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
Minutes:
MrTim Howes, Director of
Corporate Governance & Monitoring officer and Ms Madeline Homer, CEx
declared a pecuniary interest on agenda item 5 (Statutory Officer
Grievance Procedure) because this was about an employment policy
which would affect the conditions of employment for Statutory
Officers that included the two officers in attendance.
To approve the Minutes of the
meeting of the General Purposes Committee held on 04
June 2020, copy attached.
Minutes:
Councillor Stuart Piper proposed, Councillor Ashbee
seconded and Members agreed the minutes as a correct record of the
General Purposes Committee meeting that was held on 4 June
2020.
CouncillorPiper proposed, CouncillorEveritt
seconded and Members agreed that since there were no private and
personal details of any officer being revealed neither in the
report nor during the discussion of agenda item 5, there was no
need for the Committee to exclude the press and public from the
discussion on the item on Statutory Officers Grievances
Procedure.
Mr Howes
introduced the report and made the following points:
On the 27 January 2020, the
Committee considered a report from the LGA on the application
and practicability of TDC’s current grievance policies;
As a consequence of that report,
East Kent HR were asked to look at best practices for grievance
policies for statutory officers using the JNC for Chief Executive
Model;
EKHR independently carried out that
piece of work and they checked how this model was implemented
elsewhere in other local authorities;
The report was to inform the
committee on the content of the newly drafted grievance handling
procedures for cases that involves the Statutory Officers;
The committee was not being asked to
approve the draft policy as HR matters including HR policies were
delegated to East Kent Services Committee, who then delegate some
those functions to East Kent Services staff;
The Committee could comment on the
content in the draft policy;
The next stage would be consultation
exercise with the statutory officers to be affected by this policy,
as this would involve a change to their terms and conditions of
employment;
The necessary Grievance Committee
and Grievance Appeals Committee would have to be set up, in line
the new policy which would also mean making changes to the council
constitution;
Members’ views were being
sought on those matters too.
Members responded through comments and
questions as follows:
Why was this particular draft policy
being presented to the GPC and not the Constitutional Review
Working Party?
Why was the Grievance Policy not
going to be considered by Full Council when the Disciplinary Policy
went to Full Council for approval?
How would a grievance involving a
Monitoring Officer get to be handled by an external person from the
complainant?
It was considered that when it came
to initial filtering of grievance cases, for the safety and
protection of the Monitoring Officer; the Monitoring Officer should
not have any part to play in the initial filtering of cases
involving other Statutory Officers;
Whilst the disciplinary and
grievances processes were different, it should be noted that some
grievance cases might end up as disciplinary cases;
In a grievance case if the
Monitoring Officer was involved then another suitable chief officer
should conduct the initial filtering process;
The policy could be clearer, saying
that grievances involving the Monitoring Officer, should be
filtered by the CEx;
What would happen in instances that
involved both the Monitoring Officer and CEx?
Mr Howes, Ms Homer
and Ms Ffion Pepper, HR Business
Partner (EKHR) responded as follows:
The draft policy was being
considered by the GPC as a matter of courtesy. The Committee itself
requested a review of this particular policy;
The constitutional change
requirements which would lead to the setting up of the Grievance
Committee and Grievance Appeals Committee would have to through the
usually constitutional review route that would include being
considered by the Constitutional Review Working Party;