Agenda item

Councillor Andy Hull, Executive Member Finance, Performance and Community Safety was present for consideration of this item. Jan Hart, Service Director, Public Protection, and Annette Hobart, Strategy and Change Manager, Martin Bevis, Assistant Director Financial Operations and Customer Services, Laura Eden, Children’s Services, were also in attendance

The report was outlined for the Committee

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

·         Councillor Hull stated that the issues raised at the last meeting had been responded to in the report

·         Reference was made to the Hate Crime figures, and that the sanctions rates were disappointing, and that the Police needed an improvement on these. Council tax and business rate collection was good

·         Discussion took place on channel shift, and that whilst there has been a reduction in the number of callers to the Customer Centre, the number of online transactions needed to increase

·         In response to a question, it was stated that the reports on sickness and agency staff would be submitted to the next and following meetings of PPS respectively

·         A Member referred to the number of people killed on roads, and that in her view this should be a key PI. Councillor Hull stated that he would consider this, however E&R scrutiny committee may have a view

·         A Member referred to sickness absence, and that a report was due to be submitted to the next meeting of the Committee. The Member stated that there was a need to review long term sickness cases, how they are being managed by senior management and trends, possibly reviewing cases of long term sickness absence of 6 months or more

·         Reference was also made to the high number of muscular/skeletal injuries in E&R, and that there needed to be a focus by management on reducing these, and to set a zero injury figure, even if this is not ultimately achievable. There was a need to look at what training, action being taken to reduce this figure. Councillor Hull stated that this could be looked at

·         A Member also referred to the need to look at trends over a period of time, comparative data with other neighbouring Local Authorities, an analysis of long term sickness, the number of staff in each department, and a narrative of sickness absence from the relevant Director on reasons etc. In addition, there should be an analysis of sickness absence by grade

·         It was stated that HR did work with Directors, and senior managers, on sickness, and there is a need to ensure senior management have the capability to address these issues. Staff also needed to be supported in an appropriate manner

·         The Chair expressed the view that the figures on stress/mental health/depression and anxiety, also needed to be separated out, as the level of support and other issues would not be the same in each case

·         Concern was expressed that the representation of BME staff at senior level is not representative of the workforce or community, and such representation needed to be increased. Councillor Hull stated that the Personnel Sub-Committee were making a number of senior appointments over the next few months, and that hopefully the appointments would increase such representation. In addition, initiatives were being undertaken by the Council to encourage young people to apply to the Council for jobs

·         A Member referred to the fact that stress sickness levels were high in some areas of the Council’s workforce, and this could be due to a number of reasons, including poor management, and pressures on staff as a result of austerity measures forced on the Council by central Government funding reductions

·         In response to a question, it was stated that as PI’s were frequently changed, this impacted on the ability to show trends over a long period of time

·         Reference was made to the fact that Domestic Violence trends had remained constant over the previous 5 years, however Councillor Hull stated that he had requested the Police to provide information on sanctions rates, as sanction rates were not satisfactory, despite the Council providing more funding for Domestic Violence

·         Discussion took place as to the level of agency staff, and it was stated that more detail would be provided in the Agency staff report due to come to the Committee in March. However, there were a number of senior management posts that were being filled with agency staff at present and this was expensive, however it is hoped that future impending recruitment will assist in reducing this

·         In response to a question as to hate crime, Councillor Hull stated that it is difficult to know if the increase is due to an increase in reporting, but in his view there is still underreporting. It was also stated that Faith Hate crime should be broken down into particular faiths

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the sickness report due to be submitted to the Committee in February contain further information as follows-

·         Numbers of staff per department so that comparisons can be made of % against numbers of staff

·         Comparative data with other neighbouring boroughs, if this is possible

·         Sickness trends/breakdown of sickness by grade

·         Details of long term sickness (anonymised) that are live – over 6 months with a narrative of reasons, action being taken, support given etc.

·         The separation of stress/mental health/anxiety/depression as these should not be grouped together. This should also be done in the next Corporate PI report

·         Muscular/skeletal injuries in E&R should have a narrative of the training given in relation to alleviating these injuries with a view to a zero target being set even if this is not ultimately achievable

·         Details of the number of DV offences over the past 5 years and Police sanction rates when this is available

·          Faith Hate Crimes – future reports should include a breakdown into specific faith groups

(b)       That the Use of Agency staff report, due to be submitted to the Committee in March, include details of the temporary to permanent strategy and progress thereon

The Chair thanked Councillor Hull, Annette Hobart, Martin Bevis, Laura Eden and Jan Hart for attending