Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Lorber.

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 formal declarations made during the meeting.

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

There were no deputations received.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 12 December 2022 as a correct record.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the previous meeting, held on Monday 12 December 2022 be approved as an accurate record.

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

There were no matters arising.

This report is presented to provide the Committee with information on Brent’s annual workforce equalities data, published in January 2023, and pay gap data relating to gender, ethnicity and disability before the Council’s publishing of this data by 30 March 2023.

Members noted that the 2021/22 annual workforce equalities data had been published, as detailed within Appendix 1 of the report. In addition, the Gender, Ethnicity and Disability Pay Gap report provided a further breakdown of the data (as detailed within Appendix 2 of the report) that was due to be published at the end of March 2023. Members were provided with a summary of the main headlines within the equalities data analysis, as detailed within section 3.5 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 2022 broken down between gender, ethnicity and disability, as detailed within section 3.6 of the report. Details were also provided on the proportion of females, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and disabled employees in each pay quartile during 2021, as detailed in section 3.7 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 2022-23, which had been set out within Appendix 2 of the report.  The identified priorities included the following:

·             To continue monitoring to include both internal promotions and external appointments.

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

·             Adopt the London Council Race Equality Statement and Framework in promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) best practice in the workforce.

·             To work with local communities who are less well represented in the workforce to raise awareness of and increase applications for roles within the council.

·             To increase access to corporate communication and inclusive learning for all non-desk and/or field based remote working employees.

Committee members recognised the positive progress made and acknowledged the good practice in Brent including the strategies in place to take the vision forward reducing further work place inequalities.  In noting and commending the progress made, members felt it would be helpful to see further contextualised data in future reports and also highlighted the importance of providing support in relation to health issues specific to women in the work place such as menopause, particularly as it was noted that the workforce data presented suggested that a significant amount of the Brent workforce would potentially be affected by these issues.

Martin Williams, Head of HR, advised the Committee that Brent were responsive to the issues raised and advised of the schemes in place that were available to assist employees should they require support, these included support sessions, support through the Employee Assistance Programme and the Occupational Health Service.

Having welcomed the report, it was RESOLVED to:

(1)    Note the findings from Brent’s Workforce Equalities Report April 2021 to March 2022.

(2)   Note the findings from the Gender Ethnicity and Disability Pay Gap Report - March 2023.

(3)   Note and comment on the proposed action plans contained in these documents

(4)   Note  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To consider any appointment needing to be made to the bodies approved by the General Purposes Committee.

Councillor Butt introduced the item seeking approval to a change in membership on the Pension Fund Sub Committee as one of the Sub Committees appointed by General Purposes Committee.

The Committee RESOLVED to approve the following change in membership on the Brent Pension Fund Sub Committee

·             Councillor Dar to be replaced by Councillor Daniel Kennelly as a full member of the Brent Pension Fund Sub Committee.

The membership of the Brent Pension Fund Sub Committee would therefore be as follows

BRENT PENSION FUND SUB-COMMITTEE

Johnson (C)                                        LABOUR

mitchell (VC)                                     LABOUR

choudry                                             LABOUR

hack                                                       labour

KANSAGRA                                            CONSERVATIVE

kennelly                                            LABOUR

miller                                                  LABOUR

Co-Opted non-voting:

ELIZABETH BANKOLE               (UNISON)

SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS:

LABOUR:DIXON, ETHAPEMI, MAHMOOD & SHAH

CONSERVATIVE:  MAURICE & J PATEL

There are no items listed on the agenda that will require the exclusion of the press and public

There were no items which 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 Executive and Member Services or his representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 60.

None.

The meeting closed at 9:40am.

COUNCILLOR MUHAMMED BUTT

         Chair