Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Pugh and Rawf for whom Councillors Wright and Albon were present. Councillor Stevens had resigned and therefore, Councillor Dexter was present as a substitute for the vacant seat.

To receive any declarations of interest. Members are advised to consider the advice contained within the Declaration of Interest advice attached to this Agenda. If a Member declares an interest, they should complete the Declaration of Interest Form

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the General Purposes Committee held on 19 December 2019 copy attached.

Councillor Saunders proposed, Councillor Game seconded and Members agreed that the minutes of the meeting of the 19 October 2019 be approved and signed by the Chairman.

It was agreed that the public and press be excluded from the meeting on agenda item 5 as it contains exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1, 2 and 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

The General Purposes Committee received the report from the Local Government Association on governance processes for staffing matters.

Points raised from the discussion were as follows:

·  The purpose of the report was not to ascribe blame but identified a lack of process around grievances.

·  Members were advised that it is not possible for Council to appoint a “Super Chief Executive”.

·  Members were reminded that this is separate from the disciplinary procedure- as this report only related to grievances.

The Chairman proposed and Councillor Saunders seconded:

That EKHR be instructed to look at best practice through a benchmarking exercise and formulate a draft grievance policy based on the JNC model.

Upon being put to the vote, the motion was declared CARRIED.