Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Meehan, Chair of the Committee. In accordance with the Constitution rules on substitutions as set out in part 4, rules of procedures, section B, Committee rules, and paragraph 55 , Cllr Browne substituted Cllr Rice  in his role as vice chair, chaired the meeting. 

The Chair will consider the admission of any late reports in relation to the items shown on the agenda.

(Please note that under the Council’s Constitution  - Part 4 Section B paragraph 17 – no other business shall be considered).

There were no items of urgent business submitted.

A member with a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered must disclose to that meeting the existence and nature of that interest at the commencement of that consideration, or when the interest becomes apparent.

A member with a personal interest in a matter also has a prejudicial interest in that matter if the interest is one which a member of the public with knowledge of the relevant facts would reasonably regard as so significant that it is likely to prejudice the member's judgment of the public interest and if this interest affects their financial position or the financial position of a person or body as described in paragraph 8 of the Code of Conduct and/or if it relates to the determining of any approval, consent, licence, permission or registration in relation to them or any person or body described in paragraph 8 of the Code of Conduct.

The Committee were handed a letter by a representative of the NUT, Tony Brockman, in reference to agenda item 6, Trade Union Facilities, Duties, Activities and Time off Arrangements. The letter claimed that there was a financial benefit to schools as a result of the proposed reduction in the Council funding of time off facilities for union branch officers. Julie Davies, representative of the NUT, advised the meeting that she was currently seconded to the union branch officer post and following proposals to reduce the time off facilities for union work she would return to her teaching post. This would mean that her school would have an additional funded teacher and would mean that other schools that have a teacher seconded to branch officer posts would be in similar beneficial position. Tony Brockman along with Julie Davies claimed that this constituted a prejudicial interest for some members of the Committee who were also governors at schools in the borough which they believed should be declared together with withdrawal from the meeting. The Chair asked the legal representative at the meeting to provide advice on the assertions made in the letter and Committee member’s positions in relation to agenda item 6 as school governors. The Committee were informed, by the legal representative, that there was not a requisite degree of financial impact on schools or  a financial gain to members personally to deem this a prejudicial interest. Further, the decision recommended from the Committee involved only an allocation of paid time to the NUT, which would then be the subject of further decisions by the NUT before its implementation at the level of any school. The legal representative advised that these were therefore personal interests as opposed to prejudicial interests.  In response, to a query on legal advice provided at Planning Committees on personal and prejudicial interests when considering planning applications, the Committee were advised that in the consideration of some planning applications there could be circumstances where there was a direct impact on the financial position of the members involved or organisations that they, or close family members, were affiliated with which would need declaration and non participation in the meeting. In this case the direct financial effect on schools was not sufficient to warrant members of the Committee to declare a prejudicial interest. In response to the advice provided, Cllr Wilson declared a personal interest by virtue of his position as a school governor at Western Park Primary School. Cllr Rice declared a personal interest as a School Governor at John Loughborough School and Northumberland Park Secondary School and Cllr Waters declared a personal interest as a school governor at Risley Primary School. Cllr Browne declared a personal interest by virtue of his membership of National Union of Journalists, Equity (the performers union) and sought advice from the legal representative on whether his honorary  lifelong membership of the GMB, which was not active, would constitute a prejudicial interest. In answer to the latter declaration, the legal representative advised that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 137.

To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, Section B, paragraph 29 of the Council’s constitution.

 The Committee received deputations from Chris Taylor and Andrea Holden (Employee Side Representatives) on Agenda item 5) Youth Connexions and Participation - Agenda Item 6) Trade Union Facilities, Duties, Activities, and Time Off Across the Council. Deputations were also received from the  Teaching side of the Employee side – Tony Brockman and Julie Davies  in relation to Agenda Item 6)Trade Union Facilities , Duties, Activities, and Time Off Across the Council.

Details of their comments and representations are recorded under the relevant minute below.

The Committee to consider the proposed restructure of Youth, Connexions and Participation services.(Report to follow)

Members of the Committee considered a report on the proposals for the restructure of the Council’s Youth, Connexions and Participation services. The context behind the recommendations and necessity for this report were the requirement for the local authority to make savings of over 84 million over the next 3 years. As part of this, the Children and Young People’s service were required to restructure the service to reduce spending by 14.1m whilst ensuring that it fulfilled its statutory duties and protected services to the borough’s most vulnerable children. The proposition was to reorganise the Council’s Youth Service, Connexions Service, and Children and Young People, Parent & Community Participation Service into a revised Youth, Participation and Community service to achieve required savings of £3,298,443 whilst keeping to the following responsibilities:

• Delivering statutory responsibilities for the Local Authority
• Prioritising provision for at risk vulnerable groups
• Meeting  the needs of the community and the aspirations of young people

It was noted that 105 staff were affected by the review which equated to 85.9 Full Time Equivalents. It involved the deletion of 44 vacant posts (30.9 Full Time Equivalent posts). The full employment position of the staff members included in the restructure was set out in section 5 of appendix 1. The Committee learned that the restructure had sought to achieve a balance between full and part time posts   as working in youth service involved flexibility and working outside normal working hours.

The key aim of the new service was to target children most at risk. This would be achieved through maximising frontline services so that through partnership with statutory and community organisations there was focus on working with young people and families which were known to the Council to have enhanced risk factors. A further priority of the new service would be community development and quality assurance  which would entail developing , agreeing and monitoring clear quality standards in conjunction with young people for services that were managed by the Council , commissioned, or those that  the Council signposted to in the voluntary, community  and third sector .  The Council would be seeking to develop relationships with these sectors to ensure that there was a shared understanding of the meaning of quality services across the borough. This would further include: addressing professional issues where required, training, staff development, ensuring safeguarding protocols were in place and that tracking systems,  which provided schools with and other agencies with data information on learning, and employment destinations of young people  were maintained to a high level. The third key priority was citizenship and involvement of young people and ensuring that they were routinely involved and engaged in decision making, shaping, and planning the service.  This would include working with children and young people through the Youth Council and CIC Council and ensuring that consultation on broader developments of the service included young people. In relation to the connection of this priority to the Voluntary Sector this would involve liaising with HAVCO to make sure that there were skilled  ...  view the full minutes text for item 139.

The report contains proposals to amend the trade union facilities , duties, activities and time off arrangements across the Council with a view to reducing expenditure on current time off provision.

The Head of Human Resources introduced the report which sought the Committee’s agreement for amendments to trade union facilities, duties activities and time off arrangements across the Council with a view to reducing expenditure on current time off provision.  The Head of Human Resources referred to paragraph 6, which reported that a number of meetings had taken place between himself and the Head of Schools Personnel, Deputy Director of Business Support &Development, Children and Young People’s service and representatives on the trades unions. The Head of Human Resources had allocated reasonable time off for branch officer roles to all trades unions by taking into account the following criteria:

• Union Membership numbers
• The volume and complexities of  Corporate and Local Industrial Relations issues taking place in the organisation
• A minimum of 0.1 facility time would be granted to each recognised trade union. In addition for unions with 0.1 or 0.2 facility time reasonable time off will be also granted in recognition of casework preparation and representation at meetings.

The Committee learned that the total current time off allocated to all the trades unions was 12.1 Full Time Equivalent posts which were proposed to be reduced to 7.5 Full Time Equivalent posts, a reduction of 4.6 full time equivalents. It was clarified to the Committee that, the figure of 0.1 (the number of days off allowed to deal with Union duties) was equitable to half a day off per week.

The Chair asked the deputation from the NUT to address the meeting and raise their views in regards to the report and its proposals.

Tony Brockman, representing the NUT, voiced opposition to the proposals contained in the report as they would mean a reduction in Council funding to teaching unions. Tony Brockman proposals were not seen as equitable in comparison to the reductions proposed to the other non teaching unions and the deputation asked the proposals to be repelled .Tony Brockman expressed concern that there had not been prior discussion of the proposed reductions through the form of a negotiating body or through the CEJCC. He disputed the membership numbers listed in the report and pointed to the lack of provision given to time off facilities for branch officers undertaking national union duties. Allocation of Health & Safety duties were also matters for resolution between the Council and the teaching unions as there was currently no provision in schools rules to accommodate these functions. Therefore there was a need to resolve the allocation of school safety issues and the learning representative duties which were now to be allocated to schools but which were previously carried out by the Council.

Tony Brockman further challenged the membership figures set out in the report and claimed that they were not accurate. The teaching unions had a higher number of members than listed in the report and advised the figure to be 2067. He further questioned the benchmarking exercise undertaken with other boroughs on their membership numbers and used as a basis to form recommendations. Anecdotal research  ...  view the full minutes text for item 140.

None