Agenda and minutes

County Councillors Lorraine Beavers and Nikki Hennessey replaced County Councillors John Fillis and Sobia Malik respectively.

Apologies were received from County Councillors Nweeda Khan and John Shedwick.

In accordance with Standing Order D13(1) the committee also gave consent for County Councillor Charles Edwards, who attended the meeting as an observer, to speak during the meeting.

Members are asked to consider any pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the agenda.

None were disclosed.

To be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 10 November 2022 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Chair welcomed County Councillor Alan Vincent, Cabinet Member for Resources, HR and Property, Angie Ridgwell, Chief Executive, Lesley Ottery, Interim Executive Director of Resources, Mark Wynn, Executive Director of Resources, Lucy Thompson, Interim Director of People, Deborah Barrow, Head of Human Resources and John Morrissy, Director of Organisational Development and Change to the meeting.

The report provided an overview of the current position of the council's workforce and information relating to the future plan for developing the council's workforce arrangements. The committee also considered additional information relating to absence trend data, which was tabled at the meeting, as well as a presentation; a copy of both is attached to the minutes.

Comments and queries from the committee were raised as follows:

• The committee proposed a recommendation that Lancashire County Council works with organisations, such as the Local Government Association, the County Councils Network, and Best Companies, to undertake detailed research and produce a benchmarking report regarding absence levels and recruitment and retention challenges.

• Questions were raised regarding the factors that may contribute to staff leaving the authority, such as long-term sickness, and members proposed that consideration be given to conducting employee exit interviews to see what circumstances were encouraging people to leave the organisation. It was also noted that exit interviews were not mandatory, and it was the employee's choice whether or not they would undertake an interview when leaving the authority.

• The committee asked about the authority's appeal to Generation Z and how younger generations could be encouraged to join the council's workforce. It was noted that articles had been published on this subject, and that factors such as an organisation's impact on the environment and the flexibility of working arrangements, such as hybrid working, were important.

• It was noted that the Chief Executives Group, as well as the County Councils Network, were good forums to obtain benchmarking data. It was also noted that all the organisations participating in these forums regarded mental health to be the main cause of staff sickness.

• It was noted that the county council's values of being supportive, innovative, respectful and collaborative were co-designed with staff and were embedded in people's work. Examples of how staff had applied the values in their work were highlighted in the monthly emails of recognition from the Chief Executive, as well as at the staff awards. Since the values were last approved in 2019, the committee questioned whether the values should be re-looked at with the current workforce and post-covid.

• The committee raised concerns about the potential loss of experience as a result of employees retiring and highlighted the need to pass on that expertise to existing employees. Therefore, the committee proposed that consideration be given to establishing an academy of retired officers, as a means of mentoring existing officers and sharing expertise.

• The committee noted that the People Strategy would ensure that the county council valued, supported and engaged with the workforce. A suggestion was made for officers to consider how county council staff could also  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Chair welcomed County Councillor Peter Buckley, Cabinet Member for Community and Cultural Services, Dave Carr, Director of Policy, Commissioning and Children's Health and Saeed Sidat, Principal Equalities, Cohesion and Integration Manager to the meeting.

The report provided a summary of activities carried out during 2022 regarding workforce equality and identified areas for progress in 2023. The committee also considered additional information relating to the 2021 Census, which was tabled at the meeting, as well as a presentation; a copy of both are attached to the minutes.

Comments and queries from the committee were raised as follows:

• The committee commented that more research was needed to ascertain the views of people outside the county council's workforce, in order to see how they perceived working for the council.

• Members felt that the report should have included information about more protected characteristics, such as how the council supports LGBTQ+ employees. It was noted that data collection was a challenge, but awareness-raising campaigns to support groups with protected characteristics were ongoing.

• It was noted that previously, whenever a person of ethnic minority background applied for a position at the council, the interview panel would also have included a member from an ethnic minority background. This, however, was no longer a requirement, and one of the suggestions from the Social Care Workforce Race Equality Standard pilot was to re-establish this policy in order to ensure a more diverse panel.

• Members drew comparison between the workforce equalities report and Item 4 on the proposed People Strategy. Members also felt that the Equality Objectives on the council's website were not strong enough. It was suggested that scrutiny should consider the Equality Objectives, and whether they need updating, in order to shape the new Workforce Equalities Strategy. Consequently, the Cabinet Member for Community and Cultural Services was asked to ensure that work on the Workforce Equalities Strategy was undertaken in partnership with work on the emerging People Strategy, to ensure consistency. The Cabinet Member highlighted the role of scrutiny in shaping these policies.

• The committee raised concerns about the level of abuse and harassment experienced by staff, as identified under the 2022 staff survey. The committee requested that further information be provided on the number of complaints received, the number of complaints upheld, and the action taken to resolve them.

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member and officers for the work undertaken and their responses to the committee's questions.

Resolved: That

1. A further report is presented to the committee at an appropriate point on the council's equality objectives (2020), including detailed information on equality and diversity from the 2023 Equality Information, 2022 Workforce Race Equality Standard metrics, and 2022 Staff Survey information, with a view to informing refreshed equality objectives and a new Workforce Equalities Strategy;
2. The Cabinet Member for Community and Cultural Services be recommended to ensure that work on workforce equalities is undertaken in partnership with work on the emerging People Strategy; and
3. Regarding abuse and harassment experienced by staff, that further information be provided  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The committee considered the work programme for the 2022/23 municipal year.

The committee noted the written responses provided by Democratic Services and Highways officers in response to the committee's recommendations regarding Think Councillor from its meeting on 29 September 2022.

Resolved: That the Community, Cultural and Corporate Services Scrutiny work programme for 2022/23, including the progress relating to the committee's recommendations, be noted.

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the minutes, the chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency. Wherever possible, the chief executive should be given advance warning of any member's intention to raise a matter under this heading.

There were no items of Urgent Business.

The next meeting of the Community, Cultural and Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee will be held on Monday 16 January at 2.00 pm at County Hall, Preston.

The next meeting of the Community, Cultural, and Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee will be held on Tuesday 16 January 2023 at 10.30am at County Hall, Preston.