Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED: to appoint Councillor Fitzgerald as Chairman to the Committee for the duration of the meeting.

RESOLVED: to appoint Councillor Fitzgerald as Chairman to the Committee for the duration of the meeting.

Apologies were received from Councillor Cereste, Councillor Lamb, Councillor Holdich and Councillor Sandford.

There were no declarations of interest.

                    3.1    30 September 2010

                   3.2    20 October 2010

The minutes of the meetings were approved as true and accurate records.

The Committee received a report following a referral from the Joint Consultative Forum on 19 January 2011.

The report sought the agreement of the Committee to implement the employment policies appended to the report, those being:

i)                    Equality and Diversity Policy (E&Dp),

ii)                  Probation Policy,

iii)                Maternity Scheme

The report further sought the agreement of the Committee to amend wording contained within the current Attendance Policy with regards to Bank Holidays.

Members were advised that the policies had been prioritised for approval due to changes in legislation and statutory codes of practice, specifically the Equality Act, the Additional Paternity Leave Regulations 2010 and the ACAS Statutory Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures.

The policies ensured that Peterborough City Council was legally compliant and they further ensured that a professional and progressive image of the Council was being reflected. Members were advised that the Joint Trade Unions had been consulted and the policies had been agreed in principle at the meeting of the Joint Consultative Forum held on 19 January 2011.

The E&Dp had also been agreed in principle by the Council’s Diversity Forum which had representatives from various equality groups and the Council’s Corporate Management Team.

Members were advised that the current E&Dp had been agreed at the Employment Committee meeting in October 2005 and it contained references to various Acts i.e. the Sex Discrimination Act and the Race Relations Act. These had now been repealed and replaced by a single piece of legislation, the Equality Act 2010. The current policy also referenced equality schemes which had expired and were due to be replaced by a Single Equality Scheme.

The current Probation Procedure, which had been agreed at the Employment Committee, was viewed by both managers and HR Business Partners as being a lengthy process, requiring the formal review of new employees in their probation period at months 1, 3, 5 and 6. The new policy and associated management guidance simplified the process whilst maintaining the rights of the new employee and ensuring that contracts did not continue beyond a year’s service without a decision being made regarding confirmation or termination of employment.

With regards to the Maternity Scheme, Members were advised that the proposed guidelines would replace the current Maternity Policy which had previously been agreed at a meeting of the Employment Committee and was now out of date with existing legislation. The guidelines which had been produced contained information regarding the new right under the Additional Paternity Leave Regulations 2010 for women who gave birth after 3 April 2011 to transfer up to 26 weeks of their outstanding maternity leave (and outstanding maternity pay) to their spouse, civil partner or partner, or the father of their child. The guidelines would be supported by a checklist to enable managers to conduct effective pre-maternity leave meetings to ensure that employees are clear on what their employment rights are. 

With regards to the Attendance Policy, it currently stated that “No additional time off would be given  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.