Agenda

To approve the following minutes:

·       the public minutes of the meeting held on 5 September 2024 and adjourned (RC3a)

·       the public minutes of the resumed meeting held at 10:00 on 15 January 2025 (RC3b)

·       the meeting held at 10:10 on 15 January 2025 (RC3c)

·       the minutes of the meeting held on 20 May 2025 (RC3d)

and to receive information arising from them.

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 three 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.

Report by Director of Law and Governance and Monitoring Officer

Council amended the Constitution at its meeting on 10 December 2024 to add a delegation to the Remuneration Committee “to constitute an Appraisal Panel and undertake the appraisals for the Chief Executive, at least annually” (Part 5.1C Remuneration Committee, paragraph 3 (7)).  This report proposes to formally establish a Sub-committee to undertake the appraisal process.

The Remuneration Committee is RECOMMENDED to

Establish a subcommittee named the Remuneration Sub-Committee (Appraisals) to carry out the procedures delegated to the Remuneration Committee in the Council Constitution “to constitute an Appraisal Panel and undertake the appraisals for the Chief Executive, at least annually”.

This report sets out how the Council is increasing its capacity to meet the commitments of the Devolution White Paper.

Report by the Director of Human Resources and Cultural Change 

In January 2025, this Committee considered the Gender Equality and Ethnicity Pay Gap Report for 2024. This report responds to questions raised by Committee Members relating to these reports.  The Committee asked for further information on how well as a Council we progress individuals, retain talent of our apprentices and qualitative data on why people exit the council.

The Audit and Governance Committee will consider a report at its meeting on 16 July 2025 on appointments to Outside Bodies.  It is proposed that appointments to Category B* bodies will in future be approved by the Audit and Governance Committee rather than by the Remuneration Committee.

The report will be provided to this Committee for information purposes when it is available.

* Category B body: “has not been identified by the Cabinet and endorsed by the Council as strategic”.

In the event that any Member or Officer wishes to discuss the information set out in Item 9 Exempt Minutes or Item 10 Proposed Organisational Restructuring – Tiers 5 and below, the Committee will be invited to resolve to exclude the public for the consideration of the item by passing a resolution in the following terms: 

"that the public be excluded during the consideration of the item since it is likely that if they were present during that discussion there would be a disclosure of "exempt" information as described in Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972 and specified below the item in the Agenda". 

THE EXEMPT MINUTES AND REPORT FOR ITEM 10 HAVE NOT BEEN MADE PUBLIC AND SHOULD BE REGARDED AS ‘CONFIDENTIAL’ BY MEMBERS AND OFFICERS ENTITLED TO RECEIVE THEM. 

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

Paragraph 1 Information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual. 

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

and since it is considered that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, in that there is an expectation that consultation and negotiation should take place primarily away from the glare of publicity and public scrutiny in keeping with employment law. 

To approve the exempt minutes of the meeting held and adjourned on 5 September 2024 and the exempt minutes of the resumed meeting on 15 January 2025.

Report by the Director of HR and Cultural Change

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

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

and since it is considered that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, in that there is an expectation that consultation and negotiation should take place primarily away from the glare of publicity and public scrutiny in keeping with employment law. 

Redesign of the senior leadership team (Tiers 1 to 4) was completed in October 2024. The programme from Tier 5 and below will follow the same agreed organisational design principles.