Agenda and minutes

County Councillor Matthew Salter replaced County Councillor Stephen Clarke for this meeting.

Apologies were received from County Councillors Nweeda Khan, Charles Edwards, Terry Hurn, and Jean Parr.

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.

To be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 9 November 2023 be confirmed as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

The Chair welcomed County Councillor Alan Vincent, Cabinet Member for Resources, HR and Property (Deputy Leader), Lucy Thompson, Director of People, Deborah Barrow, Head of Service Human Resources, and Rachel Rump, Head of Service Skills, Learning and Development to the meeting.

The report provided an in-depth data snapshot of the current workforce including the size of the authority, the workforce demographics and the insights from the data that can assist the county council in its workforce attraction, retention and development strategies.

The committee thanked the officers for the detailed report presented. A presentation was also provided to the committee, a copy of which is attached to the minutes.

Comments and queries raised from the committee were as follows:

·  The committee requested for more details on the age profile of employees, including the mean and mode age of employees by service area, to be provided at a future meeting.

·  The number of employees at the council had increased by 20% during the previous six to seven years, and it was recommended that a benchmarking study be carried out to see how many people were employed by other authorities of a similar size. It was also noted that the 20% rise might be related to TUPE employees and the in-house integration of services that were previously outsourced.

·  The committee discussed the gender split within the organisation, as presented in the presentation, and requested further information be provided regarding the gender split within each service area of the council.

·  In addition, the committee requested that a report on the county council's approach to an ageing workforce be provided at a future meeting. Additionally, it was recommended that the council consider 'staying in touch' with former workers to gain valuable feedback and understand the reasons behind their departure from the council.

·  Regarding recruiting more people to work for the council, it was noted that the council employed approximately 600 apprentices in a variety of roles. Although the council was making every effort to recruit more young people, it was difficult because not many young people wanted to work for the council, which was a problem shared by other local authorities. As a result, it was recommended that the council think about releasing a press release to highlight the county council's apprenticeship initiatives.

·  The committee was interested in change management and how the council was ensuring staff members were more involved in making changes within the authority. Therefore, the committee requested that a report on the steps being taken to ensure that staff members were involved in making changes to tackle any identifiable issue within the council be brought back to a future meeting.

·  The committee wanted to know how young people could find out about apprenticeships offered by the council and Lancashire in general, how the council retained talent for the next generation of officers, and what efforts were being made in conjunction with colleges and universities to ensure that as many young people as possible stayed in Lancashire after graduating. It was suggested  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Lucy Thompson, Director of People, Deborah Barrow, Head of Service Human Resources, and Rachel Rump, Head of Service Skills, Learning and Development, presented the report to the committee.

The report provided a further update to the presentation and reports presented to the Community, Cultural and Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee in December 2022, and it was noted that since the last update, an organisational People Strategy had been developed and launched and the report provided an update on purpose and progress.

Comments and queries raised from the committee were as follows:

·  The committee discussed how people might perceive the work culture at Lancashire County Council in case the person wanted to know prior to applying for a job within the council, and it was noted that the council's ambition was that all parts of the council should be a place where every employee regardless of level, background and service would thrive and that the council would be a place that people would want to come and work.

·  Utilising transferable skills and being able to transfer skills from one area of work into another was also raised by the committee as an area that needed more work to ensure employees were being training with a skillset that could be easily transferred into another role.

The Chair thanked the officers for answering the committees' questions.

Resolved: That Lancashire County Council's People Strategy be welcomed with no further recommendations from the committee at this time.

The committee considered the work programme for the 2023/24 municipal year.

Resolved: That the Community, Cultural and Corporate Services Scrutiny work programme for 2023/24, 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 6 February 2024 at 14.00 pm in Committee Room B – The Diamond Jubilee Room, County Hall, Preston.

The next meeting of the Community, Cultural, and Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee will be held on Tuesday 6 February 2024 at 2pm at County Hall, Preston.