Agenda and minutes

There were no substitutions at the meeting.

There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests and personal or personal and prejudicial interests.

No whip was declared.

That the minutes of the proceedings of the meetings held on 25 July 2023 and 14 August 2023, having been printed and circulated amongst the members, be taken as read and correctly recorded and be signed by the Chair.

No public speaking requests had been received.

Discussion and questions with Helen Manderson, the council’s Director – Outcomes 

The Chair welcomed Helen Manderson to the meeting, the council’s Director: Outcomes and Head of Paid Service.  The Director had been invited to the meeting to brief the Members on the recruitment and retention of council employees including council policy and what incentives and initiatives could be adopted to encourage employees to remain or join the council.

The Director guided the Panel through her report, which covered –

·        Current council recruitment and selection policy.

·        Tools available to council officers when recruiting to vacant posts.

·        Initiatives that were in place to assist managers with retaining employees.

·        National terms and conditions of employment.

Following the verbal presentation, the Chair facilitated a discussion between the Panel and the Director.

Resolved – (a) That the Director: Outcomes be thanked for her verbal presentation and for answering members’ questions; (b) that the Director benchmark with our similar authorities group the employee turnover and reasons for leaving compared to North Lincolnshire Council, and (c) that the Panel re-visit the recruitment and retention of council employees in six months’ time.

The Chair informed the meeting that in accordance with the council’s Constitution, Councillor A Davison had submitted an added item titled ‘Member Induction and Development’ for consideration by the scrutiny panel.  Consequently, Helen Manderson, Director: Outcomes was in attendance to answer members’ question on the content of the added item.

Councillor A Davison informed the meeting that the added item had been submitted in order to understand which service/officer was responsible for member development, as well as being informed what the member development offer was to councillors, including member inductions.

The Director informed the meeting that the council’s approach to member induction and development was based on providing the essential skills and information to support Councillors within their role of working with, and representing, communities and residents across North Lincolnshire.

The induction and development programme had evolved over a number of years through the provision of online training available via the Learning Lincs members e-learning dashboard and in person events, including an annual training provision for committee members and statutory training.

The provision of member development, including statutory training, was acknowledged in the report of the Independent Remuneration Panel (February 2023).  The report also acknowledged that whilst take up and participation in member development was encouraged, and had improved, it remained low overall.

The potential impact of the vacant part time member development officer post was also noted within the report.  To mitigate this issue, the member development programme was managed by the council’s Learning Solutions team, in collaboration with Democratic Services.  The programme was currently under review with the aim of providing a refreshed and consolidated approach incorporating the comprehensive LGA offer.

The Director provided details of the –

·        current member development offer

·        future approach to member development

·        Local Government Association member development offer

·        Member Development Steering Group

Following the verbal presentation, the Chair facilitated a discussion between Panel Members and the Director on member induction and development.

Resolved – (a) That the Director: Outcomes be thanked for attending the meeting, verbal presentation and for answering members’ questions; (b) that the Governance Scrutiny Panel support in principle the creation of a Member Development Steering Group, and (c) that the terms of reference of the Member Development Steering Group, including membership, be considered at a future meeting of the Panel.

There was no urgent business for consideration at the meeting.