Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence have been received from Councillor Mrs Hart; Councillor Poole will be present as a substitute.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mrs Dark, Mrs Hart and Mrs Wiltshire; Councillors C Hart, Poole and Mrs J Kirby were present as substitutes respectively.

Councillor Hart expressed his disappointment at the meeting being held during the daytime, when Members found it difficult to attend. The Chairman gave his assurances that future meetings would be held in the evenings.

To receive any declarations of interest.  Members are advised to consider the extract from the Standard Board Code of Conduct for Members, which forms part of the Declaration of Interest Form at the back of this Agenda.  If a Member declares an interest, they should complete that Form and hand it to the Officer clerking the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the General Purposes Committee held on 8 June 2010, copy attached.

The minutes of the meeting of the 8 June 2010 were agreed as a correct record.

It was proposed by Councillor Wells and seconded by Councillor Goodwin and resolved that: “the public and press be excluded from the meeting on agenda item 5 as it contains exempt information as defined in Paragraph 4 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).”

The Chief Executive, Richard Samuel, explained that he had delegated authority to approve the terms and conditions, however as the proposed changes affected all staff including the senior management team, he had asked the General Purposes Committee to consider them instead. For further transparency he added that both he and the Deputy Chief Executive would leave the meeting when the Committee debated the report and that Harvey Patterson, Head of Legal and Democratic Services as legal advisor would remain.

The General Purposes Committee discussed the report on Thanet District Council Terms and Conditions of Employment (People Management Policies)

The Chief Executive and the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, answered questions from the Committee.

Prior to the debate on this item the Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive left the meeting.

It was proposed by Councillor Wells and seconded by Councillor Mrs J Kirby that:

a)  the revised Policies and Procedures set out at Annexe 1 to the report of the Chief Executive be approved and adopted. 

b)  the publication of a Statement of the revised Pay Protection Policy set out at Annex 1 to the report of the Chief Executive be authorised and to bring the Policy into force on the expiry of one month from the date of publication.

c)  the Council be authorised in conjunction with Canterbury City Council and Dover District Council to enter into a revised Recognition and Collective Bargaining Agreement with Unison and GMB to cover the ability to reach binding agreement on all workforce matters and for such collective bargaining arrangements to be  incorporated into individual employee’s contracts of employment.

Being put to the vote, it was declared CARRIED.