Apologies for absence had been received from Councillor Smillie. Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Hines-Randall after the meeting.

There were no disclosures of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 February 2010 were submitted and signed.

The Committee received a report of the Head of Human Resources who explained that this report covered the Financial Year 2009/10 which had ended on 31 March 2010. He advised that the Equality Act 2010, passed by the previous Government, would not come into effect until October 2010. He added that, whilst it was uncertain whether the Act would be adopted by the current Government, the current legislative framework would remain until such time as the new Act was enabled.

The Head of Human Resources reminded Members that new pay banding categories had come into force in 2009 and advised that it was difficult to make comparisons between the old and the new pay bands. Shared Services had also been initiated in 2009, including a new Human Resources (HR) information system, ‘Resource Link'. He explained that this related to Equalities data and that it was currently being updated although there were probably some ‘gaps' in the information available. He added that all staff had recently been e-mailed with a request that they update their records, if necessary. Although reports could be drawn from the system, it was not possible at the present time to inform with complete accuracy but this would be remedied in the future.

In response to a question from a Member the HR Manager advised that manual Equalities monitoring records were completed by all new employees. This information was then stored and some data had been transferred to spreadsheets. The Head of Human Resources said that the HR system was being developed and that all information would be transferred to the electronic system.

A Member asked whether interview panels were representative of the workforce.

The Head of HR advised that all Managers received training in recruitment which included issues on equalities and that attempts were made to make interview panels representative of the workforce. He added that much depended on the Service into which interviewees were hoping to enter. He informed Members that the new shared HR Service was structured so that an HR business partner would be allocated to each Service area. The role of the Business Partner was to work with the managers in each Service and identify any trends or concerns that may require further investigation. This would include recruitment interviewing and selection procedures With regard to interviewing techniques, the Head of HR advised that all those on interview panels were given thorough training and extra training was available if required.

A Member asked for clarification on categories HR5 and HR6 within the report.

The Head of HR referred to category HR5 and explained that the figure indicated those top paid 5% of staff who had declared a disability. He advised that the validity of the data needed careful consideration and that the Council was looking at ways in which to promote into this particular group.

Another Member advised that there had been an employee in this top paid 5% who had retired which had affected the numbers. There was also a difficulty in persuading people to declare a disability. He noted that the available statistics were impressive as this was a difficult area in which to collect data.

With regard to category HR6, the Head of HR informed the meeting that there was more confidence in data provided by employees for the statistics on meeting the DDA definition.

In response to a question from the Chair on the section detailing analysis by age, the Head of HR explained that it was noticeable that the average age of employees in the Council was 46.97. This gave the impression the Council was staffed by an ageing population and that it was hoped to attract younger people in the future.

A Member asked where advertisements for jobs at the Council were placed.

The Head of HR advised that advertisements had been placed in a variety of media and noted that areas of advertising would be reviewed during the summer. He informed the meeting that advertisements were placed on the Council's and other websites, at the Job Centre and in specialist journals and magazines. He said that results from the Job Centre and from websites had been very successful and that HR was looking at other areas of E-recruitment. He added that magazines for disabled groups had also been used which directed possible applicants to the appropriate websites. He stressed that all applicants with a disability would be guaranteed an interview.

A Member stated that the media, in particular the press targeting ethnic groups had also been used but that this had resulted in a very small number of applicants. He noted that the Borough was an area of great diversity but that it had proved difficult to reflect this in the workforce.

Another Member drew attention to the increase in the number of residents from Eastern Europe and asked in which category they appeared in the data.

The HR Manager advised that this group were classified as ‘White Other' but that they were also asked for their country of origin.

All Members expressed their appreciation of the excellent report provided by the HR Service.