The Minutes of the meeting held on 16 November 2023 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Committee received the proceedings of the Local Joint Forum meetings held on 21 February and 6 June 2024.

The Committee considered a report explaining that the current Health and Safety Policy had been in place since 2023 and was required to be regularly reviewed.  Amendments had been made to the existing Policy to ensure that it was comprehensive and up to date.  A copy of the Draft Health  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The Committee considered a report that asked the Committee to approve the new Critical Incident Policy that outlined how responses to critical incidents in schools should be handled.  Once approved the Policy would be extended to cover all of the Council. A draft copy of the Critical Incident Policy was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Committee considered a report presenting three Employment Policies which had been reviewed jointly and agreed with the Joint Trade Unions. The following documents were attached to the report:

The report included a table  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Committee considered a report that outlined the changes to the membership of the Local Joint Forum (LJF). These changes had been considered at the meeting of LJF on 6 June 2024 (Minute 6 refers).

The report explained that the Council’s Constitution set out the role of the LJF but,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Kathryn Cook, Assistant Director HR and Organisational Development, gave the Committee a verbal report on the Housing Rent Deposit Scheme. She explained that this was a scheme to provide free loans to help staff to relocate to Reading or when moving house. The loan was capped at £3,000 and would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Kathryn Cook, Assistant Director HR and Organisational Development, gave the Committee a verbal report on the Staff Survey. She explained that the Survey had been initially had been open for responses for four weeks and that this had subsequently been extended for a further week and that 793 responses had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

At this point, the following motion will be moved by the Chair:

“That, pursuant to Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) members of the press and public be excluded during consideration of the following item on the agenda, as it is likely that there would be disclosure of exempt information as defined in the relevant Paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A (as amended) of that Act”

Resolved:

That pursuant to Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) members of the press and public be excluded during consideration of the following item, as it was likely that there would be disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The Committee received a report that provided a monitoring statement of all termination costs that had been incurred due to employees leaving the Council on redundancy grounds and early retirement between 1 October 2023 and 31 March 2024.  It also included a summary of Special Severance Payments that had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.