Members are reminded to consider the categories of interest in the Code of Conduct for Members to determine whether they have an interest in any agenda item and any action they should take. For further details, please see the attached note from the Monitoring Officer.

Members are reminded to declare the nature of the interest and the agenda item it relates to. Please note that ultimately it’s the Members’ responsibility to declare any interests and to update their register of interest form as required by the Code.

If in doubt as to the nature of your interest, you are advised to seek advice prior to the meeting by contacting the Monitoring Officer or Democratic Services

contact: Linda Walker, Monitoring Officer, Tel: 0207 364 4348

There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests, however; Councillor Abdi Mohamed  declared he has a relative who works in Children’s Services. Councillor Asma Islam, Councillor Abdi Mohamed and Councillor  Abdal Ullah all declared they are GMB union members.

To agree the unrestricted minutes of the Human Resources Committee meeting held on 12 December 2024.

That the minutes of the Human Resources Committee meeting held on 12 December 2024 were approved and signed as a correct record of proceedings. 

RESOLVED:

1.     That the outstanding actions be noted.

Steve Reddy Corporate Director, Children’s Services, gave the Committee an update on the directorate. Members were given details on the 1,500 staff who ensure the boroughs children and young people are provided with quality education and support. Members were also informed on £98.5m budget for the directorate and a further £3300m for Education.

It was noted that Children’s Services received an Outstanding rating following the recent Children’s Services ILACS inspection. Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Youth Justice inspections are pending. Both school inspections and Early Years PVI sections were considered good and outstanding respectively.

Mr Reddy then went through the Strategic Plan and the priorities for the Children’s Services, which include tackling the cost of living crisis, the accelerate education initiative and more investment in improving children’s social care, youth justice and SEND provision. The Committee were given details of key performance indicators (KPI’s) and were informed that an additional performance measure will be added in the new municipal year, to include the number of children who have reoffended.

The Committee were given details on senior posts outstanding which includes:

?        Director of Children's Social Care or Support in Families.

?        Director of Education.

Mr Reddy noted that he is currently line managing the Head of Employment and Skills on a temporary basis. Consideration will be given to a restructure, particularly around school building and development, Pupil access, sufficiency and admissions. The Committee was informed that a Corporate ‘Empowering Services Review’ with a focus on current policies, recently took place and the outcome is expected in due course.

In addition, consideration is being given to develop the Youth Service with the Young Tower Hamlets directorate and place the Youth Employment team within that structure and move the head of Employment Skills into the Housing and Regeneration directorate.

Following questions from the Committee, Steve Reddy;

•         Explained that the names have been removed as this is a high level report only stating the nature of those posts. A confidential document can be provided to the Committee for review.

•         Confirmed that support for SEND staff have manageable caseloads and more staff have been recruited to deal with the demand. Further work to ensure staff are supported is ongoing.

•         Observed that Tower Hamlets is a good place to work and are confident senior roles within Children’s Services will be filled. It was acknowledged that filling social worker roles is more challenging, due to a national shortage.

•         Noted that the Learning Academy has assisted in securing, retaining and supporting permanent employees. Staff feedback has been really positive.

•         Explained that moving the Youth Employment Service to Young Tower Hamlets is beneficial and can be achieved with a transitional approach. Staff will be consulted and a review will take place in 12 months and further work is underway.

•         Confirmed that the monthly Children's Services Improvement Board, evaluates  child protection cases with external partners to spot any trends or concerns. It was noted that a legislative reform of Children’s social  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.1

Catriona Hunt, Head of Human of Resources, provided an update on the progress of senior officer recruitment. Members were informed that in relation to the Director of Public Realm role, a long listing meeting has now been confirmed for 19th  February 2025, with final interviews commencing in March.

Following questions from the Committee, Officers;

•         Confirmed that continual improvement takes place with the recruitment process to appointment. To ensure  robust governance with recruitment is implemented, a specialist resource officer has been appointed to streamline the process and clear posts.

The Committee thanked Officers for the recruitment work to date.

The Human Resources Committee RESOLVED that;

1.      The report on the current position on the recruitment to senior management vacancies be noted. 

Pauline Shakespeare, Interim Head of Corporate Human Resources, provided the Committee with an overview of the employee relations casework for quarter 3 (1st October – 31st December 2024). The Committee were informed that details of staff numbers in each directorates were included in the report.

Ms Shakespeare stated that the dashboard has been redesigned to accommodate ease of access. Details of the duration of each case were also included, with the aim of reducing the time taken to resolve formal cases. It was noted that there is one internal grievance hearing underway.

Members were informed that the number of overall cases has reduced compared to previous quarters, In Quarter 1 there were 57 open cases, in Q2 68 and 56 in Quarter 3. The Communities Directorate has the highest number of disciplinary cases. The performance of each quarter was also observed and showed the duration of open cases for Q1 had 33 cases taking 180 days to close, Q2 showed 14 open cases and Q3 has 19 open cases during the same time frame.

The Committee were informed that the data submitted does not contain the ethnicity of staff, but this could be provided if Members request.

Following questions from the Committee, Officers;

•         Confirmed that all cases are reported on the dashboard, as they are deemed open cases unless completed. Consideration will be given to reporting the outcome of a grievance, and whether it has been upheld or not, as well as details on any further action that may be required and any lessons learnt. Officers will return to the Committee with classifications of grievances for review.

•         Clarified that employment tribunals are monitored by Legal Services and are a matter of public record. Details on these cases will be forwarded to the Committee for review.

•         Noted that any member of staff who is in a union, can be accompanied by a union representative at a grievance hearing. For multi-party grievances, the union representative is also included in proceedings.

•         Explained that exit interviews with settlements must be negotiated with the Council's best commercial interests. There are numerous reasons why someone chooses to leave and if they require a financial settlement, this must be demonstrated. Examples include compulsory redundancy or a restructure. It is not always the case that a staff member has been asked to leave for a negative reason.

The Human Resources Committee RESOLVED that;

1.     Details on classifications of grievances be included for the Committees review.

1.         Details of the Employment Tribunal cases be forwarded to the Committee for review.

2.         The report be noted.

Pauline Shakespeare, Interim Head of Corporate Human Resources, informed  the Committee that the Housing Options team has recently moved to Housing and Regeneration. David Joyce, Corporate Director of Housing and Regeneration will update the Committee at the next meeting in May 2025.

Following questions from the Committee, Officers:

•         Clarified that the dispute relates to stress and caseload. A vote for strike action was not agreed and a transformation programme is now in place. The team were in the Resources directorate but were moved to Housing and Regeneration directorate.

•         Noted that the dispute relates to stress and caseload, the collective grievance had a number of concerns that ACAS were made aware of and noted in the action plan.

The Human Resources Committee RESOLVED that;

1.     A briefing note on the ACAS meeting be submitted by the Corporate Director of Housing and Regeneration for the Committees review for the next meeting scheduled for 06  May 2025.

Reasons of Urgency were agreed by the Committee.

Joel West, Team Leader, Democratic Services, requested the  Committee's to approve the amended composition of the Appointment Sub-Committee. In May 2024 the Committee agreed  to have a 5 Member sub-committee, which comprised three seats allocated to the majority Aspire Group and two to the minority Labour group. Following changes agreed by Full Council in January 2025 to the overall proportionality, these arrangements now require amending.

Councillor Abu Chowdhury proposed the following amendments;

?        To have six members rather than five, comprised of 3 Aspire Members, two Labour Members and one ungrouped Member.

?        That the Chair of the Appointment Sub-committee be one of the Executives.

Carole Bowes, Employment Lawyer, Legal Services, Directorate Law, Probity and Governance, noted that although it is in the Committees remit to make these proposals, the Monitoring Officer has stated that best practice is not to have an even number of Members, this is due to possible tide situations occurring. Ms Bowes also noted that the proposal for a Chair to be a member of the Executive, is not in the Constitution and can imply bias. The terms of reference for committees recommends a new Chair be decided, regardless of party and Officers advised against these proposals.

Members discussed the proposal at length, including its implications, the Legal and Monitoring Officers' advice and the concerns raised about the optics.  The Chair requested a vote on Cllr Abu Chowdhury's proposal.

Upon a vote of 4 in favour and 3 against, the Human Resources Committee RESOLVED that;

1.     The Appointment Sub-Committee composition be amended to include:

?        Six members, comprised of 3 Aspire Members, two Labour Members and one ungrouped Member.

?        That the Chair of the Appointment Sub-committee be one of the Executives.

A verbal update will be presented.

In view of the contents of the remaining items on the agenda the Committee is recommended to adopt the following motion:

“That, under the provisions of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985, the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting for the consideration of the Section Two business on the grounds that it contains information defined as Exempt in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972.”

EXEMPT SECTION (Pink Papers)

The exempt committee papers in the agenda will contain information, which is commercially, legally or personally sensitive and should not be divulged to third parties.  If you do not wish to retain these papers after the meeting, please hand them to the Committee Officer present.

RESOLVED

1.     That in accordance with the provisions of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985, the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting on the grounds that the remaining agenda item contained information defined as exempt or confidential in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

Nil items.

The exempt minutes of the General Purposes Committee meeting held on …. were agreed as a correct record.