Agenda item

The Head of Personnel & Development introduced the report. The Chair asked whether the Council was paying interims too much. The Head of Personnel & Development stated that the Council has a neutral vendor arrangement with Reed, and the contract was to ensure that rates drop, and currently the rates were in line with the market.

Councillor Mallory asked why the Council does not have the information of whether these interims were being paid by a Private Service Company or otherwise. The Head of Personnel & Development said that if the interims were employed by an agency the Council would not immediately be aware of this. Councillor Mallory said that he was concerned that officers do not try to ensure they were aware of the facts before the appointment. The Head of Personnel & Development said that officers could try and get this information although they were not technically the employer of the interims. Councillor Mallory said this issue should be explored further.

Councillor Mallory asked why the Fire Safety Assessment Area has an interim without a projected end date, and was told by the Head of Personnel & Development that the Fire Safety Adviser role was a specialist role and was on a part-time basis and has not got an end time because of the nature of the job. He added that the role was required, but the Council could not afford it on a  full-time basis. Councillor Mallory said that Panel Members need to know how much each interim was costing the Council. The Head of Personnel & Development stated that this information could be provided. Councillor Mallory said the key information would be the overall cost to the Council. The Head of Personnel & Development said that this information would be provided.

Mike Robinson said that the numbers went down to 24 Interim Consultants in April 2012 only to be up to 32 in April 2013, and this should be described as a slight increase, he added that the increase seemed significant and asked whether this would go down or continue to increase. The Head of Personnel & Development said that he could not predict this especially with the constant restructuring of the organisation. He added that the Council have been able to maintain a low figure, peaking at 55 and the lowest being 24. He said that he thought the fluctuation would continue. He informed Panel Members that if the numbers were in danger of reaching the same levels as in 2011, he would expect Managers to alert him before this happened.

Councillor Mallory asked whether there was any proof that using consultants reduce redundancy costs. The Head of Personnel & Development stated that the rates the Council pay to consultants were not as high as redundancy payments. Councillor Mallory said that this would be assuming officers were made redundant, as they could have moved to other jobs. The Head of Personnel & Development informed Panel Members that most Managers would say they were expecting to go through a re-organisation, and would not wish to employ staff who would subsequently be made redundant.

Councillor Mallory asked if all BSF related jobs would go soon. The Head of Personnel & Development said that there was also a capital programme to consider, but officers would be looking at the market and making calculations. Councillor Mallory asked if it was likely that similar skills would be needed, which could result in the Council retaining the same people. The Executive Director for Resources & Regeneration said that the skills would not necessarily be the same. She said currently with the Capital Programme, some of the work with the schools could be similar, but with the new PFI’s the skills would be different, and the Council would be looking at recruitment at Director level for the schools programme, and there would be permanent jobs.

David Webb said that when they had first looked at a similar report in the past Panel Members were told that Interims were a necessity because of the grade and calibre of people the Council need to attract, he asked if the situation has changed. The Executive Director for Resources & Regeneration said that this issue was still of concern, but officers would review this. Councillor Peake thanked officers for the report.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.