Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Kevin Bulmer and Councillor Richard Webber (Councillor Liz Leffman substituting).

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 30 January 2020 (RC3) and to receive information arising from them.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 4 April 2019 were approved and signed as an accurate record.

This report gives an overview of Oxfordshire County Council's Gender Pay Gap which is required under The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017.

The Remuneration Committee is asked to consider, comment and agree on the information which will be placed before Council prior to its publication. The obligation on the Council is to publish annually a Gender Pay Gap Report by 30 March each year.

The Remuneration Committee is RECOMMENDED to note and agree the figures for publication.

The Committee had before it a report which provided an overview of Oxfordshire County Council's Gender Pay Gap, as required under The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017. The report set out a brief overview of the Gender Pay Gap and the requirements the Council were obliged to meet. Finally, the report set out a high-level overview of planned communication of our Gender Pay Gap.

The Remuneration Committee was asked to consider, comment and agree on Annex 2 which would become the basis for the information placed before Council on 11 February 2020.  The obligation on the Council was to publish annually a Gender Pay Gap Report by 30 March each year and this Data Summary set out the minimum information required for that report.

Mrs Edwards in introducing the report explained that before the Committee was a good news report.  The mean and the medium were reducing year on year, and although there had been a spike in 2018, the Council was at 3.3% which was well below the National Average of 17.3%.  The figures showed that there were no impediments to women in reaching senior positions and achieving higher earnings.  There was a good spread of female employees in the upper quartile.  She reported an amendment needed to page 3 of the report where the figure for Upper Middle Quartile for Female should read 62.3 and not 63.3.

The Chairman, Councillor Ian Hudspeth questioned why, when the Council employed more females than males was there still a gap?  Mrs Edwards agreed that it was an area that needed to be investigated.  There was debate around whether this could be due to part time working, longevity or whether it was just down to the numbers.

Mrs Edwards agreed that further work was needed on this and commented that work to get under the data would be carried out prior to it being published next year.  There was a need to change how the data was presented and stated that her preference would be to see a male and female model.

RESOLVED:  to note and agree the figures for publication.

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

4      Information relating to any consultations or negotiations, or contemplated consultations or negotiations, in connection with any labour relations matters arising between the authority or a Minister of the Crown and employees of, or officer-holders under the authority

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 distort the proper process of free negotiations between the authority with another party for the purposes described and would prejudice the position of the authority in those negotiations and other negotiations of a similar nature in future.

Report by the Director of Human Resources

This report gives an overview of the Pay Policy Statement which is required under The Localism Act 2011. The Pay Policy Statement at Appendix 1 contains remuneration data as at 1 January 2021 and fulfils the requirements set down by the relevant legislation and codes.

The Remuneration Committee is RECOMMENDED to:

·       Receive the report

·       Recommend the Pay Policy Statement for 2021/22 prior to progression to Full Council for approval.

The information contained in the report was exempt in that it fell within the following prescribed category:

4       Information relating to any consultations or negotiations, or contemplated consultations or negotiations, in connection with any labour relations matters arising between the authority or a Minister of the Crown and employees of, or officer-holders under the authority

It was considered that in this case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information, in that such disclosure would distort the proper process of free negotiations between the authority with another party for the purposes described and would prejudice the position of the authority in those negotiations and other negotiations of a similar nature in future.

The Committee had before it a report which set out an overview of the Pay Policy Statement which was required under The Localism Act 2011. It gives a brief overview of the revisions that have been made and has the Pay Policy Statement as an Appendix.

Mr Graham, Director for Law and Governance in introducing the report sought the Committee’s view as to whether they would wish to keep or remove

The Remuneration Committee is RECOMMENDED to consider the draft report and agree it for submission to Council.

Recommendations agreed, subject to further explanation being added to table 1 in the Pay Policy Statement.