There was one change of Membership: Councillor J Brown replaced Councillor McGovern. Apologies had been received from Councillor Mann.

There were no disclosures of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 13th September 2007 were submitted and signed.

The Committee received a report of the Head of Human Resources on the proposed Disability in Employment Policy. She explained that the policy was designed to address the issue of employing staff with disabilities as at present; the Council had no such policy.

Members then discussed the policy. One Member referred to Watford's disabled population at 1.54% and asked if there was a guideline for the percentage of staff with disabilities which the Council should employ. The Head of Human Resources stated that there was not. In response to a question regarding sanctions, the Head of Human Resources said they could be considerable with settlements from Industrial Tribunals reaching £55,000.

Another Member asked for a further explanation of mental illness. The Head of Human Resources said there was a list of mental illnesses covered by the policy which included learning disabilities such as dyslexia. A Member asked about alcoholism which some people recognised as a mental illness. The Head of Human Resources said if the alcoholism was a way of coping with a recognised illness such as clinical depression, it would be covered. If, however, the only aspect was an addiction to alcohol, this would not be covered within the policy. The Head of Human Resources explained that mental illnesses could be complicated to assess and the Council would get medical advice as to whether the individual case was classified as a mental illness.

The Chair asked about the Disability Leave Scheme in the policy of 10 days. As the Union had requested 6 months, she asked how the 10 days compared with maternity leave. The Head of Human Resources said maternity leave could be up to one year but employees were entitled to this by law. She said there was no law covering disability leave. The Chair asked about the illnesses excluded from the policy such as an addiction to nicotine. She asked if the person later became ill as a result of the addiction if it would be covered. The Head of Human Resources said it would depend on the illness and each case would be referred for advice as to whether it was included.