Agenda and minutes

Apologies for inability to attend the meeting were received from Councillor Paul Bryant. Councillor Andrew Rowles substituted for Councillor Bryant. In the Chairman’s absence the Vice Chairman chaired the meeting.

(Councillor Keith Lock in the Chair)

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 02 July 2010.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 02 July 2010 were approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Actions Arising:

In respect of Item 1, paragraph 5, last sentence Councillor Adrian Edwards queried whether Ian Priestley had been able to confirm with Margaret Goldie and the Legal Service whether or not the paragraph in relation to schools adhering to Council Health and Safety policies could be strengthened. Ian confirmed that he had spoken to the Monitoring Officer who had explained that the schools could not be forced to adhere to the Council’s policies. He had in fact requested a diminution of the wording setting this out.

In respect of Item 1, paragraph 7, Councillor Adrian Edwards queried whether paragraph 4 of the Asbestos Policy also referred to Voluntary Aided Schools. Ian confirmed that it did. He had however consulted a colleague in the Education Service that had returned from maternity leave and as a consequence a number of other amendments to the policy were required. Members, while accepting that the schools could not be forced to adhere to the Council’s policy, were concerned about the possible duplication of effort where they were opting to produce their own policies.

Councillor Quentin Webb noted that at the meeting on the 28 May 2010 he had requested that Officers be asked to attend a future meeting to give Members a brief demonstration of the way HR records were now retained. It was agreed that this would be included on the next Personnel Committee agenda.

To receive any declarations of interest from Members.

There were no declarations of interest received.

Purpose: To outline a range of proposals to protect staff.

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 4) concerning a range of policies and proposals designed to protect staff. Ian Priestley explained that the Personal Safety of Staff Policy was an overarching policy that had been developed in consultation with colleagues in Human Resources as had the other policies attached to the report. Some services already had existing staff safety procedures in place. This document was designed to provide a framework for all services to work to and adapt to meet their particular circumstances. The framework included a model policy prepared by Community Services.

The policy covered the following areas:

·        Violence at work;

·        Lone working; and

·        Clients of concern

In addition Officers had produced a spreadsheet which would be used as a central register to record addresses where clients of concern resided. When visiting a premise Officers would be able to look at the spreadsheet to see if it was listed. Where it was they would be able to contact a gatekeeper to establish further relevant details. This methodology would assist with concerns from services about sharing information. To date it was being used by a small number of services but it was hoped that it would soon be rolled out to the rest of the Council.

The register would only contain the address and the contact Officer for establishing further detail and advice; this would mean that the details of the concern were not included on the register. It was possible that some individuals would only pose a risk to specific services and this could be conveyed in the message from the gatekeeper. In some instances it would be necessary to ask the clients to come into the West Berkshire Council Offices for face to face meetings when required as a safety precaution.

Councillor Keith Lock noted that most of the clients of concern would be those visited by staff in Adult Social Care and he wondered if there was a register available to these staff setting out clients that staff could not visit on their own. Officers explained that individual services would have their own lists and that the spreadsheet was a means of sharing information across service areas.

Members queried whether this policy would cover staff in the Licensing Team and Trading Standards who were required to undertake test purchasing late at night. Officers explained that this was an overarching policy and did not deal with service specific issues. The Services concerned should have their own detailed procedures in place. The Health and Safety Team would be undertaking a detailed audit of individual policies to ensure that they were in place and were sufficiently detailed. Officers noted that the six month review would not be automatically generated and involved the Health and safety Team using the spreadsheet to follow up actions.

Councillor Tony Linden noted that the ‘Working with Challenging Behaviour Policy’ applied to both Officers and Members. He asked Officers to establish the decision making route for this policy as he felt that if Members were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

To agree the date of the next meeting (if required).

The Committee agreed that Officers would identify a date for the next meeting via email. Items for discussion would include a demonstration of the HR system, an update on progress made with HR policies and the Fleet Driver Policy (which would be brought to the Committee for information as it had already been agreed by the Chief Executive under delegated powers).