Agenda item

Report of the Director of Human Resources.

The Committee considered a Report of the Director of Human Resources concerning employment work priorities arising from the Tackling Racism Taskforce (TRT) at its

meeting on 13 July 2020.

Officers provided a brief introduction, and asked Members to note that the Bullying and Harassment Procedure was, in fact, on today’s agenda for consideration.

In addition, officers confirmed that work was being undertaken to present Members with scoped out options for training budgets. To provide a snapshot on current thinking, spending had been estimated at £500 per staff member (£2 million total).

An officer added that training budgets in general would be considered more widely in 2021, as given departmental changes over recent years, these budgets were now somewhat out of kilter.

In response to a query around how positive changes would be tracked and reported in the future, officers confirmed that the Equality and Inclusion Board had been looking in-depth at how KPIs could be reformed so as to provide Members with a much more robust and accurate picture of how well the Corporation was performing. The updated KPIs would be submitted to the Establishment Committee at its 9^th December meeting.

Members raised queries around the term “safe space”. Officers informed Members, that in response to staff asking for “safe spaces” to raise concerns, a specific group of 20 staff members from across the board, has been established. These individuals will receive training to be confidential advisors, effectively by listening and counselling those colleagues who require their guidance/help, it was important to emphasise that these individuals will not replace Human Resources or the union representatives, but they will be someone to speak to in the same way as we would offer confidential one-to-one help for, for example, mental health or health and safety issues. 20 staff have been recruited, which should give full coverage throughout the year for any staff Member looking for a confidential advisor. The group would not be defined as a “safe space”, officers are currently examining other terminology and would update Members in due course.

RESOLVED – that Members:

• Noted that an increase in training budgets will be required and a more detailed recommendation will be submitted to the Establishment and Policy and Resources Committees in October 2020.

• Endorsed the Confidential Advisors Scheme being implemented across the

City Corporation

• Approved that anonymised recruitment currently in place for senior positions be

rolled out across the City of London Corporation at all grades.

• Noted that a programme of mentoring and reverse mentoring, as piloted in the

Department for Built Environment, is rolled out across the City Corporation in

the first instance to staff from the most underrepresented groups.

• Note the proposed peer review/equality challenge of the Equality and Inclusion action plan and performance assessment.