Agenda item

To consider a report by the Chief Officer Human Resources which seeks to provide assurance that: the requirements of employee conduct are established and regularly reviewed; requirements relating to employee conduct are communicated and feedback is collected on whether expected behaviours are being demonstrated; and employee conduct is monitored and reported.

(Report attached)

The Chief Officer Human Resources submitted a report which presented the Annual Assurance Report on Employment Policies and Procedures and Employee conduct.

The report sought to provide assurance that:

·  The requirements of employee conduct were established and regularly reviewed

·  The requirements relating to employee conduct were communicated and feedback was collected on whether expected behaviours were being demonstrated

·  Employee conduct was monitored and reported.

Members discussed the issue of gifts and hospitality noting that there was a sizable reduction in the number of declarations compared to previous years, with the exception of the City Development Directorate who’s declarations remained constant.

The HR Service Manager reported that follow up action would be undertaken with other directorates to highlight the reductions, provide a reminder of the requirements and ensure that there remained appropriate recording.

The Committee queried whether or not any comparison had been undertaken of our recorded data with other local authorities in terms of details of registered gifts and hospitality. 

In responding the HR Service Manager said that work had not been done in Leeds but would be a feature for future assurance reports to this Committee.

Members also queried whether there were any trends in companies providing/offering gifts to employees – either the offers made to individuals or the source from which offers arose. 

It was confirmed that such a review was undertaken at directorate level and that future annual reports to this Committee would include commentary on the assurances received from these assessments. 

Referring to the Registers of Interest, Members noted that the number of non-responders had fallen from 92 to 53, and that these were not from a specific directorates and queried what action was taken to escalate matters. 

The HR Service Manager confirmed that weekly updates and individual chase ups were taking place and that ultimately all would be completed. 

The Committee were concerned that some senior officers were not providing their annual return in a timely way and was potentially indicative of individuals and directorates not taking this requirement seriously. 

The Committee reiterated their view that requests for annual returns of Registers of Interests from officers in high risk posts should be responded to immediately and without the need for chase up. 

It was suggested that the Chair write to the Chief Executive to make him aware of the Committee’s concern on this matter.

Members queried whether the designation of being in a politically restricted posts included restrictions in political activities outside of the Leeds MBC boundary. The HR Service Manager confirmed that this was the case.

Members questioned the increase in the number of disciplinary investigations, whether there were any concerns in the trends in data and whether TU representation was provided.

Members were informed that TU representation was encouraged at the earliest stages of the disciplinary process and that there were no specific pattern behind the increases.

RESOLVED –

(I)  To note the positive assurance provided in section 5 of the submitted report that the requirements of employee conduct were established and regularly reviewed, the requirements relating to employee conduct were communicated and feedback was collected on whether expected behaviours were being demonstrated and employee conduct was monitored and reported.

(ii)  To circulate to all Members of the Committee a breakdown by directorate of the disciplinary data by year and for this to also include the number of appeal hearings held, the level of seniority of staff involved and the length of service of those who have been dismissed

(iii)  That future annual assurance reports include data (as referred to in (ii) above) and comparisons with other Local Authorities along with assurances around the checks undertaken in respect of the sources and recipients of offers of gifts and hospitality.

(iv)  That the Chair, on behalf of the Committee be requested to write to the Chief Executive seeking his support to ensure the timely completion of the annual review of Registers of interest for staff in high risk/sensitive posts.