Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED: that Councillor Hudspeth be elected Chairman for the Council year.

RESOLVED: that Councillor Bulmer be elected Deputy Chairman for the Council year

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on  6 March 2018 (RC3) and to receive information arising from them.

The minutes of the meeting held on 6 March 2018 were approved and signed.

Report by Director of Human Resources (RC6)

This report gives an update of the Gender Pay Gap, including an overview of key comparators. 

The Remuneration Committee is RECOMMENDED to note the report.

The Committee considered (RC6) an update of the Gender Pay Gap, including an overview of key comparators.

RESOLVED: to note the report

Report by Director of Human Resources (RC7)

The report outlines a proposal to introduce the Local Government Senior Manager Job Evaluation Scheme, replacing the existing HAY arrangement.

The Remuneration Committee is RECOMMENDED to approve the proposal.

The Committee considered (RC7) a proposal to introduce the Local Government Senior Manager Job Evaluation Scheme, replacing the existing HAY arrangement.

RESOLVED: to approve the proposal.

Report by the Strategic Director of Communities (RC9)

As part of the Growth Deal delivery a small team has been created to co-ordinate and drive the delivery of the Growth Deal programme on behalf of all the partners (all local authorities across Oxfordshire and OxLEP). This small group of people will ensure the programme is coherent and cohesive so that all elements fit together and deliver the best possible result. Whilst much of the delivery capacity is located within each of the partner organisations this small team is critical to bring efforts together to drive such an ambitious programme and keep it on track. The Deal is supported by a Capacity Building Fund which is intended to fund this sort of function throughout the period of the programme.

In March 2018, an overarching plan was agreed with Government. To ensure that all the activities fit together well and the plan is delivered, it is seen as critical to have a Delivery Director providing leadership across the whole programme.

The report seeks approval to add the post of Growth Deal Delivery Director to the Council's headcount. The post is funded from Growth Deal capacity funds but needs to sit in the establishment of one of the partners and as the Accountable Body for the Deal, the Council was considered the best fit.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to agree to this post as an addition to the Council’s establishment for the period of the appointment (up to 5 years).

The Committee considered a report (RC9) which sought approval to add the post of Growth Deal Delivery Director to the Council’s establishment.

The Strategic Director of Communities advised that a revised package had attracted more interest with interviews scheduled for Tuesday 19 June.

Some members expressed concern regarding efficacy of rotational management arrangements and as the growth deal was already some 3 months in accepted that there could be some merit in considering a possible secondment from within Oxfordshire.

The Strategic Director undertook to take members’ concerns regarding management of the post to the Growth Board with a suggestion that the County Council undertook direct management.

RESOLVED: to agree that the post of Growth Deal Director be added to the Council’s establishment for the period of the appointment (up to 5 Years).

RESOLVED: that the public be excluded for the duration of items RC5, RC8,RC9 and RC10 since it was likely that if they were present during those items there would be disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local government Act 1972 (as amended) and specified below in relation to those items and since it was considered that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

PROCEEDINGS FOLLOWING THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC

The information contained in the report is exempt in that it falls within the following prescribed category:

1.         Information relating to an individual

It is considered that in this case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, in that such disclosure would infringe the rights of the individual to privacy contrary to the general law and the duty of the authority to respect human rights and to comply with that law and contrary to the authority’s duties as a fair employer.

Report by Director of Human Resources (RC8E).

The report gives an overview of the current pay for the three Directors within Communities: Director of Property and Investment; Director for Planning and Place, and Director for Infrastructure Delivery and outlines a proposal to increase the pay of those in post.

The Remuneration Committee is RECOMMENDED to approve this proposal.

The information contained in the report is exempt in that it falls within the following prescribed category:

2             Information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual

It is considered that in this case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, in that such disclosure would infringe the rights of the individual to privacy contrary to the general law and the duty of the authority to respect human rights and to comply with that law and contrary to the authority’s duties as a fair employer.

The Committee considered (RC8E) an overview of the current pay for the three Directors within Communities Director of Property and Investment; Director for Planning & Place and Director for Infrastructure delivery and outlining a proposal to increase the pay of those in post.

RESOLVED: to approve the proposal.

The information contained in the report is exempt in that it falls within the following prescribed category:

2        Information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual

It is considered that in this case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, in that such disclosure would infringe the rights of the individual to privacy contrary to the general law and the duty of the authority to respect human rights and to comply with that law and contrary to the authority’s duties as a fair employer.

Report by Director of Human Resources (RC5E)

This report gives an overview of the Change programmes that have resulted in redundancy in Quarter 4 (January to March 2018). It provides details of:

·         the number of redundancies;

·         the number of redeployments;

·         the total costs including pension costs;

·         pension costs alone    

The report also includes an overview of the change programmes that may result in Quarter 1 redudancies.

The Remuneration Committee is RECOMMENDED to note the figures.

The information contained in the report is exempt in that it falls within the following prescribed category:

2             Information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual

It is considered that in this case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, in that such disclosure would infringe the rights of the individual to privacy contrary to the general law and the duty of the authority to respect human rights and to comply with that law and contrary to the authority’s duties as a fair employer.

The Committee considered (RC5E) an overview of the Change programmes that have resulted in redundancy in Quarter 4 (January to March 2018) including an overview of the change programmes that might result in Quarter 1 redundancies. 

RESOLVED: to note the figures.

Verbal report by the Director of Human Resources.

The information contained in the report is exempt in that it falls within the following prescribed category:

2             Information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual

It is considered that in this case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, in that such disclosure would infringe the rights of the individual to privacy contrary to the general law and the duty of the authority to respect human rights and to comply with that law and contrary to the authority’s duties as a fair employer.

Following the announcement of the proposed merger between Oxfordshire County Council and Cherwell District Council the Director for Human Resources set out arrangements for appointing a joint Chief Executive.

Discussing the implications both county wide and directly for Oxfordshire County Council some members of the Committee, while appreciating the need for some urgency in making an appointment, expressed concern regarding the time scale set for the process which they considered too time prescriptive.

RESOLVED: that arrangements for the Appointments Panel on Monday 18 June go ahead as scheduled but in the light of concerns expressed by members of the Remuneration Committee that if no consensus was reached regarding an appointment at that meeting then a second session be arranged.