and healthy environment’.  Officers outlined how the Council had delivered their strategic objectives across the six identified key themes.

In response to Member comments on the Council’s recruitment policy, the Head of Personnel outlined positive measures which the organisation had taken in order to boost recruitment.  The employment of TMP Worldwide as handling agents led to the ability for individuals to submit applications on-line, cutting the time between recruitment and the individual taking up the position of employment.  Other measures such as longer opening hours, and the placement of interview dates in job adverts were also positive steps which had resulted in the reduction of average recruitment time from 16 to 12 weeks, with further reductions expected.  The contract remained under review.

We noted that Exit Interviews took place within the Council.  With regards to numbers of agency staff, we noted that the Council was four weeks into a new contract for a temporary staff resource centre, and the Head of Personnel agreed to report back to the committee in due course when a breakdown of information was available.  Queries were raised by Members on the usage of consultants, and the Head of Personnel agreed that this was an issue which needed to be addressed, and agreed to report back to the committee on this subject in the future.

We noted that the Council worked with the local community in a school entrance training scheme, and that for the first time this year, over 100 local children took part in work experience in areas across the Council, affirming the organisation’s commitment to offering opportunities for young people across the borough.

RESOLVED:

1. That we note the report and contents of the appendix.
2. That the Head of Personnel report back to the committee in due course on the Council’s use of agency staff.
3. That the Head of Personnel report back to the committee in due course on the Council’s use of consultants.
4. That the revised Employees Code of Conduct be circulated to Members of the committee for information.