Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Sophie Fernandes and Jamie Ingham Clark.

There were no declarations of interest.

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 15 January 2018.

RESOLVED – That the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 15 January be approved as an accurate record.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk which provided details of outstanding actions from previous meetings.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Report of the Director of Human Resources

The Committee received a report of the Director of Human Resources proposing a process for the recruitment of very senior non Chief Officer posts which were outside of the A – J grading structure, and for which the salary was anticipated to be £100k+.

RESOLVED – To approve the proposed process detailed in Appendix 1 for the recruitment of Senior Posts which sit outside of the grading structure, and command a salary in excess of £100K.

It was noted that all posts within the A – J structure would remain in the recruitment process. New posts within A – J but with salaries over £100K would remain in the currently agreed recruitment process and would have to be agreed by Court of Common Council.

Report of the Town Clerk and Comptroller & City Solicitor

The Committee received the final high-level business plans for 2018/19 for the Town Clerk’s Department (Corporate and Member Services), Corporate HR and the Comptroller & City Solicitor’s Department.

RESOLVED – That the final high-level business plans for 2018/19 for the Town Clerk’s Department (Corporate and Member Services), Corporate HR and the Comptroller & City Solicitor’s Department be approved.

Report of the Director of Human Resources

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Human Resources concerning the Corporation’s gender pay gap, data for which was required to be published by 30 March 2018 under the new Gender Pay Gap Regulations.

Members raised a number of questions including how the issue of diversity was being actively addressed, why there was a pay gap and whether any trends had been identified during the recruitment process.

The Director of Human Resources reported that the issue of diversity was something that was being addressed during the recruitment stages when attracting candidates to apply and also post recruitment in terms of developing and retaining staff. Recruitment at the Corporation at senior levels was now anonymised. There were  also various revisions to the recruitment and selection processes as reported to the committee previously.  In relation to Gender Pay Gap it was therefore necessary to determine what other factors needed to be solved having looked in more detail at the data.

The Director of Human Resources advised thatthe Gender Pay Gap measured the differences between the average pay of male and female employees, irrespective of job role or seniority, and was not to be confused with equal pay which concerned pay differences between male and female employees performing the same or similar work, or work of equal value. It was further noted that the GPG data looked at the total pay but did not reflect the numbers of staff. So whilst useful, more detailed analysis was needed to inform any actions arising.   

In response to a question concerning transgender members of staff, the Deputy Chairman advised that this question wasn’t currently asked during the recruitment process, however most transgender people still identified with the gender binary and statistically numbers of non-binery people were very small and unlikely to impact on

Report of the Director of Human Resources

The Committee received a report concerning the CityWell wellbeing strategy which had helped embed the wellbeing programme at the CoL Corporation.

The Committee noted that mental health training and development was now a mandatory requirement for managers and good progress was being made on the delivery. Initial consultation was also underway on the development of a workplace wellbeing action plan that would support the aims of the new Corporate Plan.

In response to questions concerning whether enough was being done to deal with stress at work, the Director of Human Resources advised that raising awareness was key as well as training managers to recognise the early signs of stress. Work was also being done to reduce the stigma of mental health and supporting people to seek help, and mental health ‘first aiders’ were also available.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Report of the Director of Human Resources and the Chamberlain.

The Committee received a joint report of the Chamberlain and Director of Human Resources concerning funding options for maternity, adoption and shared parental pay which it had requested following the recent policy change with regards to the increased pay provisions.

Members expressed concern that individual departments were to continue to meet the full costs of the provision, which they felt should be funded by a central budget.

In particular it was felt that some departments, with an above average number of female employees, were being unfairly hit compared to other departments.

After a lengthy debate, members agreed that these payments should be funded centrally rather that by local risk budgets, recognising that a central budget would need to be top sliced from all departmental budgets.

The Chamberlain advised that this would require a late adjustment to the budget but agreed to bring a report back to the Committee to implement Members’ decision.

RESOLVED  - That a report proposing that maternity, adoption and shared parental pay be met from a central budget be brought back to the Committee to implement Members’ decision.

Report of the Comptroller and City Solicitor

The Committee received a report detailing the Comptroller and City Solicitor’s departmental risks as at 30 January 2018.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Report of the Director of Human Resources

The Committee received the Corporate HR Dashboard which highlighted data for the two departments to which the Establishment Committee was the Service Committee - the Town Clerk’s Department and the Comptroller and City Solicitor’s Department.

The Committee noted that a general trend in the dashboard was a slight increase in headcount with turnover and sickness absence relatively stable.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

There were no questions.

The following items of urgent business were raised –

SMG Pay and Grading Report

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk proposing that the Member consultation arrangements on SMG pay progression be reviewed and consideration be given to the creation of a Remuneration Sub Committee.

Some Members questioned why the report was urgent and suggested that members be given more time to consider the best way forward.

The Deputy Chairman advised that in the light of senior officer salaries being under general public scrutiny, and the fact that the current process had not been reviewed since 2008, it was essential that the CoL Corporation had a clear, transparent process that demonstrated good governance.

The Town Clerk advised that should Members want the process to be in place by March then a decision would be needed now.

Members indicated that they supported the proposed process in principle, but would favour a more informal process given that Members were not experts on remuneration and would be reliant on the views of the Town Clerk when considering pay and reward.

The Deputy Chairman suggested that the Committee endorse the proposal to establish a Sub-Committee, and that the terms of reference operate on an trial basis for a year prior to a final decision being made.

RESOLVED – That

The Committee approve the establishment of a Senior Management Remuneration Sub-Committee, membership of which would comprise:

·         Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Establishment Committee

·         Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Policy & Resources Committee

·         Chairman of Finance Committee

·         Chairman of the General Purposes Committee of Alderman.

To be responsible for the:

·         oversight and scrutiny of the remuneration of the Town Clerk & Chief Executive and the Senior Management Group grades;

·         oversight and scrutiny of the remuneration, of any other employee whose remuneration exceeds £100,000

·         conducting a regular

MOTION - That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

RESOLVED – That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 15 January 2018.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 15 January were approved.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee noted a report of the Town Clerk which provided details of non-public outstanding actions from previous meetings.

Report of the Director of Markets & Consumer Protection

The Committee considered and approved a report of the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection concerning car allowances in the Port Health and Public Protection Division

There were no questions.

There were no items of urgent business.

To agree the Confidential minutes of the last meeting held on 15 January 2018.

The confidential minutes of the meeting held on 15 January were approved as a correct record.

Report of the Principal, Guildhall School of Music & Drama

The Committee considered and approved a report of the Principal, Guildhall School of Music & Dramaseeking in relation to the payment of a retention allowance.

Report of the City Surveyor.

The Committee received and considered a report of the City Surveyor concerning the payment of a market forces supplement

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee received and noted a report of the Chamberlain regarding an organisational review within his department.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee considered and approved a report of the Chamberlain in relation to the Payroll Department.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee considered and approved a report of the Chamberlain in relation to the IT Division.

The Assistant Town Clerk and Police Commissioner

The Committee considered a report of the Assistant Town Clerk and Police Commissioner in relation to the Secure City Programme.

The Committee considered and approved a report of the Managing Director of the Barbican Centre and Principal of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama concerning the Barbican IT department.

Report of the Director of the Barbican

The Committee considered and approved a report of the Director of Operations and Buildings at the Barbican Centre and Guildhall School of Music and Drama concerning a review of the Projects team.

Report of the Town Clerk and Chief Grants Officer

The Committee received and approved a report of the Town Clerk and Chief Grants Officer concerning the implementation of the ‘Bridging Divides’ funding strategy.

Report of the Director of Human Resources

The Committee considered and noted a report of the Director of Human Resources concerning holiday pay and non-contractual payments.

Report of the Director of Human Resources

This item was deferred to a special meeting of the Committee.

Report of the Town Clerk

The Committee noted and agreed a report of the Town Clerk concerning a staffing matter in the City Bridge Trust division of his department.

Report of the Director of the Barbican

The Committee considered and approved a report of the Director of Operations and Buildings at the Barbican Centre and Guildhall School of Music and Drama concerning a review of the security function.

Report of the Director of the Barbican

The Committee received and considered a report of the Principal of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama concerning the payment of a market forces supplement.