Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Eddie Reeves (substituted by Councillor Nigel Simpson).

The Chair asked if Members would be prepared to consider an appointment to the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Board.  The matter had only arisen since the agenda was published.  Nominations to the Board must be made by this Committee and there was no further meeting scheduled.

The Chair proposed the nomination of Councillor Jenny Hannaby to replace Councillor Sally Povolotsky who wished to stand down.  Councillor Yvonne Constance noted that she was the only other councillor that represented the area covered by the AONB and she was agreeable to the proposed appointment.  Members agreed to accept the nomination in the circumstances.

RESOLVED: to appoint Councillor Jenny Hannaby as the Oxfordshire County Council representative on the North Wessex Downs AONB Board.

There were no declarations of interest.

Members of the public who wish to speak at this meeting can attend the meeting in person or ‘virtually’ through an online connection. 

To facilitate ‘hybrid’ meetings we are asking that requests to speak or present a petition are submitted by no later than 9am four working days before the meeting.  Requests to speak should be sent to committeesdemocraticservices@oxfordshire.gov.uk .

If you are speaking ‘virtually’, you may submit a written statement of your presentation to ensure that your views are taken into account. A written copy of your statement can be provided no later than 9am 2 working days before the meeting. Written submissions should be no longer than 1 A4 sheet.

No requests had been received.

TheEqualityAct 2010(SpecificDutiesandPublic Authorities)Regulations 2017 stipulatethatallbusinesses,publicsectorandthirdsectororganisationswithover 250 employeesmustpublicly reporton averagepay differencesbetweentheirmaleand femaleemployees.

Gender pay gap calculations are based on employer payroll data drawn from a specific date each year. This specific date is called the ‘snapshot date’.

As a publicsector body, Oxfordshire County Council are requiredtopublishthis paygapinformationwithin 12 months,takingthe“snapshotdate”of 31 March 2023.

The Remuneration Committee is RECOMMENDED to

a)    Receive the report

b)    Recommend the Gender Pay Gap report for 2023 for approval by Full Council

c)    Receive the Ethnicity Pay Gap Report 2022/2023 (Annex 2) for information purposes.

The Committee considered a report that the Council is required to produce on the gender pay gap. Calculations were based on employer payroll data drawn from a specific date each year.

Paul Tallant, HR Manager – Reward, summarised the report and the next steps.

Members raised a number of issues that the officers responded to as follows:

·       There were new management training schemes in place to help reduce the gender gap in representation at Extended Leadership Team level which stood at 50:50 compared to the 2:1 majority of women across the Council.

·       The figures included apprentices on full pay but not staff from maintained schools.

·       Part-time staff had equal access to education and training.

It was agreed that officers will provide a briefing on the various measures being taken to help those on more junior grades to progress in the organisation.

RESOLVED to:

·       Receive the report

·       Recommend the Gender Pay Gap report for 2023 for approval by Full Council.

Paul Tallant summarised the Ethnicity Pay Gap Report.  This was not a report the Council was required to produce but was provided for transparency.

Members asked if the briefing already requested could include measures to improve the ethnic diversity in staff as the statistics indicated that only 10% of Council staff were non-white, while the proportion in the population of Oxfordshire is 23.2%.  A further breakdown of ethnicity data by gender was also requested.

RESOLVED to receive the report for information purposes.

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

1.     Information relating to a particular individual.

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

3.   Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

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.

The final interviews will take place across Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd November 2023. The Shortlisting Panel will decide on Friday 3rd November, which candidates will go through to the Renumeration Committee members’ panel. In accordance with the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) Regulations 2001 and Officer Employment Procedure Rules in Part 8.4 of the Council’s Constitution applicable at the time of advertisement, the Remuneration Committee will approve the appointment of the Director of Children’s Services, following the recommendation of the Shortlisting Panel.

Final interviews detailed information on shortlisted applicants to follow.

EXEMPT SESSION

The Committee RESOLVED that from this point onward the public will be excluded, and public webcast stopped for the duration of item 5 since it is likely that if they were present during those items there would be disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and specified below in relation to those items.

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

1. Information relating to a particular individual.

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

3. Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

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.

Members conducted interviews.

RESOLVED: to recommend an appointment to the position of Director of Children’s Services.