Agenda and draft minutes

Resolved to appoint Councillor Angela Kandola as the Vice Chair of the Committee for the 2024/25 municipal year.

Councillor Angela Kandola  –  Council business

Councillor Naim Salim  –  unwell

Councillor Sarita-Marie Rehman-Wall  –  unwell

None

To confirm the Minutes of the meeting held on 13 March 2024

The Committee confirmed the minutes of the meeting held on 13 March 2024 as a correct record and they were signed by the Chair.

Report of the Statutory Scrutiny Officer

The Chair presented a report on the Committee’s Terms of Reference, the Council’s structure for the Overview and Scrutiny function and the Overview and Scrutiny Protocol to provide clarity on the Committee’s purpose, objectives and terms of operation so that it can work efficiently and contribute effectively to the good governance of the Council.

The Committee noted the report.

Lee Mann, Strategic Director of Human Resources (HR) and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), gave a presentation on the development of a new, strategic HR approach to the production of workforce analytics as an effective management tool. The following points were raised:

a)  Currently, managers across the Council do not have a consistency of access to workforce data. A new analytics dashboard is being produced as part of the revised approach to how HR provides data to help managers identify workforce issues clearly, underpinning a revised strategic HR service offer in the context of the Council’s current financial position. It will also enable internal and external benchmarking of management performance within and across directorates, address capability issues and share best practice. Benchmarking with other comparative Local Authorities will also be possible. The new information provided by HR will ensure much more insight and analysis to help managers operate effectively, and will help to identify workforce trends across the whole organisation.

b)  It is the intention that the new dashboard will be able to help chart recruitment, retention and turnover trends, workforce demographics, and issues such as how long it can take to fill vacancies in certain roles due to challenges in the wider jobs market. The dashboard will also be used to show the data collected from staff surveys, and from the exit interviews of staff leaving the Council. There will be a focus on how the Council can build internal career pathways from entry level to vital roles, particularly in the context of apprenticeships. There will also be important impacts on the effective monitoring of change. Going forward, the dashboard will be able to support all managers in reviewing sickness absence trends and the effects that these have on productivity. This will help support to be focused in areas where levels of sickness absence are currently high.

c)  All of this information will also be used to facilitate more effective discussions with Trade Unions on where staff are currently facing the greatest pressures. Information captured on employee relations, disputes, grievances and case times will be used to ensure that as many issues as possible can be addressed in a timely way at as early a stage as possible.

The Committee raised the following points in discussion:

d)  The Committee asked whether the current dashboard accounted for all staff employed by the Council, whether data relating to staff could be shown by salary band and how the data could be used to assess whether the Council had the right balance of staff. It was explained that information on all staff was included in the dashboard, including the Chief Executive’s department and staff moved in-house from Nottingham City Homes. Detail can be broken down by salary band and be used to achieve an overall view of the total workforce.

e)  The Committee queried whether benchmarking across directorates to ‘develop a sense of competition’ would be beneficial, and asked what structures of accountability for mangers were in place. It was set out that the Council aims to be a supportive employer, so it is important to be able to see that management is carried out effectively and consistently across the organisation to a general scheme of best practice. If performance is weaker in some areas of the organisation than others, appropriate and targeted action to bring about improvement can be taken. Charts created from the new dashboard will be produced for all departmental leadership teams on a quarterly basis. Clear roles and responsibilities for managers in terms of managing staff performance are in place, and HR is able to develop the base data to support them in bringing about improvement – and to escalate issues to senior managers where there are persistent problems.

f)  The Committee considered that it is vital to understand fully what staff roles and staff groups are affected most by sickness absence and when, so that effective support structures can be put in place. The Committee also noted that Trade Unions must be engaged with effectively to understand why employees are leaving the Council – particularly if this is for reasons of seeking a career change. It was reported that a mature staff health and wellbeing offer has been implemented, with specific support available to various groups. Using the new approach, HR is aiming to work in a strategic way to support managers in engaging with staff and unions effectively to address the specific challenges within their directorates, particularly in the context of providing consistent and accessible data. The potential intersectionality impacts will also be considered carefully in the ongoing development of the staff health and wellbeing offer.

g)  The Committee requested assurance that HR would be able to deliver the proposed new strategic offer in the Council’s current financial context, and asked what insight the new systems would be able to offer in terms of the Council’s overall establishment, vacancies and lengths of vacancies. It was confirmed that the needed capability was being built within HR for managing systems and data to deliver an effective strategic offer within the context of the current Council budget. The Council’s overall headcount and number of full-time equivalent roles have been established and work is underway over the next month with managers to ensure that all current vacancies are pending recruitment, so that any unbudgeted vacant roles can be removed from the establishment. It is vital that an effective HR gateway process is implemented for the close management of the Council’s overall workforce establishment, with the same data made accessible to all managers in a consistent way.

The Chair thanked the Strategic Director of Human Resources and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for attending the meeting to give the presentation and answer the Committee’s questions.

Resolved:

1)  To request that, when fully functional, the Human Resources dashboard is shared with the Chairs of the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committees on an informal basis.

2)  To request that the Committee receives an update on workforce analytics annually as part of its work programme.

3)  To request that, when available, the Committee receives a report on the number of vacant posts within the Council.

4)  To request that the Committee receive further information on how the trends within the sickness absence data will be used to support staff who are experiencing high levels of sickness absence.

Report of the Statutory Scrutiny Officer

Councillor Corall Jenkins, Executive Member for Communities, Waste and Equalities, and Lee Mann, Strategic Director of Human Resources (HR) and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), presented a report on the progress in the development of the Council’s new EDI Strategy. The following points were raised:

a)  The draft EDI Strategy was presented to the Committee at its meeting on 22 November 2023. Following discussions, the Committee made 15 recommendations to be taken into account as part of the Strategy’s development process. Following on, the draft Strategy has now been aligned with the relevant priorities of the Strategic Council Plan to ensure that it is able to deliver the most important interventions in a sustainable way in the context of the Council’s current financial position. Culture mapping has taken place to inform the creation of the Strategy and consultation will be carried out with staff networks, Trade Unions and other stakeholders before a final version is submitted to the Executive Board for approval and adoption.

b)  A mature offer is in place to grow diversity in leadership roles, including an Accelerated Development programme, a Change Academy, a Leadership Transformation Scheme and Reciprocal Mentoring. Identified pay gaps have been taken into account in drafting the Strategy, and other tools are being built to establish the key equality issues across services effectively. Work is also underway to ensure that Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) are used as a key part of the Council’s decision-making processes.

c)  It is a primary objective to have an inclusive and representative workforce that provides welcoming and accessible services to citizens. As a result, there is a focus on achieving suitable workplaces, which has been informed through engagement with staff networks to take full account of their lived experience. Work is also being carried out with key partners and stakeholders to ensure full accessibility to Council services for citizens of all backgrounds and needs.

d)  As a result of the previous input by the Committee, grievance procedures have been refreshed within the Strategy, EDI data (including on employee relations casework) is now included in the quarterly reporting to departmental leadership teams, action plans have been developed, mitigation actions must be properly specified in EIAs for a decision to be taken, working age data has been added and underrepresentation will be factored into the strategic workforce planning activity across directorates.

The Committee raised the following points in discussion:

e)  The Committee asked how it would be ensured that an effective EDI Strategy is implemented in a timely way, and that managers have clear accountability for embedding inclusive practices across the Council. It was explained that training and support is in place for managers, with clear links to the Council’s Improvement Plan. All managers are responsible for the driving of cultural change and the Strategy establishes a clear structure for escalation for cases where this is not being delivered effectively. HR is able to support managers with a range of tools to help develop an inclusive office culture, but managers need to engage with their role in promoting EDI effectively and be held to account for delivery in their Individual Performance Reviews. It is a vital role of the Council’s corporate leadership to set very clear standards and expectations in the delivery of the EDI Strategy across the organisation.

f)  The Committee queried what engagement had been carried out with staff networks and Trade Unions to inform the development of the EDI Strategy. It was set out that the Strategy to date has been shared with staff networks and Trade Unions, and further feedback will be sought around September, as the document is finalised. There will be opportunities for networks and Trade Unions to feed into how the Strategy is delivered in practice, and how managers will be held to account for delivery.

g)  The Committee asked how the full vision of the Strategy would be delivered and its outcomes measured, within the context of the work that has already been carried out in relation to EDI to date. It was reported that engagement is underway with all directorates on what is needed to evidence the delivery of the Strategy. Clear action plans will be produced to link the key issues established by the Strategy to how solutions will be delivered and measured.

h)  The Committee asked whether the Council, corporately, had made a formal response to the findings of the report commissioned from Inclusive Employers in 2022, and how its conclusions had informed the development of the new EDI Strategy and the action planning for its delivery. It was explained that the outcomes of the report have been discussed corporately at the senior level, and that an action plan to address the key issues has been put in place. A great deal of learning was taken from the report, which has been drawn into the new EDI Strategy and informed the development of a new training offer.

i)  The Committee asked what action had been taken to both remove existing barriers and prevent problems from occurring. It was set out that a much improved development and training offer is in place for staff, to effectively embed culture change. The transparency of appointments processes has been increased so it can be demonstrated that they are conducted fairly. A zero-tolerance policy is in force in relation to discrimination of all forms, and disciplinary action is taken when required. A great deal of activity has been done to ensure a work environment where people are able to speak up freely, either individually or as part of a group.

j)  The Committee considered that, as part of effective delivery, clear data was required on the levels of representation (including of LGBTQ+ staff) within each of the full range of staff salary bands, and that an effective staff health and wellbeing offer was in place – particularly in the context of mental health.

The Chair thanked the Executive Member for Communities, Waste and Equalities and the Strategic Director of HR and EDI for attending the meeting to present the report and answer the Committee’s questions.

Resolved:

1)  To request that the draft Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy is shared with staff networks and Trade Unions as soon as possible so that they can be involved in the development of the Strategy.

2)  To request that the action plan forming part of the Council’s response to the Inclusive Employers report is shared with the Committee.

3)  To request that the action plans that underpin the EDI Strategy are reviewed at the Committee’s July meeting.

4)  To recommend that the distinctions in the EDI Strategy between what the Council is doing currently and what actions it plans to take in the future are refined.

5)  To recommend that the metrics outlining the equalities data in the EDI Strategy are expanded, including a breakdown of staff pay bands.

6)  To recommend that the references to poverty are cross-referenced and expanded on within the EDI Strategy.

7)  To recommend that ‘culture development’ is included as part of the EDI Strategy, and that specific interventions are included.

8)  To recommend that a specific officer has responsibility for developing good organisational culture in regards to EDI, to ensure accountability.

9)  To recommend that Inclusive Employers conducts a follow-up report 12 months after the EDI Strategy has been implemented.

10)To re-issue the following resolutions from the Committee’s 22 November 2023 meeting:

a)  To request that the Council’s Whistleblowing Policy and figures on grievances broken down by protected characteristics are provided to the Committee.

b)  To request that the Draft Workforce Strategy and Human Resources (HR) Improvement Strategy are provided to the Committee.

c)  To recommend that the EDI and HR portfolios are combined under one strand/directorate to ensure consistency in approach and easier accountability.

d)  To recommend that the Equalities Board is included in the Council’s constitutional arrangements so that it has a more formal footing in regards to governance and accountability.

To note the responses made to the Committee’s previous recommendations

The Chair presented the latest response received to the Committee’s recommendations from the Council’s Executive.

The Committee noted the Recommendation Tracker.

Report of the Statutory Scrutiny Officer

The Chair presented the Committee’s proposed Work Programme for the 2024/25 municipal year.

Resolved to agree the proposed Work Programme for the 2024/25 municipal year.