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Agenda and minutes

General Purposes Committee - Tuesday 7 June 2011 6.30 pm

Venue: Council Chamber, Brent Town Hall, Forty Lane, Wembley, HA9 9HD. View directions

Contact: Anne Reid, Democratic Services Officer 020 8937 1359, Email: anne.reid@brent.gov.uk

Items
No.	Item
1.	Declarations of personal and prejudicial interests Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting, any relevant financial or other interest in the items on this agenda. Minutes: None declared.
2.	Minutes of the previous meeting PDF 80 KB Minutes: RESOLVED:- that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 7 February 2011 be approved as an accurate record of the meeting.
3.	Managing Organisational Change - re-engagement PDF 61 KB The General Purposes Committee approved the Managing Change Policy on 23rd February 2010. It contained a recommendation that allowed the Assistant Director of Human Resources, after consultation with the Borough Solicitor and then consultation with the relevant trade unions, to amend the Managing Change Policy and Procedure from time to time. There have been some amendments made February 2010 to some parts of the policy. The purpose of this report is to address the concern that employees are made redundant and then re-engaged (either directly on a permanent or temporary basis or as consultants/agency staff) because it was found that work still needed to be done. Additional documents: managing-change-app , item 3. PDF 788 KB Minutes: Members had before them a report from the Director of Finance and Corporate Services which referred to the Managing Change Policy agreed by this committee on 23 February 2010. The report addressed the concern that employees were made redundant and re-engaged (either directly on a permanent or temporary basis) because it was found that work still needed to be done. It was now suggested that the policy be further amended to provide clarity and consistency for those occasions where there was a need to re-engage staff. The Strategic HR Manager, Gerri Green advised that in preparing the report consideration had been given to best practice in other local authorities. Members raised questions on the number of re-employment cases, the proposed time period after which reemployment would usually be reconsidered and the procedures that would be in place. Gerri Green responded that since Wave 1 of the council's staffing structure review, only a couple of former staff had been re-engaged and in these incidences had been re-employed through an agency. The proposed time period of usually within three months was considered to be typical and gave a fair employment break. Gerri Green confirmed that the proposals complied with Inland Revenue requirements and the trades unions had been given the opportunity to comment on the revised policy. The question was also raised as to what would happen if a post was be made redundant and declared surplus and it an application be made for re-engagement to the same role. The Strategic HR Manager advised that this had not occurred to date but the Director of Finance and Corporate Services and Assistant Director, Human Resources would challenge any such request and examine the original business case made for redundancy. On the question of equal opportunities, it was noted that former employees re-applying to work with the council had no particular advantage over other applicants as they would be subjected to the same recruitment process as other applicants as would be the case if they were applying to work with another local authority. Members expressed an interest in receiving information on the extent to which former employees, made redundant were re-employed. RESOLVED:- (i) that Section 8 – Reengagement of Staff – contained in policy attached to the report from the Director of Finance and Corporate Services is approved; (ii) that the Assistant Director, Human Resources, be authorised to determine the effective date at which the new Managing Change Policy and Procedure is implemented across the Council; (iii) that the Assistant Director, Human Resources, continue to be authorised, after agreement with the Director of Legal and Procurement and then consultation with the relevant trade unions, to amend the Managing Change Policy and Procedure from time to time; (iv) that a report be submitted one year after the policy implementation date giving information on the number of staff made redundant that are subsequently re-employed and under what circumstances.
4.	Appointments to Sub-Committees / Outside Bodies PDF 59 KB To approve appointments to committees/sub-committees for the municipal year 2011/12. Minutes: The committee noted that following the council's Annual meeting in May 2011, it fell to this committee to approve the membership of its sub-committees. Attention was drawn to the existence of the Employees Joint Consultative Committee and the fact that it had not met for a number of years. RESOLVED:- that the following appointments sub-committees be approved:- BRENT PENSION FUND SUB-COMMITTEE (4/2/1) BACCHUS Oladapo Daly S CHOUDHARY (C) Denselow Gladbaum CRANE Harrison Hector MITCHELL MURRAY Hirani Hossain BROWN CJ Patel vacant HASHMI CJ Patel vacant BM PATEL HB Patel Baker *NON-VOTING CO-OPTEES: Ashok Patel* George Fraser GENERAL PURPOSES LICENSING SUB-COMMITTEE (1/1/1) LONG (C) Beswick Butt SNEDDON Clues Shaw BM PATEL HM Patel Colwill SCHOOLS DISCIPLINARY SUB-COMMITTEE (3/1/1) ARNOLD Jones Kabir DALY (VC) Long Mashari HARRISON (C) Crane John CASTLE Leaman CJ Patel HM PATEL BM Patel Colwill SENIOR STAFF APPOINTMENTS SUB-COMMITTEE (3/1/1) BUTT (VC) Crane Powney JOHN (C) Beswick R Moher JONES Arnold J Moher LEAMAN Lorber Brown KANSAGRA Colwill HB Patel STAFF APPEALS SUB-COMMITTEE (A) (3/1/1) R MOHER (VC) Mistry Naheerathan MOLONEY J Moher Butt SHETH (C) McLennan Mitchell-Murray CASTLE Beck CJ Patel BM PATEL Colwill Baker STAFF APPEALS SUB-COMMITTEE (B) (3/1/1) HECTOR Sheth Thomas LONG (VC) RS Patel Powney McLENNAN (C) Ogunro Oladapo CASTLE Beck CJ Patel HM PATEL BM Patel Colwill EMPLOYEES’ JOINT CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE (5/2/1) LONG Beswick Butt MITCHELL MURRAY Bacchus Beckman J MOHER Van Kalwala Kataria R MOHER Al-Ebadi Arnold MOLONEY Aden Adeyeye HUNTER vacant vacant SNEDDON vacant vacant COLWILL HB Patel BM Patel TEACHERS’ JOINT CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE (5/2/1) AL-EBADI Hector Hirani ARNOLD (C) S Choudhary Oladapo CHOHAN John Jones HARRISON Crane Daly HOSSAIN Denselow Gladbaum HUNTER vacant vacant SNEDDON vacant vacant HM PATEL Baker Colwill
5.	Any Other Urgent Business Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Democratic Services Manager or his representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 64. Minutes: None.