Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllr Garg, who was substituted by Cllr Khatra.

None.

Minutes of the meetings held on 10 March 2016 and 12 May 2016 were agreed.

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

The meeting was held entirely in Part I.

Members discussed the number and scope of reviews for the municipal year, deciding that the Committee would provisionally plan for one major review and two minor reviews.

The Chairman proposed that the Committee's Major Review for 2016/17 consider the Council's recruitment practices. It was noted that the Social Worker recruitment portal had been a major improvement to the public-facing part of the website and branding, but this had a narrow benefit that could be employed more widely in other recruitment sectors.

Areas of recruitment which the review may wish to consider included advertising and branding, interview methods and manager training, staff induction and equalities. Appropriate witnesses for these subject areas may include Council Officers and Human Resources staff, the Local Government Association and other London boroughs, private sector and charity sector employers.

The Committee commented that improvements to the overall branding and recruitment process had the potential to make a long-term improvement to the attractiveness of the Council as an employer, and agreed that a scoping report should be produced for a review of recruitment practices. It was noted that the scope of the review was not to include organisational structure.

The Committee discussed numerous ideas for the minor reviews. Members instructed officers to consider the feasibility of several suggested review topics and to report back to Members by email, with the intention that scoping reports for preferred topics could be prepared for consideration at the next meeting.

The Committee received a written statement from Mr Raj Alagh, Borough Solicitor, regarding progress made with the outcomes of the Business Rates Review, and proactive efforts made by officers to resolve outstanding issues.

The Committee thanked the Mr Alagh for the update, and indicated that they would welcome more information when available.

The Forward Plan was noted.

The Work Programme was noted. It was agreed that Alex Quayle would update the proposed meeting items based on the discussion of review topics prior to the next meeting.