Agenda and minutes

Agreed as an accurate record.

To confirm the items of business marked Part I will be considered in public and that the items marked Part II will be considered in private.

It was agreed that all items of business would be considered in public.

The Committee gave consideration to a scoping report which provided Members with details of the Council’s current holiday leave management for Council employees, together with the details of the alternative of ‘variable leave year’ holiday leave management.

The Council’s Organisational Development Manager attended the meeting and presented information on the advantages and disadvantages of both systems of holiday management.

The key issues were:-

• What is the Current Holiday Leave Procedure which this Council had for Council employees?
•  Looking at the distribution of holiday leave across the Council and to see if there were patterns which may have caused problems in any particular service area.
• To look at the advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches to ‘Fixed Annual Leave Year’ and ‘Variable Leave Year’ Holiday.
• What were the cost implications and HR system changes which would be needed if the holiday management system and procedure changed?

The Committee was informed that the Council currently operated a fixed annual leave year for all employees synchronised with the financial year starting on the 1 April and continuing until 31 March. Reference was made to Council policy allowing employees to ‘carry over’ up to 5 days holiday leave into the following annual leave year.

Members were informed that leave entitlement, holiday requests and manager authorisation for leave was administered through an online self-service module of the Council’s current HR system, ResourceLink. The system served the Council very well, although effective management was needed to ensure that service delivery was not compromised when employees planned to take leave.

Members were provided with a bar chart which illustrated the distribution of employees annual holiday for 2012/13. The obvious peaks of leave taken were during the school holiday months of July and August, during December and the Christmas and new year period.

There was a third peak at the end of the holiday period in March but this was a gradual trend progression, rather than a significant ‘spike’.

The Committee asked that officers provide a breakdown of patterns of leave across all directorates and service areas to assess whether there were any distinct areas of the Council where there were exceptional ‘peaks’ which may impact on the delivery of services.

The Council’s Deputy Director for Strategic Finance attended the meeting and provided Members with her experience within the Finance Directorate where the financial year end coincided with employees’ end of leave year. Members were informed that managers were attuned with the responsibilities of the service and of the end of the financial year, so management of leave of staff was less of a problem. A move to a more flexible and variable leave year would cause more problems in terms of enabling managers to manage their staff annual leave requests.

Reference was made to the arrangements which existed in Teams throughout the Council whereby staff used Google Calendar to indicate holiday leave. This was a useful tool for managers to ensure sufficient officer cover within Teams.

Members were informed that the primary argument  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

This was second witness session of the Committee’s review into Reducing the Council’s Carbon Footprint. Members received information on the following areas:-

Anaerobic Digestion (AD) - This was where organic waste, food, grass, slurry etc, was mixed and broken down to form gas. The gas was then used to power an engine which generated heat and electricity, which was then sold to the grid and local users through a district heat and power network. Reference was made to a new AD plant which had opened in County Durham. This new plant produced 1.56MWh which was enough energy to power 2,000 homes from processing up to 50,000 tonnes of commercial food waste.

Members were informed that the plant in County Durham cost £8m to construct.

Members were informed that a comparable facility within this Borough would provide enough power for a facility such as the Civic Centre.

The Council’s Energy Manager referred to the number of farms within the Borough which could be used for this anaerobic process. Discussion took place on the use of residents’ kitchen caddies and the possible use of food waste for this anaerobic digestion.

Members expressed interest in this area and asked that for the next meeting a paper be produced providing an outline of how such a facility could work in this Borough, utilising the farm waste and food waste within the Borough.

Decentralised Energy – Heat and Power- the Committee was made aware of the recently set up Energy Centre and heat network at Bunhill, in the London Borough of Islington. The Centre provided a heat network in the Bunhill ward and provided cheaper, greener and locally produced energy. The heat network was fed by a local energy centre which produced electricity and heat.

The Committee was informed that this Energy Centre produced more efficient electricity than the central power stations because the normally wasted heat which occurred in central power stations was captured and piped around the heat network in the Energy Centre. The Energy Centre was generally much more efficient, cheaper and greener and provided residents with affordable warmth and helped reduce carbon emissions.

Members expressed an interest in this facility and it was agreed that a site visit be arranged to enable further information to be gathered for the review.

In addition, the Council’s Energy Manager agreed to provide information on the feasibility of such a facility within the Borough. 

Helping Residents switch energy supplier – Members were reminded that at the last meeting reference was made to what could the Council do to broker the best energy deals for residents. Officers reported that a press release would be shortly released which would inform residents that practical advice on switching energy providers and getting the best energy deals would be available from a Council backed helpline. The Council had teamed up with the Energy Helpline to provide this free and impartial service.

Residents who were worried about the impact of rising energy prices which had recently been announced  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

The Committee discussed possible single review topics which could be undertaken at future meetings. Officers were asked to investigate the feasibility of undertaking these reviews.

Noted.

The Committee expressed an interest in receiving information on the report which was on the Forward Plan for Cabinet on 23 January 2014 – Promoting Economic Development and Regeneration in Hillingdon – Update.

Noted.