Venue: Committee Room A - County Hall, Llandrindod Wells, Powys. View directions
Contact: Stephen Boyd 01597 826374
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Election of Chair To elect a Chair for the remainder of the municipal year. Minutes:
It was explained that County Councillor John Morris had resigned as Chair of the Employment and Appeals Committee following his election as Chair of the Audit Committee.
RESOLVED that County Councillor Michael Williams be elected Chair for the remainder of the municipal year.
Consequent upon the election of Councillor Williams as Chair of the Committee the position of Vice Chair was vacant.
RESOLVED that County Councillor Kath Roberts-Jones be elected Vice Chair for the remainder of the municipal year.
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Apologies To receive apologies for absence. Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from County Councillors PJ Ashton, JR Jones, DW Meredith, GW Ratcliffe and AG Thomas.
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To authorise the Chair to sign the minutes of the last meeting held on 9th October 2015 as a correct record. Minutes: The Chair was authorised to sign the minutes of the meeting held on 9th October 2015 as a correct record.
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Declarations of Interest To receive any declarations of interest. Minutes: There were no declarations of interest reported.
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Size of the Committee To discuss the size of the Committee. Minutes: Members discussed the size of the Committee in light of both the need to modernise its working practices and to make savings by reducing membership on committees. The Head of Democratic Services provided details of the arrangements in other Welsh authorities. There were currently four vacant places on the committee which was an indication that Members did not wish to serve on the committee. The majority of the committee’s work was done in appeals panels and not all members of the committee participated in these. Members advised that the volume of paperwork associated with appeals cases made it difficult to take part when they were serving on other committees, such as the Planning, Taxi Licensing and Rights of Way Committee that also had sizeable agendas. Members asked whether it was possible to reduce the amount of paperwork that the appeals panels had to consider but were advised that appellants had the right to submit whatever documents they wanted to support their appeals.
It was agreed to bring a detailed report to the next meeting of the Committee.
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Effectiveness of Part Time Working Arrangements To consider the effectiveness of the Council’s part time working arrangements. Minutes: This issue had been raised at the last meeting of the Joint Chairs and Vice-Chairs Steering Group regarding the inability of the Council to recruit to part time posts because employment of over 16 hours a week affected the benefits of part time members of staff. The Acting Professional Lead for HR advised that he was not aware that this was an issue for services, with the possible exception of a small number of posts in Children’s Services. The Head of Democratic Services agreed to consult the member who had raised the issue at the Joint Chairs Committee to see if there was a specific issue that he wanted to be addressed.
The discussion moved onto flexible working and the problems Councillors sometimes faced in having their queries dealt with if the member of staff they were trying to contact was away. There was recognition that managers needed to ensure that there was adequate cover for when staff were away. The Chair asked for a report back to the next meeting of the Committee.
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Employment Law Update PDF 80 KB To receive an update on employment law. Minutes: The Committee received details of an employment law case. Members asked that when they make recommendations in appeals panels they receive feedback on whether their recommendations have been adopted.
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