To consider the report of the Head of Workforce and Organisational Development.
Minutes:
Documents:
· Report of the Head of Workforce and Organisational Development
Discussion:
· The Head of Workforce and Organisational Development was satisfied that the Internal Audit report had not identified any issues that had not already been resolved or picked up in the service’s ongoing work-plan
· Training Needs Analyses had been completed for all twelve service areas this year and were being completed again now for next year
· The return on the investment made in training needs to be monitored and systems are being put in place to do this
· The Corporate Induction Programme is a key building block, which following a delay in implementation due to the pandemic, will be launched virtually
· Service induction programmes are in place with guidance provided to ensure a consistent good quality standard. Management induction is also in place
· It had been reported that staff appraisals had increased to c84% this year, but Members questioned how the quality of those appraisals was monitored. Managers can already undertake checks as to the quality and standard of checks and with the procurement of the latest HR System in June, the plan was to move to an electronic appraisal process next year, which would make checks / assessment a lot easier to do
· The need for training in the declaration of conflicts of interest had been highlighted and the plan was to ensure that staff were fully briefed about the need to declare any conflicts and were clear about their responsibility. This would be highlighted through induction, the appraisal process and at least once a year by a formal reminder withing the Council’s logging in system
· The Committee noted that 75% of GDPR training had been undertaken and was concerned that this was low given that the training was mandatory and had potential legal implications. The Head of Workforce & OD highlighted how the recording system was still new and included all Council staff and reported the statistics in that context. As however, some staff had undertaken the same type of training at a higher level, they did not in fact need to undertake the mandatory module. This meant that this was distorting the statistics by under-inflating the percentage of staff who had completed the training, against who actually needed to.
· An exercise is therefore being undertaken to identify just those staff who needed to complete each particular module and once this has been completed shortly, the Council will see the real completion rate, which will be higher
· Members were of the opinion that Fraud training should be mandatory for all staff
· The provision of support to town and community councils was discussed and it was clarified that the Council provides support with DBS checks to c400 organisations across Wales and England including town and parish councils. The WOD service also undertakes some ad-hoc work for town and community councils on occasion
· The terms of the engagement of contractors or consultants was not within HR’s remit but was a matter for Commercial Services
· Whilst the drafting / content of the conflicts of interest policy is overseen by the Head of Legal and Democratic, the Head of Workforce & OD will put arrangements in place to ensure that it is clearly communicated to staff in the ways outlined earlier in the meeting.
Outcomes:
· The report be noted
Supporting documents: