Agenda item
Review of Equalities and HR policies and practice at Brent Council
Following the loss of an employment tribunal case in September, 2014, Councillor Pavey, Deputy Leader, who has Cabinet responsibility for Equalities and the Council’s role as employer, agreed to take stock of the Council’s policies and practice to see where improvements could be made. Councillor Pavey has now completed his review and will present the findings to the General Purposes Committee.
Minutes:
Councillor Pavey (Deputy Leader of the Council) introduced his review which had been commissioned following an employment tribunal case in September, 2014. He stated that the review was not intended to be an inquiry into any individual HR case, person or department but designed to take stock of the council’s HR policies and practice to see where improvements could be made. Councillor Pavey, Cabinet member with responsibility for Equalities and the council’s role as an employer, emphasised that the review looked into the part individuals could play in ensuring Brent Council was the best possible place to work. He outlined the strands covered including staff focus groups, workshops, analysis by Investor in People assessors and a LGA policy review and thanked all who had contributed including staff, members and external advisors.
Councillor Pavey stated that the review found that generally Brent was a good place to work however there were two recurrent themes, namely, consistent policy implementation and the under-representation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) staff at senior management level. The latter theme was a national problem however, given the diversity of the community and the workforce, the council had an obligation to challenge. Councillor Pavey stated that embedding dignity and respect throughout the organisation and diversifying senior management were key issues arising from the review and he outlined some of the 31 recommendations in the review which included a review of the code of conduct and competency framework to make expected standards of behaviour clear; embedding standards in HR and decision making processes; corporate learning from grievances and employment tribunals; two way internal communications; focus groups for underrepresented staff and an independent staff survey every two years. To further improve diversity in senior management, the review proposed a bespoke council development programme with a specific focus on underrepresented groups and a reverse mentoring programme. Councillor Pavey advised that the report proposed that the delivery of the implementation of the recommendations in the review be overseen by a committee of councillors and he hoped that the review would bring about genuine change.
Committee members welcomed the report. Questions were raised on the possible reasons why there were not more successful BAME applicants for senior positions and more internal promotion was commended. The value of external development programmes such as with the Kings Fund and Leadership Academies was put forward and also secondments to other boroughs. Improved flexible working patterns for senior management positions was suggested as another means of making posts more attractive to women and BAME communities. Questions were also raised about the assistance given to new arrivals to the borough such as training, presentation and language skills. Reference was also made to the financial difficulties being faced by local government and also the need to understand how to encourage applicants into local government careers.
Councillor Pavey agreed on the need to look at the shortage of BAME applicants and to give existing staff development opportunities. Regarding development programmes, he stated that it had been found that staff take up on external courses was relatively low and it was felt that they were more likely to attend in-house programmes. Councillor Pavey referred to the need for more work on the apprenticeship and graduate programmes and how to place greater emphasis on local recruitment to the latter. He asked the committee to note the findings of his review and to agree the proposal for an action plan.
Councillor Butt (Leader of the Council) acknowledged that the council was embarking on a long process of change and thanked all those who had contributed to the review.
RESOLVED:
(i) that the findings of the review of Equalities and HR policies and practice at Brent Council be noted;
(ii) that officers prepare an action plan for improvement for March 2015.
Supporting documents:
- equalities-hr-policies, item 5. PDF 97 KB
- equalities-hr-policies-app, item 5. PDF 293 KB
- pavey-review, item 5. PDF 368 KB
- pavey-review-lga-policy-review-app1, item 5. PDF 83 KB
- pavey-review-diversity-profile-app2, item 5. PDF 293 KB