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Personnel and Training Committee 29 February 2008
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority
Meeting of the Personnel and Training Committee held on
29 February 2008 at Fire Service Headquarters, Birkenshaw
Present : Councillors G P Kirkland (in the Chair),
D Atkinson, V Binney, P Booth (as substitute for Councillor R Taylor), J Cole, M Coulson,
T Hardwick, N Ikram, M Jamil, A McKenna, B Smith (as substitute for Councillor S Armitage) and G Wilkinson
Apologies : Councillors S Armitage and R Taylor
31 Chairman’s Announcements – ACO Allan Hughes
The Chair advised Committee Members that Mr Martyn Redfearn had recently been successful in being appointed to the post of Director of Human Resources. The post would become vacant on 30 March 2008 upon the retirement of the present incumbent, Allan Hughes, for whom this would the last meeting of this Committee.
Members took the opportunity to pay tribute to Mr Hughes for his excellent and loyal service to the Authority and specifically in his current post which
he had held for over eight years.
32 Minutes of the Last Meeting
Resolved
That the Minutes of the Committee at a meeting held on 28 September 2007 be signed by the Chair as a correct record.
33 Urgent Items
The Chair had agreed to the inclusion of two urgent items on the agenda as follows;
a) Relocation Assistance Policy
Consideration was given to a report of the Director of Human Resources
which sought approval for the implementation of a Relocation Assistance
Policy as detailed as Annex 1 to the report now submitted with the following
amendments;
Paragraph 1.4 “live beyond a 35 mile radius …”
Paragraph 5.4 “employee remaining in WYFRS for 2 years after
appointment ….”
It was reported that the policy had been drafted taking cognisance of the sums allowable from two of the constituent Authorities (Leeds and Wakefield). And had been the subject of discussions with the Fire Brigades Union who were happy with the proposals.
Resolved
That the Relocation Assistance Policy be approved for immediate
implementation.
[This item was considered urgent on the grounds that discussions with the Fire Brigades Union had only taken place subsequent to the publication of
this agenda].
b) Notice periods for Uniformed staff
The Director of Human Resources submitted a report which sought approval for a revision to the agreed notice periods for uniformed staff.
Notice periods had been the subject of discussions with the Fire Brigades Union for some time and Members were reminded that approval had been
given to changes to contractual notice periods on 8 December 2006.
This had subsequently been the subject of objection by the Union and was debated at a meeting of the Consultation and Negotiation Panel in September 2007 who resolved to support Management’s position with an additional caveat. The Union gave consideration to the amended position but felt unable to agree. The matter was remitted to the National Joint Secretaries for resolution.
Members were advised of the conciliated position with regard to notice periods for uniformed staff which had been agreed at a meeting held on
26 February 2008 as follows;
• Firefighter to Group Manager
(inc mobilising staff) 2 weeks’ notice
• Area Manager 12 weeks’ notice
• Personnel promoted to the roles of Station
Manager and Group Manager 4 weeks’ notice
• Personnel promoted to Area Manager 8 weeks’ notice
Resolved
That the contractual notice periods for uniformed staff be amended as detailed in the report now submitted.
[This item was considered urgent on the grounds that conciliation with the
National Joint Secretaries had only taken place subsequent to the publication
of this agenda].
34 Exclusion of the Public - Section 100A, Local Government Act 1972
There were no items which required the exclusion of the public and press.
35 Disclosures of Interest
No disclosures of interest in any matter under consideration were made.
36 Cycle to work Scheme
Consideration was given to a report of the Director of Corporate Resources
which sought approval for the implementation of a Cycle to Work Scheme in
accordance with a series of measures introduced under the Government’s Green Transport Plan.
Under the scheme, the employer could introduce tax exempt loans of cycles and safety equipment to its employees subject to a number of criteria.
Details of the scheme were attached to the report now submitted and Members were advised that, to avoid the payment of interest, the Authority could purchase cycles from revenue to be funded from within balances – the only additional cost to the Authority being a small impact on cash flow.
Resolved
That approval be given to the implementation of the Cycle to Work scheme.
37 Fitness at Work Policy
The Director of Human Resources submitted a report which sought approval for the adoption of a Fitness at Work policy.
It was reported that a policy had been drafted which incorporated the following elements;
• 6 monthly fitness assessment (March and September)
• Fitness training
• Fitness advisors
• Upgrade and maintenance of fitness equipment
• Gym safety
Members were advised that the policy proposed one hour fitness training per shift for wholetime operational firefighters. Retained Duty System
firefighters would have access to the same equipment of station, use of which would be in their own time, (with the exception of Silsden when travel expenses would be paid to the nearest equipped station).
It was reported that a capital allocation of £150,000 had been previously
approved by the Authority together with a revenue budget allocation for
its maintenance. Other costs would be funded from within existing departmental budgets.
Resolved
That approval be given to the implementation of the Fitness at Work policy as attached at Annex A to the report now submitted
38 Race and Disability Equality Scheme
Consideration was given to a report of the Director of Human Resources which provided a progress report on the Race and Disability Equality Scheme action plans, details of which were attached at Annex 1 to the report now submitted.
Resolved
That the report be noted.
39 Equality and Diversity Strategy
Consideration was given to a report of the Director of Human Resources which sought approval for the adoption of a revised corporate Equality and Diversity Strategy and Action Plan.
Part of the process to provide evidence for the Local Government Equality
Standards included formal monitoring of the organisation’s equality and
diversity progress and, following adoption, the Plan would be the subject of consultation with community groups, partner organisations and employees.
Resolved
That approval be given to the Equality and Diversity Strategy and action plan as detailed in the report now submitted.
40 Stonewall - Update
Members considered a report of the Director of Human Resources which advised of the improved position within the 2008 Stonewall Workplace
Equality Index which validated compliance with sexual orientation legislation.
It was reported that the Authority had increased its position within the Index from 47th to 43rd, achieving 80% of the evidence requirements. West Yorkshire was one of only two Fire and Rescue Services which appeared in the top one hundred organisations on the Index.
Resolved
That the report be noted.
41 Personnel Activity Report
The Director of Human Resources submitted a report which advised of personnel activity between the period February 2007 – January 2008.
Members debated the cause of the sickness figures and were advised that the majority of these were long-term sickness cases. Work was continuing
to reduce sickness absence where possible.
Resolved
That the report be noted.
42 External Equality Mark Audit
Consideration was given to a report of the Director of Human Resources which informed Members of the results of the recent external Equality Mark audit which measured progress in mainstreaming equality and diversity across the whole of the organisation.
Members were advised that a self-assessment had been made in 2007 of Level 3. This assessment
had subsequently been externally validated and confirmation of a Level 3 had been received.
Resolved
That the report be noted.
43 Recruitment Update
The Director of Human Resources submitted a report which provided Members with an update on the 2007 recruitment drive.
It was reported that a focus on Outreach work and Awareness Days had had a marked effect on the increase in requests for application forms from
the Authority’s under-represented groups.
Targets set by the Home Office in 2000 were the recruitment of 15% women and 11% BME as firefighters. Members were advised that these would be reviewed shortly with the introduction of a new National Equality and Diversity Ten Year Strategy 2008 – 2018. Current figures for this Authority had indicated that 10.9% of shortlisted applicants were women and 10.1% were BME. The
recruitment process had not yet been fully completed for the current year.
Resolved
That the report be noted.
44 Temporary Human Resources Manager – Recruitment Update
The Director of Human Resources submitted a report which advised of the
outcome of the recruitment process for a temporary Human Resources Manager following recommendations made by Members to try to recruit for a period of maternity cover via the following methods (in order of priority) ;
• partnership agreements / secondments
• public advert
• recruitment agency
Members were advised that no interest had been expressed using the preferred method of partnership arrangements or secondments and the post had been filled following an open advert.
Resolved
That the report be noted.
Chair
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