Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Amin, Cllr Gorrie, Cllr Khan, and Cllr Williams.

Apologies were noted from the non voting co-optee members, Roger Melling, Keith Brown, and Michael Jones.

 Cllr Egan and Cllr Strang substituted for Cllr Amin and Cllr Gorrie. Prior notification had been given in accordance with Committee standing order 52 and 53.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late report in relation to the item shown on the agenda. Please note that under the Council’s Constitution – Part 4 Section B paragraph 17 – this being a special meeting of the Corporate Committee no other business shall be considered.

 There were no items of urgent business put forward.

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.

 There were no declarations of interest put forward.

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

The committee received a deputation from Chris Taylor UNISON) on: Agenda item 5) Work Place Learning and Experience Policy.

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

The Committee to consider and agree a policy for handling workplace learning/experience arrangements.

In accordance with the committee’s responsibilities for terms and conditions of employment, they were asked to consider a policy for handling workplace learning and experience arrangements. The policy  was stimulated by interest  shown by services in offering these work and volunteer opportunities  As a large employer it had been felt prudent to have a policy in place that would provide guidance and process for services offering these work experience opportunities. It would also be important to   determine pay and conditions for these roles. According to the proposed policy, services would need to put forward their work experience placement case to the Head of Human Resources who would determine, using HMRC guidance, whether the person was a ‘worker’ or a ‘volunteer’. If the person was determined a worker they would have access to the national minimum wage.   The policy was designed to protect people undertaking these roles and ensure that were remunerated if classified a ‘worker’ instead of a ‘volunteer’. Also it was good practice for the council to have this policy in place in line with the  national position

 Although a work experience policy for year 10 students in the borough had been operating over a number of years, this scheme did not highlight the need for payment. However, requests for recruiting apprentices and internships would need direction and advice from HR, hence the policy being compiled.

   The following clarifications were provided following member questions :

• The current  and past number of  internships
• Those apprenticeship opportunities were not exclusive to young people and could be offered to older people.
• If apprenticeship schemes were offered by services it was likely to be over a specific period and with a cohort of people being recruited. Internship appointments were likely to be more sporadic.

UNISON representative, Chris Taylor, was invited by the Chair to provide his views on the report.  UNISON welcomed the policy at a time of high unemployment levels for young people and because it provided equality of opportunity and ensured that people defined as a worker were able to access the London Living wage.  Issues highlighted to the committee to take account of were:  resolving whether there were redeployment rights at the end of an internship,  (for apprenticeship schemes) identifying if  there were  opportunities for an employment position, ensuring that internship offers were widely advertised to offer equal access to positions and guard against positions being obtained through acquaintance. UNISON further requested decisions on work placements should be undertaken through delegated authority, to allow union comments to be included, and a yearly report produced on how work placements opportunities had been taken forward.

 RESOLVED

The committee considered the information which was outlined above and   agreed the policy for work place learning/experience opportunities attached at appendix A.

The Committee will be asked to agree the Annual Internal Audit Plan and  Strategy for 2012/13.

The Corporate Committee considered the annual internal audit plan which contained a summary of the main areas of audit   for 2012/13 together with the internal audit strategy for agreement.  The plan also facilitated the requirement for the council’s key financial systems to have an audit opinion in place; this was required once every four years.

The other  areas of  audit had been chosen by considering: planned  savings targets ,  high scoring  risk  areas extracted from risk registers of departments, external annual audit and inspection letter, new projects  reported to council policy decision making bodies, and fraud investigation work completed in 2011/12.

The committee were further reminded that,  in addition to  investigations set out on the  draft audit plan, Internal audit undertook investigations into financial irregularity, completed pro – active   anti fraud work,   provided advice on risks and controls  and offered grant certification work . 

Although the impact of the Localism Act on council working was not referenced in the draft internal audit plan as an area of audit, Members were assured that there was an allocation of time and resources in reserve to review the changes being made by the council   and ensure that they were in line with legislation. There was also a contingency in the plan to revisit resources assigned to the implementation of the Leisure services externalisation.

The following  responses were provided to questions:

• The council would receive external grants that were for the purpose of redistribution to the third sector and therefore these organisations would need to be compliant with set financial regulations.   If there were any concerns raised by the Voluntary sector team, in their monitoring role of these organisations   and depending on their nature, then consideration would be given to whether audit investigation was needed. However, there was also a need to keep in mind that  the grant  distribution process was  changing  for 2013/14  financial year and  these  changes  could have an impact on the  working relationship  between the council and voluntary sector.

• The council were part of Pan London agreement to receive audit services from Deloitte and Touche. The council were in the last two years of the framework contract and were hopeful of extending this a further three years.

• In terms of tackling insurance fraud, the council were part of the   London Insurance Consortium which shared best practice for tackling insurance fraud.

There would be an internal audit into the reporting of staff declarations of interest in the summer and members of the committee would receive a copy of the findings. There would then follow a report to Corporate Committee in September 2012 on how the policy was being followed and the changes required.

RESOLVED

1. That the internal audit strategy be approved.

2. That the Annual Internal Audit Plan for 2012/13 be approved.

The Committee will be asked to approve and recommend to full Council a pay policy statement  in line with the requirements of the Localism Act 2011.

The committee considered the pay policy  as part of its  responsibility for  staffing  pay and conditions .The Localism Act 2011 required relevant authorities to prepare and publish an annual Pay Policy Statement  which outlines the local authority’s approach  to the pay of its workforce  and in particular  the pay of its senior staff.  Following DCLG (Department for Communities and Local Government) guidance full Council will be given the opportunity to vote on large salary packages offered to new senior appointments. The posts that this would be applicable to had a starting salary of over £100k and were set out at paragraph 4.4 of the attached report. The committee considered this list of posts and asked legal representatives at the meeting to clarify if the Homes for Haringey Chief Executive should be included; as Homes for Haringey were a council owned company.  If they did not need to conform to this aspect of the Localism Act, then it would still be important for the council to promote the objectives of transparency and accountability   and encourage the company to publish a Pay Policy Statement.

The council would publish specific information on the pay and reward of staff earning more than £50,000 on its website in line with the Code of Recommended Practice for Local Authorities on data Transparency and the accounts Audit regulations 2011.   Also for staff on senior manager grades, chief officer grades and the chief executive additional information will be supplied including employee salaries, names of employees (subject to their agreement), job titles, staff budget and number of staff.

The committee noted that the Council was obliged to publish a pay multiple, this was the ratio between the highest paid salary and the median average salary figure for all employees in the council.  The committee learned that this was currently a ratio of 1 to 6.8 and   a low figure compared to other local authorities.

The committee further considered the chief officer appraisal scheme at appendix D and   were provided with clarification on how the bandings and starting points of the Chief Executive’s salary were agreed and the committee recommended an amendment to the Pay Policy Statement to convey that the salary  banding of the Chief Executive should be determined by the recruitment panel  and following this decision  the Leader  of the Council  would determine the  starting point  in the salary banding.

 Given the committee’s responsibility for employment terms and conditions and the pay structure of senior posts they needed to examine and have input on the   Pay Policy statement.  Given the relatively short timescale for pulling together this first Pay Policy Statement and the fact that its compilation would be an annual process, the committee felt that it would be helpful and prudent to establish an informal cross party working group to consider the pay policy arrangements going forward. This would include making recommendations on the make up and arrangements for salary bandings for senior managers and chief officers, including those for new appointments, and to have input on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 107.

That the press and public be excluded from the meeting for consideration of item 9 as it contains exempt information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended by Section 12A of the Local Government Act 1985): paras 1 & 2 and 3: namely information relating to any individual, and information likely to reveal the identity of an individual Also Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

The following  part of the minutes were exempt as they contained information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government Act 1972; Para 1&2 - information relating to an individual  and information likely to reveal the identity of an individual.

To report on the application of the performance appraisal scheme for Senior Managers and Chief Officers.

RESOLVED

1. That the analysis of the application of performance appraisal for senior managers in the council at paragraph 7.5  and the Chief Executive’s application of the appraisal be noted;

2. That the 1^st tier chief officer’s included at paragraph 7.6 be   awarded a single incremental increase in their salary scale.