Issue - meetings

Councillor Andy Hull, Executive Member Finance, Performance and Community Safety was present, together with Liz Haynes, Director of Human Resources.

During consideration of the report the following main points were made –

·         Members were of the view that reports should still continue to come to Committee as per the current scheduling and that the changing of provider also made this imperative

·         Members were informed that Islington compared well to other boroughs on agency staff employment and spend and that in addition Islington had a higher proportion of directly delivered services than most other boroughs

·         There were a number of measures being taken to further reduce agency staff and there had been a reduction in spend over the previous 12 months

·         As Islington delivers responsive services there will always be a need for agency staff and the Director of Human Resources stated that whilst efforts are being made she felt that it would be difficult to reduce agency staff employment much further

·         A Member expressed concern that there is still concern amongst Committee Members about the level of agency staff employment and the length of time some staff are employed. It was added that if an agency worker is employed for over 6 months then they should be offered full time employment. The Director of Human Resources stated that agency staff were in many cases offered permanent employment, but for a number of reasons were not willing to take this offer up

·         Discussion took place as to the number of social work agency staff employed and that social work recruitment was a problem across London, however Islington had been commended by OFSTED on the level of directly employed children’s social workers

·         Reference was also made to the fact that whilst some agency staff seemed to have had long term assignments, they may have been engaged to do various jobs if their work had proven to be good, or only employed for specific times a year

·         Councillor Hull informed Members that Members of PPS Committee had provided a constant challenge to the Executive and officers to reduce agency spend and he welcomed this. He added that he believed that this challenge had engendered a change in attitude and that this is now seen as a political priority and there is a focus on reducing employment of agency staff, whilst recognising that this will always be necessary in some instances

RESOLVED:

That the information in the report be noted and Members wish to continue receiving such reports three times per year although reports could be simplified if possible, whilst still providing relevant information to the Committee