Agenda and minutes

www.swansea.gov.uk/DisclosuresofInterests

In accordance with the provisions of the Code of conduct adopted by the City and County of Swansea, no interests were declared.

To approve & sign the Minutes of the previous meeting(s) as a correct record.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 9 December 2015 be agreed as a correct record.

The Head of Finance and Delivery provided the Committee with a verbal update regarding Invest to Save Loans.  He stated that the Welsh Government had introduced the loans in 2011 and all public sector bodies can bid for money.  The purpose of the loans were to improve efficiency by delivering projects that were designed to make cash savings.

He added that while Swansea had not applied, a number of other local authorities and public bodies in Wales had been granted loans and he gave examples of some of the schemes the loans had been used to support.  However, that the loans were non-negotiable and were repayable over 3 years and the successful applicant must put 25% towards the overall cost.  Less than 5% of local authorities had generated enough savings to make the loan repayments.

He stated that because of the way the Council had managed its budget, particularly in 2013/14, there was sufficient cash in the contingency fund to pay for any schemes the Authority wished to pursue.

The Committee asked a number of questions of the Officer who responded accordingly.  Discussions centred around the following: -

·         How the Authority could utilise a loan, including examples of possible schemes;

·         Schemes undertaken by the Authority that could have benefitted from a loan which were financed by the contingency fund;

·         Any potential schemes being highlighted;

·         Financial outlook of the Authority in the next few years.

The Chair thanked the Head of Finance and Delivery for providing his report.

RESOLVED that the contents of the report be noted.

The Head of Human Resources presented a report on Analysis of the Female Workforce.  An analysis of the gender breakdown of the Council workforce was provided.

It was proposed that the Committee consider discussing the issue with ‘Women Adding Value to the Economy’ (WAVE) with a view to possibly engaging their services.

It was outlined that Women Adding Value to the Economy (WAVE) had been created to address workplace and labour market practices, specifically gender earning disparities in employment and self-employment.  The aim of the WAVE programme was to contribute to tackling the causes of gender pay gaps in Wales.  Their aim is to achieve this through both interrelated and targeted activities, working with employers, employees and self-employed women.  WAVE is funded by the Convergence European Social Fund through the Welsh Government.

The three main strands of the WAVE programme are were detailed as follows:

·         Cardiff University will develop tools and techniques based on research with employers to challenge gender based inequalities in organisations. With particular attention to pay inequalities, the aim being to replace them with a more equitable system 

·         The Women’s Workshop Project BAWSO Ltd aims to empower and upskill women to progress in and move into non-traditional sectors and technical career paths, to access higher valued and better paid areas of work.

·         The University of South Wales aims to empower and to up-skill women who are either already in, or aiming towards self-employment. Encouraging and enabling them to achieve higher levels of remuneration.

WAVE had recently undertaken a case study in Rhondda Cynon Taff Council.

The Committee asked questions of the Officer who responded accordingly. 

Discussions centred around the following: -

·         Workforce data contained at Appendix 1 including age profile, length of service profile and contract type by gender;

·         The assistance that could be provided by WAVE;

·         How the personal circumstances of women differ to men;

·         Barriers encountered by women compared to men.

RESOLVED that: -

1)    The contents of the report be noted;

2)    A meeting with a representative of the WAVE Programme be arranged with Officers and the Chair to discuss the issue further.

The Head of Human Resources presented a report on Agency Workers which detailed of the use of Agency Workers within the Authority and to investigate the merits of developing an ‘in house’ agency service.

It was outlined that the Authority currently had 232 Agency Workers being used in various Departments.  A breakdown of all agency workers as at 30 November 2015 was provided.  The two main Contractors are RSD and Select who were the successful tenderers for the corporate contract.

The majority of Agency Workers were used in the Waste Management Service area.  Some of these were long standing Agency Workers and approximately 20 of these had been employed on a permanent basis during 2015.  The Waste Management Commissioning Review would be looking at the remainder of these Agency Workers.

It was noted that since October 2011, Agency Workers had been entitled to equal treatment on basic working and employment conditions as if they had been recruited directly by the Council, once they had been in the same job for 12 calendar weeks. 

‘Equal treatment’ means Agency Workers are entitled to:

·         Access to the same basic pay based on the annual salary the Agency Worker would get if recruited directly by us.  The pay will include holiday pay, overtime allowances and bonus payments (whilst the Council still pays them). Pay does not include occupational sick pay, but they are entitled to statutory sick pay

·         Access to the same holiday entitlement, working time, overtime, breaks and rest periods as permanent workers

·         Equal access to collective facilities – this is a day 1 entitlement

·         Access to information about internal vacancies to give them the same opportunity as other workers to find permanent employment– this is a day 1 entitlement; and

·         Equal access to on-site facilities such as canteen facilities and transport services – this is a day 1 entitlement.

The Council has an Agency Workers Policy which was implemented on 1 April 2014.

In addition to Agency Workers, Social Services have their own Team of

workers, i.e. the RST Team.  The team was established in 2007. These are a team of approx. 38 staff which were employed by the Authority, on a casual basis to cover for holidays and sickness.  They are used on an as and when needed basis.  These staff are paid the rate of pay for the position and do progress through the grade of the post that they are undertaking.  The service only uses these staff if they were unable to use employed staff to cover the shifts.  The Service should only use external Agency workers where there was an urgent need and they were unable to engage current staff or RST.

The Committee asked questions of the Officer who responded accordingly. 

Discussions centred around the following: -

·         Benefits of having an ‘in-house’ agency pool based on the Social Services RST Model;

·         Commissioning Review of Waste Management;

·         Management implications of having an ‘in-house’ agency;

·         Scheme being piloted in Social Services.

RESOLVED that: -

1)    The contents of the report be noted;

2)    Further discussions take place following the completion of the Commissioning Review of Waste Management.

The Chair presented an update Work Programme 2015-2016.

RESOLVED that: -

1)    The contents of the report be noted;

2)    A presentation by WAVE be added to the agenda of the meeting scheduled for 10 February 2016;

3)    The Leader and Cabinet Member for Transformation and Performance be invited to the meeting scheduled for 10 February 2016 to discuss future work topics.