Agenda and minutes

Following her return from maternity leave, Councillor Muhammed Butt (as Chair) formally welcomed Councillor Mili Patel back in her role as Vice-Chair on the Committee.

The opportunity was also taken to thank Councillor Tatler for her support in covering the role of Vice-Chair during Councillor Mili Patel’s period of maternity leave.

No apologies for absence were received.

Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting, the nature and existence of any relevant disclosable pecuniary or personal interests in the items on this agenda and to specify the item(s) to which they relate.

There were no declarations of interest made during the meeting.

To hear any deputations received from members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 67.

No deputations were received.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on Wednesday 21 February 2024 as a correct record.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the previous meeting held on Wednesday 21 February 2024 be approved as a correct record.

To consider any matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting.

There were no matters arising.

This report provides General Purposes Committee with a proposed timetable for recruiting a permanent Director of Housing Services following the recent appointment of an Interim Director.

Peter Gadsdon (Corporate Director Resident Services) introduced a report from the Head of Paid Service providing details (in accordance with Standing Order 76 (i) and (ii) – Interim appointments to senior management posts) of the recent interim appointment of Spencer Randolph as Acting Director Housing Services along with the proposed timetable for permanent recruitment to the position.

Members noted that the arrangement had been agreed following departure of the Council’s Director of Housing and subsequent creation of the Director Housing Services position as part of the senior officer realignment.  The new position had been designed to include Private Housing Services and Housing Management of the Council’s housing stock and provide enhanced focus on improving landlord services to tenants and leaseholders along with those residents in the private rented sector with the interim arrangement providing stability pending a permanent appointment being made.

Having considered the report, it was RESOLVED:

(1)        To note the appointment by the Chief Executive of Spencer Randolph as Acting Director of Housing Services.

(2)    To note the timetable set out in section 3 of the report for the appointment to the Director Housing Services post on a permanent basis.

(3)    To delegate to the Chief Executive any amendment to the proposed appointment process and timetable, for operational reasons, in consultation with Chair of the General Purposes Committee.

This report provides an overview of the annual workforce equalities data and presents the accompanying report to be publicised.  In addition, the report also providesan overview of the pay gap data relating to gender, ethnicity and disability, prior to publication of this data by the Council by 30 March 2024.

Musrat Zaman (Director Human Resources & Organisational Development) introduced a report from the Corporate Director of Governance providing the Committee with an overview of Brent’s annual workforce equalities data and pay gap data relating to gender, ethnicity and disability.  Members noted that the 2022-23 annual workforce equalities data had been published in January 2024, as detailed within Appendix 1 of the report. In addition, the Gender, Ethnicity and Disability Pay Gap report provided a further breakdown of data (as detailed within Appendix 2 of the report) that was due to be published at the end of March 2024. Members were provided with a summary of the main headlines within the workforce equalities data analysis, as detailed within section 5.1 of the report. These included a breakdown of the age, gender, disability and ethnicity profile of the workforce based on working age population.

Members also noted the pay gap analysis over the past 3 years up to the period ending March 2023 broken down between gender, ethnicity and disability, as detailed within section 5.2 of the report. It was noted that for the first time this had included a split between sub-categories of data for Black, Asian, Mixed/Other employees and employees for whom ethnicity was unknown.  Details were also provided on the proportion of females, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and disabled employees in each pay quartile during 2023, as detailed in section 5.3 of the report and as a percentage of the Council’s workforce, as detailed in section 5.13 of the report. Alongside the priority actions identified within the published Workforce Equalities report, the Pay Gap report had also identified several priority actions designed to address the pay gap issues during 2024-25, which had been set out within Appendix 2 of the report. The identified priorities included the following:

·             To continue monitoring both internal promotions and external appointments.

·             Quarterly and ongoing monitoring of new joiners’ starting salary for grades PO5 and above.

·             To gather and analyse recruitment data by gender and disability, in addition to ethnicity.

·             To adapt the London Council Race Equality Statement and Framework to create a bespoke Anti-Racism Action Plan for Brent in promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) best practice in the workforce by April 2024.

·             To review the EDI related learning and development in light of the EDI Strategy (April 2024) and stakeholder feedback to support the Council’s inclusion agenda including (for example) a review of recruitment and selection training for managers.

In addition to the priority areas identified, members were also advised of the establishment of an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Board which had been established as a means of co-ordinating and reviewing progress on all EDI related activity and actions across the organisation.

Members recognised the positive progress made and acknowledged the good practice in Brent in terms of the transparency arising from inclusion of details relating to ethnicity and disability within publication of the gender pay gap report.  The establishment of the EDI Board was also welcomed as part of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

No membership changes have been identified in advance of the agenda publication for consideration by the Committee.

There were no appointments to be considered in relation to any of the General Purposes Sub Committees.

No items have been identified in advance of the meeting that will require the exclusion of the press and public.

There were no items that required the exclusion of the press or public from the meeting.

Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Head of Chief Executive and Member Services or their representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 60.

None.