Agenda and minutes

(Assistant to the Chief Executive) To report the attendance of any substitute members for the meeting.

There were no substitute members present at the meeting.

To declare interests on any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest made pursuant to the Council’s Code of Member Conduct.

To confirm the minutes of the last meeting of the Panel held on 7 August 2009 (attached).

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 7 August 2009 be taken as read and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

(Assistant Director (Human Resources)) To note the attached introductory statement, policies and procedures which need to be taken into account in relation to the appeals to be considered at this meeting.

The Panel noted an introductory statement, policies and procedures to be taken into account in relation to the appeals to be considered at this meeting.

Exclusion: To consider whether, under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press should be excluded from the meeting for the items of business set out below on grounds that they will involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the following paragraph(s) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act (as amended) or are confidential under Section 100(A)(2):

The Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, which came into effect on 1 March 2006, requires the Council to consider whether maintaining the exemption listed above outweighs the potential public interest in disclosing the information. Any member who considers that this test should be applied to any currently exempted matter on this agenda should contact the proper officer at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.

Confidential Items Commencement: Paragraph 9 of the Council Procedure Rules contained in the Constitution require:

(1)        All business of the Council requiring to be transacted in the presence of the press and public to be completed by 10.00 p.m. at the latest.

(2)        At the time appointed under (1) above, the Chairman shall permit the completion of debate on any item still under consideration, and at his or her discretion, any other remaining business whereupon the Council shall proceed to exclude the public and press.

(3)        Any public business remaining to be dealt with shall be deferred until after the completion of the private part of the meeting, including items submitted for report rather than decision.

Background Papers:  Paragraph 8 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules of the Constitution define background papers as being documents relating to the subject matter of the report which in the Proper Officer's opinion:

(a)        disclose any facts or matters on which the report or an important part of the report is based;  and

(b)        have been relied on to a material extent in preparing the report and does not include published works or those which disclose exempt or confidential information (as defined in Rule 10) and in respect of executive reports, the advice of any political advisor.

Inspection of background papers may be arranged by contacting the officer responsible for the item.

RESOLVED:

That, in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the items of business set out below as they would involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act indicated and the exemption is considered to outweigh the potential public interest in disclosing the information:

Agenda Item              Subject                                               Exempt Information

Number                                                                                  Paragraph Number

  7                                Staff Appeal No. 1 - 2012/13                           1

  8                                Staff Appeal No. 2 - 2012/13                           1

  9                                Staff Appeal No. 3 - 2012/13                           1

10                                Staff Appeal No. 4 - 2012/13                           1         

To consider statements and background documents (circulated separately).

The Chairman welcomed two of the appellants and the Assistant Director Human Resources to the meeting and introduced those present.  He drew attention to the policies and procedures which would be taken into account by the Panel in relation to the appeal and indicated that the Panel would deal with the appeal on a factor by factor basis.  The appellants present and the Assistant Director of Human Resources agreed with this approach.  The appellants indicated that they would also be speaking on behalf of the third appellant who was currently on leave. The Panel noted that the post of Licensing Compliance Officer was a benchmark post which covered four employees, three of whom had appealed.

(a) Factor: Knowledge – Level Awarded by the Job Evaluation Appeal Panel – 3; Level Claimed - 4

The Case of the Appellants

The appellants stated that the Licensing function was in the public eye and subject to constant changes.  In the last four years the provisions of the Licensing Act had changed twice with changes to conditions on licensed premises including matters relating to drinks promotions and age restrictions.  The appellants advised that these changes necessitated the Licensing Compliance Officers regularly increasing their knowledge in line with changes to legislation.

The appellants drew attention to the changes made to the staffing structure in the Licensing Section following the Service being moved from the Environment and Street Scene Directorate to the Corporate Support Services Directorate.  They pointed out that a tier of management had been removed and had resulted in their immediate Line Manager having increased management duties leaving them responsible for the day to day running of the office.  They advised that in order to answer complex queries when their immediate Line Manager was not present necessitated them acquiring a higher level of knowledge.

The appellants acknowledged that no specific knowledge was required on appointment to the post of Licensing Compliance Officer due to the fact that no licensing qualification existed.  They submitted that the knowledge factor for the post should be judged on the necessary transferable skills which the postholders had acquired from previous employments as a school leaver with no previous employment experience would not be able to undertake the duties of the post.

The appellants stated that their immediate Line Manager had been awarded Level 4 for Knowledge and it had been suggested they could not score at the same level.  They disputed this drawing attention to the duties of their immediate Line Manager and to their role in dealing directly with the public.

Questions from the Assistant Director Human Resources

The Assistant Director Human Resources advised that she had no questions to ask about the representations which had been made by the appellants.

Questions from Members of the Panel

In response to questions, the appellants confirmed that the post of Licensing Compliance Officer had currently been awarded Level 3 for Knowledge and they were seeking Level 4.  They stated that the post required specialist/expert knowledge in order to advise members  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To consider statements and background documents (circulated separately).

The Chairman welcomed the appellant and the Assistant Director Human Resources to the meeting.  He drew attention to the policies and procedures which would be taken into account by the Panel in relation to the appeal and indicated that the Panel would deal with the appeal on a factor by factor basis.  The appellant and the Assistant Director of Human Resources agreed with this approach. 

(a) Mental Skills Factor – Level Awarded by the Job Evaluation Appeal Panel – 3; Level Claimed - 4

The Case of the Appellant

The appellant advised that the job revolved around quarterly rent runs which took up to three months to plan and prepare in order to generate the commercial property invoices.  The runs were produced from a specialist commercial property management system called GVA.  She reported the preparation of those runs included analysing complex information, problem solving and creative thinking to manipulate the system to produce the correct result.

The appellant stated that she had also worked closely with ICT to create Crystal reports.  The development of those reports had taken several months of analysing and investigating data to be able to produce the correct reporting fields.  She stated that one of the tasks she had performed was the changing of the payment terms of the service charges which were a combination of advanced and arrears charges for January half yearly runs.  The appellant stated that she was currently involved in the process of replacing/updating the existing system so that it would also function as the Chartered Surveyors’ daily case management system.

The appellant submitted that the post required the analytical and judgemental or creative and development skills to analyse and interpret complex information as required at Level 4 rather than such skills to solve varied problems or plans over the short-term as required under Level 3.  She emphasised that her involvement with the property system had necessitated the analysis of varied and complex information since last May and what would take considerable more time to finish.  She also pointed out that once the new system had been implemented it would be her responsibility to run it and to undertake further upgrades as and when they were due. 

The appellant stated that she supervised the Estates Team and the back-up postholder regarding their usage of the information system.  She stated that she was solely responsible for managing the specific property system to general £4,000,000 income for the Council.

Questions from the Assistant Director Human Resources

The Assistant Director Human Resources stated that she had no questions to ask about the representations which had been made by the appellant.

Questions from Members of the Panel

In response to a question from a member of the Panel, the appellant stated that she had included as examples emails from the past members of staff rather than existing ones as she had not wished to create issues with current staff.

The Case of the Assistant Director Human Resources on behalf of the Job Evaluation Appeal Panel

The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To consider statements and background documents (circulated separately).

The appellant attended the meeting supported by the Director of Finance and ICT.

The Chairman welcomed the appellant, the Director of Finance and ICT and the Assistant Director Human Resources to the meeting.  He introduced those present to the appellant and he drew attention to the policies and procedures which would be taken into account by the Panel in relation to the appeal and indicated that the Panel would deal with the appeal on a factor by factor basis.  The appellant and the Assistant Director of Human Resources agreed with this approach. 

The appellant sought an assurance that the decisions of the Panel would be based on the post and not the postholder.  She stated that in her view the Job Evaluation Appeal Panel had based their decisions on her as an individual and not on the post.  She submitted that the Appeal Panel had taken no account of her 18 year’s experience and the training she had undertaken.

She drew attention to the statement of the Assistant Director Human Resources in which examples had been given of posts at Grade 9 (a grade above that of the appellant).  The appellant pointed out that some of those posts had additional reporting lines to herself and that some of those posts did not have management responsibilities.

Finally in opening the appellant asked the Panel to have particular regard to the statements which had been made in support of her case by the Director of Corporate Support Services, the Assistant Director Legal and the Assistant Director ICT.

The Chairman confirmed that the Panel would evaluate the post and not the postholder and that account would be taken of all the submitted documents including the Job Description and the Person Specification.

(a) Mental Skills Factor – Level Awarded by the Job Evaluation Appeal Panel – 4; Level Claimed - 5

The Case of the Appellant

The appellant pointed out that the Job Evaluation Scheme provided that it was not possible to score a higher lever for Mental Skills than a post scored for Knowledge.  She pointed out that as she was claiming Level 5 for Mental Skills and had been awarded Level 6 for Knowledge this was not an issue.

The appellant advised that the Job Evaluation Appeal Panel had accepted that her post dealt with complex information but, due to the specialist nature of the work, had not believed that it met the varied element required for Level 5.  In addition the Panel had made reference to the Additional Information sheet for the post which indicated medium-term planning was required.

The appellant submitted that the Appeal Panel had only looked at part of her Job Description, that part which related to contracts.  She advised that her contract work fell into distinct areas such as procurement, the contracts and contract law, each of which could be further sub-divided into works, services and goods.  The appellant stated that the procurement element related to how the contracts were let.  The rules governing procurement in general  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To consider statements and background documents (circulated separately).

                RESOLVED:

                That consideration of this appeal be deferred to a future meeting.