Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 29 March 2023 were signed as a true record. 

Matter arising:

Minute 37 (Responses to Finance and Corporate Services Scrutiny Board 1 Questions (City of Culture))

In respect of information outstanding on university contributions, the Chair asked that the question be emailed to the Warwick University for a response.

Briefing note

The Board considered a briefing note and presentation which provided the current workforce analytics from numbers employed, turnover, starters, leavers, sickness absence, right through to agency workers. Where possible historical data had been included for comparative purposes. It was noted the data would include years impacted by Covid and this was reflected within the information provided.

The presentation and demonstration of the analytics programme enabled members to have an overview of the HR metrics and provided an understanding of the workforce metrics.

Currently the City Council as of the 19 June 2023 had 5180 employees or 4153 FTE and turnover was currently at 16.66%. The breakdown in the presentation provided the details of numbers within each service and types of contracts. HR were now able to provide workforce analytical information due to the development of the data warehouse which had been a shared development between HR and IT. The information was refreshed daily and was accessible to directors and managers on their desktops.

The data presentation provided a snapshot of the type of information now available and was flexible enough to be able to view at service level and by category.

The Board questioned Officers and received responses on a number of matters including:

·  Consultancy and agency costs

·  How establishment figures are calculated and budgets allocated

·  Reasons for high turnover

·  Retention packages

·  Use of office buildings

·  Management structure

Following consideration of the briefing note, presentation and discussion, the Board requested the following:

·  That a dashboard summary report be brought back to the Board once the data was live.

·  That ‘agency and consultancy spending’ and ‘Leavers 22/23’ be added to the work programme.

·  Data on the duration of temporary staff contracts.

·  In respect of retaining staff and exploring the range of reasons why staff leave, it was suggested that local faith groups should be approached with a view to providing an additional option to support staff who wished to avail of it.

·  Information on who monitors the health and wellbeing of education staff

·  To receive job descriptions for the role of Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Partnership Officer

RESOLVED that the Board:

1.  Note the content of the report and the workforce challenges post-Covid including skill shortages/recruitment challenges in some areas and the measures being taken to address the issues.

2.  Acknowledge the work being undertaken to improve the range and access to data and the support work to improve areas of challenge - such as sickness absence and where this work is showing signs of improvement - for example in Street scene.

Briefing note

The Board considered a briefing note which set out the Council’s Corporate Learning and Development activity between 1^st April 2022 – 31^st March 2023 and associated costs.

One of the key priorities within the People Plan 2023 – 2025 was to develop internal talent to enable us to meet strategic priorities and improve the retention of the workforce.

The Learning and Development team identified the varied development needs of the workforce, which were informed by the strategic objectives in the One Coventry Plan, through a number of ways; appraisal completions, evaluation reports, pulse surveys, HR case work, direct engagement with managers and employees, digital surveys, leavers feedback, Trade Unions, Employee Network engagement, and benchmarking against other Local Authorities. The team ensured we have relevant, diverse, and effective opportunities for all employees to improve their knowledge and skills which can then make a difference to the lives of the people in Coventry and support and improve outcomes for our communities.

Training was commissioned by following the Council’s Procurement and Commissioning process to ensure the training is value for money, of excellent quality and that public money was spent in line with its wider community strategy around the economy, society, and the environment.

The briefing note included information on:

• The Corporate Learning and Development budget
• Learning and Development outcomes 2022-23
• Marketing and Promotion
• Ensuring access to training for all employees
• Learning at work week
• Learning and development online hub
• Learning and development outcomes from appraisals
• Talent programme
• Diversity and Inclusion: events and courses
• Online learning
• Leadership and Management
• Future Plans

The Board questioned Officers and received responses on a number of matters relating to the presentation including:

·  Training for managers managing flexible workers

·  Funding for leaning and development

·  Shared services

RESOLVED that the Board supports the ongoing work and achievements to deliver the actions set out within the People Plan 2023 – 2025 by providing a comprehensive learning and development programme that continues to support employees across the organisation, to gain additional skills to deliver the One Coventry Plan and provide continuous professional development opportunities.  

Report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The work programme was noted with the inclusion of the matters agreed in Minute 3 (Workforce Metrics) above for reports to future meetings on the following:

• Dashboard summary
• Agency and Consultancy spending
• Leavers 2022/23

There were no outstanding issues.

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as matters of urgency because of the special circumstances involved

There were no other items of public business.